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On this day in 1861, cadets from the SC Military Academy (AKA The Citadel) posted on Morris Island fired on the US charter merchantman "Star of the West" as it attempted to enter Charleston harbor to bring reinforcements and supplies to the besieged federal garrison at Fort Sumter.
Under cover of darkness during the previous Christmas holiday, the federals had secretly moved to Sumter from the untenable Fort Moultrie. The federals' hasty departure from Moultrie to the unfinished but more easily defended Sumter precluded an organized movement. By the 9th of January 1861, Major Robert Anderson still believed he could hold out for the foreseeable future, but would need eventual resupply. The Buchanan administration had chartered the "Star" at $1250 per day for the mission because it was believed in Washington that use of a naval vessel might be too provocative to the SC "fire-eaters" in Charleston.
It was all for naught. The Cadet battery's fire drove off the "Star" thus ensuring the federal commanders inability to sustain his defense of Fort Sumter indefinitely. From this day forward, the federal's loss of Sumter was assured. Cadet's Pickens and Haynsworth who fired the first shots will be immortalized as the first southern troops to fire on US forces -- thus beginning the monumental four year conflict which would become commonly known as the American Civil War.
Go Bulldogs!
K. Bartsch
The Citadel, Class of 1982
Under cover of darkness during the previous Christmas holiday, the federals had secretly moved to Sumter from the untenable Fort Moultrie. The federals' hasty departure from Moultrie to the unfinished but more easily defended Sumter precluded an organized movement. By the 9th of January 1861, Major Robert Anderson still believed he could hold out for the foreseeable future, but would need eventual resupply. The Buchanan administration had chartered the "Star" at $1250 per day for the mission because it was believed in Washington that use of a naval vessel might be too provocative to the SC "fire-eaters" in Charleston.
It was all for naught. The Cadet battery's fire drove off the "Star" thus ensuring the federal commanders inability to sustain his defense of Fort Sumter indefinitely. From this day forward, the federal's loss of Sumter was assured. Cadet's Pickens and Haynsworth who fired the first shots will be immortalized as the first southern troops to fire on US forces -- thus beginning the monumental four year conflict which would become commonly known as the American Civil War.
Go Bulldogs!
K. Bartsch
The Citadel, Class of 1982
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