Everyone
knows that the beginning of the Civil War began with the attack on Fort Sumter
in Charleston Harbor. But not many know
of what the response was to this attack on the north and the south side of this
fight. How would newspapers of this time
respond to such a significant event in are countries history. How was this event covered with the building
up of this attack on the United States? One is to believe that both sides
covered it in a wave of bias towards their respected sides. How was the buildup played out in the papers
and what were the average Americans saying about this event? Through my readings of these newspapers of the
time from both sides it has me to believe that the excitement was amped up
through newspapers and possibly led to both sides becoming more involved with
the war effort as it began at Fort Sumter.
You
must begin with the succession of the south after the election of 1860. The first state to leave the Union was South
Carolina on December 20, 1860 then many other Southern states followed after
that. Once this happened South
Carolinians thought of themselves as a free country. There was one problem that South Carolina did
see as it was a new country and it was that Fort Sumter was still in the hands
of the United States and many citizens of South Carolina wanted it in the their
own hands. They would stop at nothing to
take this out of the Unions hands as the New York Herald reports “Unquestionably
this unsuccessful attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter will be promptly followed by
an assault of the South Carolina troops on that fortification, and we may
expect to hear of bloody work in a few days.”[1]
This from the North seems to have
called what was going to happen after reinforcements sent to Fort Sumter didn’t
make it. A few days later a telegram to Macon, Georgia
over the excitement of the alleged evacuation of the fort sent August 4,1861. “South
Carolina was never so well prepared, and her people are anxious for a fight.” The rumors going around at this tense point
are astonishing and it is coming from both sides
As
rumors kept on going from both sides one could only see how the South then
attacked the fort. Knowing that Lincoln
was never going to give up the fort South Carolina still tried to reason with
the commanding officer at the fort Major Anderson replied to the governor “To
do so would be inconsistent with the duty that he owes to his government”. That was the last thing sent between both
sides as the next day April 12, 1861 Fort Sumter was attacked. As the battle was won by the South and the
fort was surrendered. During this time the correspondents for many of the paper were reporting how the people were reacting to this attack as one reporter reports "With the very first boom of the gun thousands rushed from their beds to the harbor front, and all day every available place has been thronged by ladies and gentlemen, viewing the solemn spectacle through their glass". The whole United States watched as the Civil war began on that day. There was excitement throughout the South as the fort surrendered from Richmond Virginia "Resolved, That we rejoice with high, exultant, heartfelt joy at the triumph of the Southern Confederacy over the accursed government at Washington in the capture of Fort Sumter".
With the attack of Fort Sumter it began the civil war even though one side thought it was the beginning of their Independence from the United States the other side used it as a battle cry and began to turn on the nations war machine. Most thought that it would be a short war and like the rumors before Fort Sumter they were wrong again. As Lincoln says "You can have no conflict without you yourselves being the aggressors".
1]
The
New York Herald , April 1, 1861
http://www.newshistory.com/feature/dramatic-newspaper-coverage-battle-fort-sumter-attack-began-civil-war.
"This Terrible War the Civil War and its Aftermath" Michael Fellman Lesley J. Gordon, Daniel E. Suterland. Pearson Longman.
www.richmondthenandnow.com/Newspaper-Articles/Sumter-Celebrations-in-Richmond.html
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