WILMINGTON – Major Robert Anderson looked out into Charleston Harbor at a floating battery of Confederate cannons and frowned.
His 90-man Union force, currently occupying South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, was facing over 6,000 Confederate soldiers spread between Fort Moultrie and Fort Johnson – each less than a mile away from where Major Anderson now stood.
It was early March of 1861 and both Confederate and Union soldiers were prepping for what was a rapidly escalating and ultimately inevitable war between the Northern and Southern United States.
The Confederate forts of Moultrie and Johnson where close enough to Major Anderson and his men that they were able to watch each other’s daily routines of prepping and drilling for the upcoming battle.
The two sides had been staring across the water at each other since December of the previous year and tensions where high as war could break out at any moment.
And break out it did on April 12th, 1861.
Officially.
However, the first shot of the war was actually fired a month prior.
On March 8th, a 42 lb Confederate cannon ball whistled across Charleston Harbor, smashed into the wharf of Fort Sumter and ricocheted into the ocean.
Major Anderson and his men quickly grabbed their guns and officers scrambled to climb parapets, scanning the opposing forts to see if they could determine from where the shot had originated.
Yet, no subsequent shots followed that lone cannon ball.
In fact, the only thing that the Union officers saw were a handful of rowboats, occupied by a few Confederate officers, slowly making their way across the harbor.
Upon arrival at Fort Sumter, the embarrased Confederate officers explained that the cannon shot had been a mistake.
Some inexperienced gunners had forgotten that one of the cannons they were practicing on still contained a live ball and not the blanks they thought they were using.
The Confederate officers apologized profusely and were relieved to find that no one had been hurt in the accidental discharge.
A month later, the next round of cannon fire would be leveled upon Fort Sumter, sparking the official start of the Civil War.
And these shots where no longer accompanied by apologies.
