The Shot That Started The Civil War

Okay today I actually did have to get up at a reasonable hour or Mum would have yelled at me because we had tickets for the ten o’clock ferry across the Charleston Harbour to Fort Sumter. We got out of the trailer at a reasonable hour and found some parking right as my book was getting really good. Nice. We had about forty minutes until the boat left for Fort Sumter so we walked up a couple blocks to a Starbucks for some delicious coffee. Just what one needs at 9:00am. I had my new favourite, Chestnut Praline, and we wandered

back over to the waterfront. On the boat, a guide talked a bit about the history of Fort Sumter and how it played a key part in the Civil War. The fort took over twenty years to build and wasn’t actually fully completed when the Civil War began. Fort Sumter was the first fort to be fired upon, giving the first shot of the war to the Confederates. The the fort was under siege for about a day before

the Unions surrendered Fort Sumter to the Confederates. It remained in the South’s possession for the majority of the war until it was nothing more than a pile of rubble and the Confederates abandoned it and destroyed what little remained from the rear end. That’s my executive summary of the history of the fort, which the tour guide told us on the way over. In the fort, which, though surrounded by it’s original brick walls, is mostly made up of a

more modern base that was active in both World Wars, provided the same information we learned on the way over, along with some extra tidbits about important battles and boats and such. It was very interesting to walk around and it was amusing to see the school group of little children being taught the ways of a 19th century soldier. We had a couple of hours in the fort before it was time to get back on the boat and head back to the mainland for lunchtime. Before heading back to the RV, we checked out the little museum they had inside the visitor’s centre, but again, it was mostly a repeat of information. In the evening, we watched the fourth instalment in our Star Wars rewatch, The Phantom Menace. I mean, it’s probably my least favourite out of all the movies since Jar Jar is pretty irritating, but baby Anakin is very cute. Peace out m8s.

#camping #charleston #southcarolina