Why how odd then that the Charelstonians own press at the time atributed the first shots to their own Palmetto Guard under command of General Beauregard. The Students of the Citidal having been enlisted by him along with all of the other able bodied men of the City and surrounding countryside, were in fact, self professed and recognized to be part of the Confederate military.

Here is an excert from one of the broadsheets of the time:

Dispatches received from Montgomery state that President Davis was considering the propriety of going to Charleston, being satisfied that Fort Sumter was to be the great strategic point where the issue was to be tried as to the power of the Confederate States Government to maintain itself. He and his friends deemed it his duty to be on the ground.

ON 8th inst. Lieutenant Talbot arrived at Charleston from Washington. He had a conference with Governor Pickens and General Beauregard, but was not allowed to communicate with Major Anderson at Fort Sumter. Lieutenant Talbot started back for Washington on 9th. It is understood that the nature of his conference with Governor Pickens and General Beauregard was to obtain permission for an unarmed store-ship to victual the garrison at Fort Sumter. Permission was refused.

It is understood that Lieutenant Talbot then communicated to Governor Pickens the intelligence that supplies would be sent in to Major Anderson peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must. Immense preparations were immediately commenced suitable to the emergency. Orders were issued to the entire military force of the city, held in reserve, to proceed to their stations without delay.

At midnight the community was thrown into a fever of excitement by the discharge of seven guns from Citadel Square, the signal for the assembling of all the reserves ten minutes afterward. Hundreds of men left their beds, hurrying to and fro toward their respective destinations. In the absence of sufficient armories, at the corners of the streets, public squares, and other convenient points, meetings were formed, and all night the long roll of the drum and the steady tramp of the military and the gallop of the cavalry resounding through the city betokened the close proximity of the long-anticipated hostilities. The Home Guard corps of old gentlemen, who occupy the position of military exempts, rode through the city, arousing the soldiers, and doing other duty required by the moment. Hundreds of the citizens were up all night. A terrible thunder-storm prevailed until a late hour. The Seventeenth Regiment, 800 strong, gathered thus in one hour, and left for the fortifications early in the morning.

Four regiments of a thousand men each were telegraphed for from the country. One of these, from Kershaw District, under command of Colonel Rion, was formed with the, understanding not to be called out until the fight was positively at hand. Dr. Gibbs, Surgeon-General, was ordered to prepare ambulances, and make every provision for the wounded, and in all departments was observable the admirable system and discipline with which the State is prepared for this exigency.

On 9th, the floating battery, finished, mounted, and manned, was taken out of the dock and anchored in the cove near Sullivan's Island. All vessels in the harbor received a notification from General Beauregard to keep out of the range of fire between Fort Sumter and Sullivan's Island, on which Fort Moultrie is situated. As a further military necessity, a house situated near one of the batteries erected against the fort, supposed probably to interfere with its efficient working, was blown up.

Charleston telegrams state: Senator Wigfall, of Texas, and Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia (nearly seventy years of age), shouldered muskets and joined the army as privates. Numbers of old men have done the same. Even cripples are anxious to fight, and may be seen riding with the cavalry.

About 1000 troops were sent to the fortifications on 9th. Messrs. Wigfall, Chestnut, Means, Manning, M'Gowan, and Boyleston, have received appointments in General Beauregard's staff. A large number of the members of the Convention, after adjournment, volunteered as privates. About 7000 troops are now at the fortifications.

At noon on 11th Major Anderson was formally summoned, by General Beauregard, the commander of the secession forces, to surrender Fort Sumter. Major Anderson declined compliance, alleging that such a course would be incompatible with his duty to his Government. The people of Charleston were intensely excited on the receipt of this refusal to surrender the Fort. The piers and housetops, and all the places from whence a view of the harbor could be obtained, were thronged with men and women eager to witness the conflict, which was expected momentarily to begin. No hostile shot, however, was fired on either side. But later in the day negotiations were re-opened between the commanders, and pending their conclusion hostilities have of course been postponed. The Federal fleet had not made its appearance off Charleston at last accounts.

The non-arrival of the squadron off Charleston is doubtless due to the heavy gale that has prevailed along the southern coast for the past two or three days. The storm was so severe that a large number of vessels, including several steamers, were obliged to take refuge in Hampton Roads.

On Friday, 12th, at 27 minutes past 4 A. M., General Beauregard, in accordance with instructions received on Wednesday from the Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy, opened fire upon Fort Sumter. Forts Johnson and Moultrie, the iron battery at Cumming's Point, and the Stevens Floating Battery, kept up an active cannonade during the entire day, and probably during the past night. The damage done to Fort Sumter is stated by the Confederate authorities to have been considerable. Guns had been dismounted, and a part of the parapet swept away.

Major Anderson had replied vigorously to the fire which had been opened upon him, but the Charleston dispatches represent the injury inflicted by him to have been but small. The utmost bravery had been exhibited on both sides, and a large portion of the Charleston population, including five thousand ladies, were assembled upon the Battery to witness the conflict.

Down to our latest advices, the battle had been carried on solely by the batteries of the revolutionists and Fort Sumter. The Harriet Lane, Captain Faunce, the Pawnee, and another United States vessel, were said to be off the harbor, but had taken no part in the conflict. The Harriet Lane is said to have received a shot through her wheel-house.

The opinion prevailed in Charleston that an attempt would be made during the night to reinforce Fort Sumter by means of small boats from the three vessels seen in the offing.

No one had been killed by the fire of Major Anderson, and the casualties among the Confederate troops in the batteries were inconsiderable. There is, of course, no account of the loss, if any, among the garrison of Fort Sumter.

A telegraphic correspondence between the Montgomery War Department and General Beauregard, before the commencement of hostilities, has been published. On April 8 General Beauregard telegraphed that a messenger from President Lincoln had brought word that provisions would be sent to Fort Sumter—peaceably if possible, forcibly if necessary. Mr. Walker, the Secretary of War, replied, on April 10, instructing General Beauregard to demand the immediate evacuation of Fort Sumter, and if this was refused, to proceed to attack the fort in the way he thought best. The demand for surrender was accordingly made by General Beauregard, and Major Anderson replied, April 11, "It is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor and my obligations to my Government prevent my compliance." He added, also, "I will await the first shot, and if you do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in a few days." His answer being sent to Montgomery, the Secretary of War telegraphed back that if Major Anderson would state the time at which he would evacuate the fort, it should not be bombarded. To this Anderson would not consent, and upon his refusal hostilities began. The latest of those dispatches, that from General Beauregard to the Secretary of War, bears date April 12, and was received in New York a few hours after it was sent to Montgomery.



The Confederates themselves at the time pretty clearly are in agreement with modern historians when it comes to calling the begining of the war, exactly where it began. Anything else that may have been happening elsewhere in out of the way places obviously had little if anything signifigant to contribute to the oifficial opening of hostilities between the Confederacy and the Union.

The only muddeling of events seem to be the acts of more contemporary southerners who wish to glorify their ancestory by obfuscating the very well known facts of the day. Facts that are doubley confirmed in their newspapers and letters home and other offical transcripts and legal documnets.