The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1896-06-04
Vbad}adqda.
Paper Read by Member of Glass b.
FORT SUMTER.

Perhaps in all the history of our civil war.
there is no spot around which more of interest
attaches itself than Charleston SC Charles
ton. once the gay metropolis and great cotton
mart of the south, has lost with the meeting |
wears her supremacy and we find her To-Day
Quaint old city, containing little else of interest
except the relies of departed glory and the sears
of battle. No more the tread OF passing regl-
ments or the sound of martial music resound
along her streets. Gone are the gay scenes OF
revelry, when brilliant southern bellies and the
flower of the Confederate army made merry
within the gates of this old city. tor with her
sister cities of the southland Charleston has
fallen into slow decay from which she Will
awake again only when the tides of prosperity
and enterprise shall again be at fiOOdtide in the
sunny SOUTH.
With the firing on Fort Sumter. charleston
sprang like meteor before the gaze OF the
whole world. True, she is credited with having
| been the hotbed of secession and no doubt she
did much to foster the '.lost cause" but certain
it is that Charleston heard and applauded the
first gun fired on Fort Sumter. 1t is not the city
of Charleston that today serves as magnet to
attract tourists to her hosteries, but the battle
scared historic fortress around which so much
of romance cngs. Situated on and completely
covering small island about six miles down the
harbor is Fort Sumter. Within easy range of
either shore and commanding the entrance to
the harbor Fort Sumter was in 1861 powerful
strategic point. GarrisOned by U. 5. regulars
, and equipped with sixteen-incn guns she offered
a serious menace to the interests of the Con-
federacy for it was hoped that from this port
the south would be able to continue her cotton
exports, but with Sumter directly in the harbor
| channel it was impossible to pass out or ID
g Therefore the first move in the way OF actua
hostilites was to capture Fort Sumter and thus
place the harbor in the hands of the Confeder
. ates South Carolina had already seeded foul
months before and was actively preparing FOL
>, the coming conflict. The north had not yet re
allied the extent or earnestness with which thu
;. south had espoused her cause, so that when, OF
IS the morning of April H. 1861, the land batteries
:. assisted by Fort Moultrie, began bombardmen
e of Fort Sumter, the echoes reveroeratlng owe
!. the mountains and plains, the north awoke T.
r. the realization that war was at her threshoio
e The story of the resistance and final captur
v of Fort Sumter is familiar to all. Today
r. stands as a monument to the daring Capt. Al
derson and his brave garrison and as spot
less sacred to patriotic Americans than histori
Concord or Lexington. Fort Sumter is Carr
- soned today by one old veteran. who with nj
little family live in a small cottage erected witt
-, in the walls of the fort. The old smoOthbor
:. guns are dismOunted and lie scattered abou
10 The stone coping on the outside brick walls
- falling off and the whole interior is overgrow
:; with grass and weeds. The old veteran receive
Ia his visitors kindly keeping register for the
~, Names He seems to never tire of relating tn
,a events of those stirring times with which tr
,S history of the old fort is so closely connecte
~ He will not accept fee but If, in return 1or
ro ing shown where the first she'll struck the O.
nd fort or for small piece OF that Identical she
up Vi loi ono VI .no n "'.',, ~ ~ e.rst.
-3 after she had been shot away, you should OH
he Que VI 'he oio Vo'0i on "
NO it will not be refused.