...but you might.
If you have a vague understanding of U.S. History, as I do, you probably read and accepted the fact that the first act of aggression concerning the Civil War was April the 12th, 1861, when the Confederacy fired on Fort Sumter.
I just read the first act of aggression was, as we have been told, when the Confederacy fired on Fort Sumter.. but wait! It wasn’t on April the 12th, but on this date, January 9th, 1861, when the CSA fired shots on the Star of the West, a contract ship hired to bring supplies and men to Fort Sumter.
So, what does that tell us?
A: Outsourcing is nothing new for the Federal Government.
Maybe ten or so years ago we went to Charleston and took a history tour of the town, and at night took a ghost tour… and also we went to Fort Sumter and listen to a ranger tell us interesting things about that fort.
What confounded me was I thought it was a natural island in the Charleston Bay. No no. It is man made. That was news to me. Ships from New England carried big rocks and boulders down and dumped them a certain spot. The boulders built on themselves and a man-made island was formed. Then they built a fort on top of it. I’m sure that over simplifies it, but that sort of sums it up.
That must have taken a huge amount of human muscles and broken backs and very smart engineers to do such a feat. Imagine, no kind of power-ran machines to lift those huge boulders and throw them overboard and I bet it was dangerous too. And how did they get them onto the ships to begin with? It is beyond my comprehension.
No more so than how the Egyptians built the pyramids!
ReplyDeleteJudy,
ReplyDeleteYes, the pyramid building business is another mystery.
I think what I find interesting about this is that we don't know what the Egyptians knew or had as tools to move huge heavy objects but on the same token we do know the men of the 19th century didn't know and didn't have.
Act of aggression? After the Confederacy had declared itself, they asked the Yanks to please leave the premises. They refused. In a sense, the Yanks were the first aggressors. Would we allow Al Queda to occupy Ellis Island, I ask you. Them Yankees started the War of Northern Aggression.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you've not been there, go. Sumter, I mean. Interesting to see how it commands the harbor and surrounding area.
Si,
ReplyDeleteI think I would call volleying cannon balls at me as an act of aggression more so than saying you refuse to comply - but even with that, the CSA asked them to leave, that was the first act.