A Rather Quiet Sesquicentennial April 12 (1861-2011)

On April 10, 1861, Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, in command of the provisional Confederate forces at Charleston, South Carolina, demanded the surrender of the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Garrison commander Anderson refused.

On April 12,1861, Confederate batteries in Charleston opened fire on the fort, which was unable to reply effectively. At 2:30 pm, April 13, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, evacuating the garrison on the following day. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening engagement of the American Civil War.

Check out the Fort today.
I was alive when the Centennial of the Civil War was marked and remember bits of it. Certainly the attention today is much, much less than the 1960's. That may be because the issues of the days are dramatically different. In some ways, the Civil War was being replayed then in the Civil Rights struggle of the time.

But for an event that totally reshaped the country's future -- slave/free, agriculture/industry, independent landowner-capitalists /corporate capitalists -- the tone is much more muted today. Perhaps we assume the issues are all settled and certainly Civil Rights are more secure now, but the political philosophies that shaped the conflict are still about to some degree. The "South" is once more an economic force to be reckoned with and has reshaped politics in the last 50 years.

I will be interested to see if more discussions emerge over the next four years as we try to remember and forget the war to caused the most military deaths in this country's history, as well as reconfigured our national future. Plus, will there be an appeal to the Divine that was so prevalent 150 years ago?