The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-04-28
JUST THIRTY.ONE YEARS AGO
The War Between tho States was Begun.

JUST THIRTY.ONE YEARS AGO
The War Between tho States was Begun.
April 18th Thirty.one years ago on
this day The frat gun sounded the prelude
to the great war drama, the curtain Of
which fell four years afterward on the
dead bodies of nearly million of the &C.
tors and loss of billions of dollars.
The echo of the last stroke of four from
the historic chimes of st. Michael's had
scarcely died away, when group of sol.
diers gathered around a mortar in Fort
Johnson, Charleston harbor, and waited,
watch in hand, for the moment when the
signal should sound the tocsin of civil
war and the death knell of eighty years
of peace. A half hour later, obedient to
the orders from Gen. Beauregard, follow.
ed fash of light, the thunder of gun
and an eleven.inch shell traced its path.
way toward Fort Sumter with a long,
thin line of fire. Another quickly sue.
ceeded, and the chorus of battle began.
The first of these shells was fred by
Capt. George S. James, the second by
Lieut.. Hampton Gibbes..
Among the officers in the mortar bat.
terry were Ool. James H. Chestnut, OK.
United States Senator, Capt. Stephen D.
Lee, subsequently Lieutenant.G General,
and Col. Alexander r. Chisolm. These
officers we're the aides of General Beau
regard, by whom his final note to
Maj. Anderson had been conveyed to the
fort.
No pen, tongue or canvas can accurate.
ly portray the scenes of that April morn.
ing in the city of Charleston, when its
inhabitants were startled from their
slumberu by the first guns. Lights fash.
I'd, as if by magic, from the windows of
every house, and in the twinkling of an
eye an agitated mass of people were rush.
ing toward the water fronts of the. city.
Grave citizens, usually distinguished by
their dignity, hurried along the streets,
dressing while they ran and madly
shouting hurrahs. There were men
without ceata, women without hats and
children in their nightgowns, sll hasten.
ing to the same point of view.
The fashionable promenade, known as
'The Battery" presented conglomera.
tion of persons in dishabille, who, at any
other time, would not have thought of
violating the social conventionalities of
attire. And there, with pale faces and
eyes sharpened by the strange fascination
of the scene, the multitude remained
hour after hour, peeping into the dark
ness and watching the progress of the
fight by the flashing of the guns.
In few minutes all the batteries that
environed Fort Sumter had opened FIRE,
or to use the words of General Ripley,
then commanding on one of the islands,
"rung their breakfast bell for Major An.
derson," but it was two hours before the
latter responded to the call.
Hardly, however, had objects of the
low coast become we'll defined among the
shadows of the morning, when, as if
wrsthfu! from enforced delay, there sud.
denly poured from the parapet and case.
mates of Fort Sumter a storm of iron
hail. The murmur instantly ran through.
the city, "Fort Sumter has opened fire."
The battle now ragged with fury, and the
fiery messengers from both sides followed
each other with spiteiul haste.
Short, sharp spurts of flame told Of
bursting shells in and around tho beleag.
ured fortress over which foated the only
flag of the stars and stripes to be found
on the soil of South Carolina, while
splashes of gray or clouds of crumbled
brick marked the ugly force of round
shot striking its face.
Dispatches we're received hourly by
Beauregard, the commander in-chief, and
communicated to the people by bulletins.
At first the proud Caroliniaus were in.
clined to rebel at the authority of
strange commander, but there was some
thing in the we'll defined physioguomy,
the dark eye, firm lip and massive chin of
the great Creole that told of hidden
power and inspired confidence, and It was
not long before the hero Of Contreras and
Churubusco was enthroned in the hearts
of the people.
A curious blending Of humanity was
to be observed among those who manned
the Confederate Notifications. In their
shirt sleeves, with bare heads and fea.
lures smoke begrimmed, working heavy
guns, we're the gentlemen whom you met
only few days before at the Charleston
club, elegant types of wealth and leisure.
Here WAS a clergyman and some of his
deacons, there q bank president and
clerks, and yonder a group of planters
who could give you more points on the
age and quality Of fue wine than on mil.
itary tactics.
Many Of these gentlemen never had
heard shotted gun before that day, ind
yet, with mixture of chivalry and reck'
lessress, would spring to the crest of the
earthworks after each fire to watch the
effect of their aim and then cheer for
Maj. Anderson, as his answering missiles
came shrieking back. The aggregated
wealth Of the companies might have been
counted by the millions, and the old his.
toric names of the State, Rutledge, Raw
enel, Pinckney, Lawrence, Huges, Rhett,
Calhoun, Middleton, Manigault, Hamp.
ton, Preston and others, answered to the
roll call "here."
Colonel Thomas Sumter, the grandson
of "the Gamecock of the Revolution"