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GULF ISLANDS NATIONAL SEASHORE, Fla. (AP) — A raid 150 years ago by Confederate sympathizers on a Union fort at what is now Pensacola Naval Air Station was likely little more than an ill-planned and drunken misadventure, perhaps ended by one soldier's warning shot — and a blank one, at that.
But don't tell Pensacola residents that the Jan. 8, 1861, skirmish meant nothing — the event is the stuff of legend in this military town. Some even claim the clash was the Civil War's first, three months before the battle on April 12, 1861, at South Carolina's Fort Sumter, which is widely recognized as the start of the war.
I thought this paragraph from page two to be interesting:
Hours after the Pensacola incident, another pre-war clash took place in South Carolina — cadets from The Citadel military academy manning a battery on Morris Island fired on the steamship Star of the West as it tried to resupply 200 federal troops at Fort Sumter. The cadets forced the steamship to turn back and others consider that action the first shots of the war, not the larger fight that happened at Fort Sumter three months later.
I imagine there were dozens of such incidents around the south, many of which may have been lost to the ages.
"...In this present crisis, government isn't the solution to the problem; government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
"...all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." Declaration of Independence
Since 'war' is one of the most fundamental group interactions, it always merits study, whichever 'side' one takes; studying it can provide insight towards both preventing it, and winning it. Plus, it is just fascinating history.
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
I too have always been taught that April 12, was the start, but it would make sense that other events led up to it. Firing on the steamship Star seems more relevant, but the actual firing on the fort seems to be the event that really drew first blood.
I would imagine that the troops on the Star would be hard to convince that their incident wasn't the first.
If you're gonna be stupid ya gotta be tough-
Isiah 55:8&9
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.
Fundamentally "war" has changed in the last 500 years... in that those that start them, seldom have to suffer the consequences of waging them. IMO, the single flaw, or "wrong" if you will, with a "Bush" or "Obama" holding the Comander-in-Chief post is that with neither of them having anything more critical than their "political career" at risk, nor having had the singular pleasure of seein' war at it's most brutal, or in a failure to prevail, their LIFE at risk, they have not earned the right to "lead" others off to bloodshed & mayhem.
IMO, there's NOTHING to be learned from war, except how to wage it in the future. And, frankly, I'll leave tactics to others... I already know just how inhuman one can treat another. War is just that level of violence raised to the xth power.
Now, if you meant the politics of ego and stupidity that usually precede such events; aye, there we can all learn something. (Maybe I mean the "ego and stupidity of politics"... but the end result is the same).
Griff,
SASS/CMSA #93
NRA Patron
GUSA #93
There is a fine line between hobby & obsession! AND... I'm over it!!
No I ain't ready, but let's do it anyway!
there may have been an incident where a Confederate flag was taken down and the guy who did it was shot, somewhere around Washington (he was a friend of the President if I remember correctly). I saw this in the movie "Lincoln", most of the incidents in that movie were factual.
"I'll tell you what living is. You get up when you feel like it. You fry yourself some eggs. You see what kind of a day it is."
El Chivo wrote:there may have been an incident where a Confederate flag was taken down and the guy who did it was shot, somewhere around Washington (he was a friend of the President if I remember correctly). I saw this in the movie "Lincoln", most of the incidents in that movie were factual.
Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth was shot and killed while taking down a Confederate flag in Alexandria, VA, on 24 May 1861. The Death of Colonel Ellsworth
Mark
Any way you sell it,
No matter how you spell it,
When you start to smell it,
BO stinks.
Griff wrote:Now, if you meant the politics of ego and stupidity that usually precede such events; aye, there we can all learn something. (Maybe I mean the "ego and stupidity of politics"... but the end result is the same).
Yep. That's alot of what I meant. Still, the 'fundamentals' (i.e. Sun Tsu type stuff) may be worth studying, even if the 'technologic' stuff has changed.
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
The first battle of the Civil War took place on May 19, 1858 near Trading Post, Kansas.
It was a fair and square gun fight but, the northern papers dubbed it "The Marais des Cygnes Massacre".
The Civil War began and ended on the Missouri - Kansas border.
It may have begun for a political cause but in the end the motivation was revenge, the bloodier the better.
I don't know when or where it started but apparently it end in England.
The 'CSS Shenandoah' at Liverpool
Although the last battle of the American Civil War was at Palmito Ranch in May 1865, the last Confederate surrender occurred in Liverpool on 6 November 1865, when the Confederate warship 'CSS Shenandoah' surrendered at Liverpool. During 1864–1865 the 'Shenandoah' had captured, sunk or bonded 38 Union merchant vessels, mostly Union whaling ships, and was also responsible for firing the last shot of the American Civil War at a whaler off the Aleutian Islands in June 1865.
I expect someone will say different!
Whatever you do always give 100%........... unless you are donating blood.
Well things like the Star of the West may have provocation but I think the start may be looked as when both sides were firing at each other. I will go with Sumter.
In the High Desert of Southern Calif. ..."on the cutting edge of going back in time"...
El Chivo wrote:there may have been an incident where a Confederate flag was taken down and the guy who did it was shot, somewhere around Washington (he was a friend of the President if I remember correctly). I saw this in the movie "Lincoln", most of the incidents in that movie were factual.
Which Lincoln movie are you talking about? There have been so many and I think there is even a movie coming out this or next year named Lincoln.
For what its worth.....here is a page from "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Civil War"
Obviously there are always things that happen that lead up to a war....they dont generally just happen out of thin air. There are prob. events that took place where shots were fired or someone was killed and in hind sight a particular side felt that was the first start.
I tend to think firing on a Military Fort would be the straw that broke the camels back and actually started the war.
