150th Anniversary of the "Offical" Opening of the US Civil War

Flag of the Union at Ft. Sumter & Confederacy
150 years ago today

150 years ago the US Civil War officially started with the shelling of a US Base that was just off the coast of South Carolina.

Shots had already been fired in Charleston Harbor on January 9, 1861. But this occurred before the formation of the Confederacy.

South Carolina fired upon The Star of the West. But this ship did not belong to the US Navy. And on that date, only one state had left the union - South Carolina. Coincidentally Mississippi was on the cusp of leaving the Union. Mississippi was in the Union on the morning of January 9th 1861, but out of the Union by nightfall.

Thus the Alpha & Beta of the Confederacy was South Carolina and Mississippi.

Rising of the Confederate Flag
Ft. Sumter - April 1861

But by April 12, 1861 - seven states formed the Confederacy under provisional president Jefferson Davis. Seven states dissolved their ties to the US Constitution under the 15th president - Buchanan. The rebel governments were essentially dissatisfied with the outcome of the 1860 Presidential Election. Even today, several nations especially in Africa are fighting wars over political elections (Ivory Coast).

Perhaps it would have been more polite to give the new president a 90 day trial run before trying to get your money back...so to speak? Instead, seven states jumped the gun and got out before any official business could take place under the democratically and fairly elected president could take one breath of presidential air.

Thus the first shot of the Confederacy occurred 150 years ago today, along the enchanted and hallowed shores of South Carolina. It started over a small thing, the possession of a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was the straw the broke the camels back, or rather the snowflake that caused an avalanche.


Of course there were other political considerations, which unto this day still remain hotly contested by some...