1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 635 The first shot of the civil war

Major Fox went to Charleston alone to negotiate with Beauregard, the Confederate commander of the Charleston troops, and begged Beauregard to allow them to send supplies to Fort Sumter.

Beauregard refused Fox's request and warned Fox that if Fox's fleet tried to approach Fort Sumter, he would not hesitate to fire on them and hoped that Fox would be fine.

Fox returned to his flagship Paul Patan angrily, but he did not give up his plan to support Fort Sumter.

Fox sent two shallow-draft, faster steamboats toward Fort Sumter to test the Confederate reaction in Charleston.

The Confederate artillery positions on both sides of Fort Sumter saw the two Yankee steam boats approaching Fort Sumter, and they fired without hesitation to drive away the two steam boats.

Seeing that the Confederate artillery fired and blocked the channel to Fort Sumter, two steam boats flying the Stars and Stripes sailed out of the range of the Confederate artillery.

Major Fox watched all this with a solemn expression. He knew that Beauregard had shown mercy to them. He only blocked the channel to Fort Sumter and drove away the two steamboats he sent.

These Confederate artillerymen had superb artillery skills. If Beauregard wanted to sink the two steam boats he sent, there was no way the two steam boats could sail out of the range of the Confederate artillery intact.

It seems that if you want to support Fort Sumter, you can only wait until night.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson and his men looked at the motionless Northern fleet floating quietly on the sea and stamped their feet anxiously, calling the navy cowards.

Anderson sent flag carriers to signal the Northern Army's support fleet, urging the Northern Army's fleet to move quickly. However, Major Fox ignored this and just looked up at the sun hanging above his head. At the same time, he prayed that the moon would not be too bright tonight. bright.

At the same time, President Davis's telegrams were sent to Beauregard's desk one after another in a hurry.

These messages were either inquiring about the situation at Fort Sumter and northern reinforcements, or urging Beauregard to capture Fort Sumter at all costs.

The newly born Confederate States of America needed a victory to boost the morale of its military and civilians, and it also needed a victory to intimidate the northern federal government and force them to sit at the negotiating table for peace talks.

Looking at the Northern Fleet that was anchored and floating on the Atlantic Ocean, Beauregard knew what Fox had in mind. He realized that he could not delay any longer and must carry out President Davis's order.

Beauregard once again sent his assistant, Major George, with his handwritten letter to Fort Sumter to persuade him to surrender.

Unsurprisingly, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson still refused to surrender, but Lieutenant Colonel Anderson still accepted the letter sent by his former student.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson opened the letter. After reading the letter, Anderson was so frightened that he ordered all soldiers in Fort Sumter to hide in underground bunkers.

At four o'clock in the afternoon on March 1861, 3, at the urging of President Davis and at the petition of the military and civilians of Charleston, especially the cadets of the Charleston Military Academy. In order to avoid long nights and long dreams, Beauregard finally made up his mind to seize Fort Sumter by force and ordered the Southern Army to bombard Fort Sumter and at the same time prepare for the landing of reinforcements from the Northern Army on the coast of Charleston.

The Confederate artillery positions fired hundreds of guns, and the cast iron shells roared towards Fort Sumter, completely breaking the calm, and the war finally broke out.

The local people in Charleston gathered on the shore, waving the Confederate star and square flag, watched this wonderful bombardment, and burst into cheers from time to time. Due to prior information, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson had ordered his men to take shelter in the underground bunkers in the fort in advance. Therefore, there were no casualties among the defenders of Fort Sumter in the first round of artillery fire from the Confederate Army. Fortunately, they escaped the first wave of artillery fire from the Confederate Army.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the Confederate bombardment finally weakened.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson heard that the frequency of the Confederate artillery bombardment had weakened, and then he led the soldiers to climb out of the underground bunker, and launched a symbolic counterattack against the Confederate army by manipulating the artillery.

Likewise, the counterattack by the garrison at Fort Sumter did not cause a single casualty to the Confederates at Charleston.

The first casualty on both sides occurred in the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment.

In order to cover Fox's fleet transporting supplies and reinforcements to Fort Sumter, Colonel Philip Regis de Trobriand, commander of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment, used the cover of darkness to launch a feint attack on the Confederate positions in Charleston. Made a sign of landing in Charleston.

During the feint attack, two landing craft were hit by Confederate artillery, and 18 soldiers of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment were killed on the spot.

Under the cover of the 55th New York Volunteer Regiment, Fox lived up to expectations and braved artillery fire to deliver 110 reinforcements and much-needed fresh water to the Fort Sumter garrison. It greatly boosted the confidence and morale of the garrison at Fort Sumter.

Of course, what was also sent to Fort Sumter was President Lincoln's handwritten letter. Anderson immediately read President Lincoln's handwriting under a kerosene lamp.

In this letter, Lincoln asked Lieutenant Colonel Anderson to hold Fort Sumter as long as possible before supplies were cut off, and allowed him to surrender when he ran out of ammunition and food.

Anderson's focus was on the second half. When he saw that Lincoln allowed him to surrender when he ran out of ammunition and food, Anderson cried with joy and called the president wise, long live the president! The officers around Anderson were also infected by Anderson's emotions and began to cry together.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, seeing the reinforcements of the Northern Army entering Fort Sumter, the Southern Army artillery intensified the intensity of the shelling after the police officers took a short rest.

Without saying a word, Anderson took his men and the reinforcements that had just arrived at Fort Sumter and crawled into the underground bunker like rats to avoid the Confederate artillery fire.

With the arrival of early morning, a faint dawn appeared in the east, illuminating the sea near the port of Charleston, which was filled with morning fog. The sky above Fort Sumter was already filled with smoke and the sky was filled with flames.

The Charleston Group watching on the shore could clearly see that the fortress of Fort Sumter had been damaged by the high-intensity bombardment of their artillery.

The Confederate artillery bombardment continued. At around 11 a.m., a loud bang was heard, and a huge mushroom cloud rose over Fort Sumter.

The Confederate artillerymen were overjoyed, thinking that they had successfully hit the ammunition depot at Fort Sumter, causing the ammunition stored in Fort Sumter to explode.

At Fort Sumter, Anderson's adjutant also reported to Anderson with joy that the ammunition depot had been exploded and they no longer had enough ammunition to counterattack the Confederate army. Anderson said calmly that he understood.

(End of this chapter)