April 12th The Civil War Begins

April 12th The Civil War Begins On April 12, 1861, at 3:30 a.m., one old friend received a message from another: surrender at once, or be fired upon "in one hour from this time." The sender of the message was General P. G. T. Beauregard, a Louisianan who had been ordered by the newly formed Confederate government to take Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, South Carolina. Beauregard had trained at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and gone on to become superintendent there, but had resigned after his home state seceded from the Union. Commanding Fort Sumter was Beauregard's old instructor at West Point, Major Robert Anderson, a Kentuckian who felt heartsick at the thought of war between North and South. Beauregard had been one of his finest pupils, and the two had grown fond of each other. Yet Anderson would not surrender, at least not without a fight. His commander in chief, Abraham Lincoln, had pledged to "hold, occupy, and possess" the fort. "If we do not meet again on earth, I hope we may meet in Heaven," Anderson told Beauregard's emissaries. At 4:30 a.m., the Civil War began as Beauregard's batteries let loose, encircling the fort with a ring of fire, pounding it with more than 4,000 shells. When they shot the American flag off its staff, Sergeant Peter Hart climbed up and nailed it on again. But after thirty-three hours of furious bombardment, Anderson was forced to surrender. With the victors' permission, Anderson gave the Stars and Stripes a fifty-gun salute before hauling it down. During the salute, an accidental explosion killed a soldier—the only fatality of the seige. Major Anderson carried the shredded flag with him as he boarded a ship and headed north. Beauregard waited until he had gone before entering Fort Sumter, as "it would be an unhonorable thing . . . to be present at the humiliation of his friend."     Carl Ray Louk "FRIENDSHIP NEVER ENDS" SG-1996 "LET LOVE LEAD THE WAY" SG-2000 "THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE" SD "EVEN A MAN WHO IS PURE IN HEART AND SAYS HIS PRAYERS BY NIGHT, MAY BECOME A WOLF WHEN THE WOLFBANE BLOOMS AND THE AUTUMN MOON IS BRIGHT." LT-1941 "FLESH OF MY FLESH; BLOOD OF MY BLOOD; KIN OF MY KIN WHEN SAY COME TO YOU, YOU SHALL CROSS LAND OR SEA TO DO MY BIDDING!" CVTD-1895 "FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT THEE, FOR HATE SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE" CA-1895  "I HAVE BEEN, AND ALWAYS SHALL BE YOUR FRIEND" Spock  "TRICK OR TREAT, TRICK OR TREAT CANDY IS DANDY BUT MURDER, OH MURDER, IS SO SWEET" CRL-2003  "EYE OF NEWT, AND TOE OF FROG, WOOL OF BAT, AND TONGUE OF DOG ADDER'S FORK, BLIND-WORM'S STING, LIZARD'S LEG, AND OWLET'S WING. FOR A CHARM OF POWERFUL TROUBLE, LIKE A HELL-BROTH BOIL AND BABBLE. DOUBLE, DOUBLE, TOIL AND TROUBLE, FIRE BURN, AND CALDRON BUBBLE" WS Facebook: www.facebook.com/CarlRayLouk Twitter: www.twitter.com/CarlRayLouk MySpace: www.myspace.com/carlraylouk Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : LouksHauntedGraveyardhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/LouksHauntedGraveyard/ Yahoo Group: Yahoo! Groups : TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheWorldAccordingtoCarlRayLouk/