From: cowan@ssrl01.slac.stanford.edu (P. L. Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.war.civil.usa
Subject: 1st Shot (was Re: Followup to discussion of flags, and...)
Date: 8 Sep 92 00:04:38 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: SSRL, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab

In article <1992Sep7.181212.29917@hubcap.clemson.edu>, trev@hubcap.clemson.edu (Trevor Bauknight) writes:
> I found a book down in Columbia yesterday entitled _Sumter_, which was
> an in-depth history of the first firing on the US flag.  This group
> [discussion of red Palmetto flag omitted]
>entering the harbor and seeing the red Palmetto flying.  It was 
>when the _General Clinch_ entered the main channel in the harbor 
>that Stevens gave the first order to fire.  Here's where my question
>comes.  
>
>The identity of the firer of the very first shot, I understand, is
>questionable.  The Charleston _Mercury_ reported an eyewitness 
>account that the #1 gun, the first to fire, was commanded by senior
>Cadet Whilden and its lanyard pulled by Cadet George Edward 
>Haynesworth, a young man of sixteen from Sumter County, SC, when the 
>command came down from Stevens, who had orders from Pickens to fire on 
>any strange vessel in the main channel.  Of course, I went to the 
>Haynesworth campus of Sumter, SC High School, so it's obvious why 
>I learned this bit of history.  The book I found confirmed this,
>but I have seen other tales elsewhere concerning the first shot.
>I realize that this is pretty much folklore, but do any of you 
>have any reason to believe otherwise?
>
What I know of the "First Shot" comes mainly from _Sumter: The First 
Day of the Civil War_, by Robert Hendrickson (Dell Paperback, New
York, 1990). It's a "good read", but even I could detect a Yankee
bias. I am not sure whether this is the same as the book to which you
refer, but Hendrickson's story of the firing on the _General Clinch_
(which accompanied the _Star of the North_ into Charleston harbor on
Jan. 9, 1961) agrees with your account except that he cites the
_Charleston Courier_ as his source.

As far as I know the controversy surrounding the "First Shot"
generally centers around the first shot of the bombardment of Fort
Sumter itself, rather than the activity on Jan. 9. Hendrickson runs
through several of the disputed claims which include the story that
Gen. Beauregard held the two-year-old daughter of Gov. Pickens in his
arms so she could do it!

Hendrickson claims that Col. James Chestnut (yes, Mary's husband)
ordered Capt. George S. James to fire the signal shell to open the
bombardment. Capt. James offered the "honor" to Congressman Roger
Pryor, the fire eater from Virginia, who declined saying, "I could
not fire the first gun of the war," after which (most likely) Capt.
James ordered 2nd Lt. Henry S. Farley to do it.

Of course the most famous legend is that the first shot of the
bombardment was fired by old Edmund Ruffin. This is the story that
Foote tells, without even alluding to a controversy. (BTW this seems
to be a "feature" of Foote's writing, whenever history is ambiguous,
he feels free to recount the most romantic version. I actually rather
enjoy this, but it is one of the many reasons his writings are not to
be recommended as the first book one reads on the ACW.)

There is a counterpoint to the "Edmund Ruffin at Fort Sumter" story
that I find quite... well, I don't know the right word to describe it
(pathetic? poignient? absurd? ironic?). At the end of the First Battle
of Manassas, the "Great Battle to decide the issue of Southern
Independence", when the Union Army was routed, Edmund Ruffin was
given the honor of also firing the "Last Shot of the War". 

>Good discussion fodder, and no flamage!  I knew I could do it...
> 
>Trevor Bauknight         trev@hubcap.clemson.edu    ...gatech!hubcap!trev
> 

Well done, Trevor! 8^)

-- 
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P. L. Cowan     Please send replies, comments etc. (no flames thank you) to 
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        "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is a War Room!"
from _Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_
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