The Student and The Teacher

The Civil War started 150 years ago last week. I present an intriguing tale from Fort Sumter to commemorate the occasion. This one is pretty widely known but still interesting.

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was a native of Louisiana trained at the United States Military Academy (Class of 1838). He was such a good artilleryman at West Point that he was kept on an additional year by one of his instructors. Beauregard moved around the South at the beginning of his career and eventually returned to West Point as Superintendent in 1861. He only lasted five days as the start of the Civil War compelled him to fight for his home South.

The most interesting part of G.T. (he eventually dropped the P) Beauregard's career came at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. He led the Confederate bombardment and eventual victory in the first battle of the Civil War. The Union General he defeated you may ask? Robert Anderson; the man who asked him to stay on at West Point.

p.s.:
Nothing to do with the Civil War. I'm proud to report that History Tours was named the #1 Google Earth Teacher Tool by highdefteacher.com.

May we borrow your Constitution?

In 1861, the Confederate States of America drafted their own Constitution, or did they?

The Confederate Constitution and the U.S. Constitution are remarkably similar. In a lot cases, entire sections are lifted. It's strange considering that men on both sides were fighting and dying for two documents that outlined ways of life that were almost the same.

The differences:
In the CSA, the President had a line item veto. The U.S. instituted the same in the 1990's, but it was quickly struck down as unconstitutional.

The President of the CSA would serve for one, six year term. At the time, U.S. Presidents were allowed to run for as many 4 year terms as they liked although all only ran for two out of respect for George Washington.

And the biggie, slavery. Slavery was expressly allowed in the CSA Constitution. Foreign slave trade was outlawed but there was no doubt that slavery would continue in the CSA and in any other states they added.

I decided to share this story after reading this post on Kenneth Davis's Don't Know Much About blog, which is great and everyone should read. I don't agree with everything in the post, but there are some very interesting points presented.

"I thought some of the boys might want the old gun."

In July 1863, Gettysburg, PA resident John Burns was 70 years old. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. He heard the sounds of war approaching his door. Burns took down his old musket and began to clean it. When he wife asked what he was doing, Burns replied, "I thought some of the boys might want the old gun." Before long, a group of Union troops were passing his house. Burns got up and joined right in with the Seventh Wisconsin. The soldiers gave him a new rifle and an ammunition box. Burns responded by saying he'd rather carry his bullets in his pocket instead of using one of "them new fangled things."

Burns was wounded three times and left lying on the field. A group of Confederates found him and carried him back home. He survived his injuries and later met Abraham Lincoln. Burns downplayed his role by saying, "I pitched in with them Wisconsin fellers."

Fighting in Congress, Actual Fighting

Oh, to be an antebellum politician. South Carolina Senator James Hammond was asked if he thought members of Congress were bringing weapons to work. His response. "The only persons who do not have a revolver and a knife are those who have two revolvers."

Let's start in the House of Representatives in 1858.
In the wee hours of February 6th, 1858, Pennsylvania Representative Galusha Grow and South Carolina Representative Laurence Keitt were in a heated argument. Then they hit each other. In a baseball-style fracas, the benches cleared. Northern representatives and western free soilers squared off with their southern counterparts. The scuffle eventually broke up with more hurt feelings than anything else.

The Senate, however, was a bit more violent.
On May 22nd, 1856, Representative Preston Brooks (S.C.) (accompanied by Laurence Keitt-- boy, he was trouble) walked up Senator Charles Sumner (M.A.) and began beating him with a cane. Sumner had a made a speech a few days earlier calling out supporters of slavery especially Brooks' relative Andrew Butler. Butler was at home in South Carolina recovering from a stroke. Sumner's speech apparently included a line which made reference to the stroke. Brooks thought that Sumner's actions did not deserve the gentlemanly way of resolving these issues; a duel. Brooks was punished by Congress and eventually resigned. He was, however, considered a hero in the South for the attack which is pretty telling of the tensions of the time.

Battle of the Crater

This is my favorite Civil War story. Picture this one in your head as you read.

The setting is just outside of Petersburg, VA in the Summer of 1864. For months, Union and Confederate forces have been stationed in trenches only 150 yards apart. Everyone was hungry and tired so some Pennsylvanians got creative. A few of the Keystone staters were coal miners by trade and decided they could dig a tunnel under the battlefield leading directly to the Confederate fort on the other side. It took four weeks but the soldiers managed to dig a 511 foot tunnel ending 20 feet below the Confederate fort. At the end of the tunnel was a huge room that they filled with 320 barrels of gunpowder.

In the middle of the night on July 30th, the fuse was lit. Nothing happened. Two brave soldiers ventured into the tunnel to see what happened. The fuse burned out. One relit the fuse and both ran out of the tunnel. In true Hollywood fashion, the bomb went off just as they exited the tunnel. Flames shot out of the cracks in the ground. A huge chunk of Earth was flung into the air. Confederate soldiers received quite the rude awakening. This was the of a lifetime opportunity for the Union army. Unfortunately, the enormity of the situation didn't only affect the Confederates. Many Union soldiers were so stunned by the explosion that they froze in place. It has even been said that the general in charge of the invasion got scared, hightailed it for a bunker, and began drinking rum as quickly as he could. The Confederates got their act together about the same time as the Union and delivered yet another Union loss on Virginia soil.

For more info, I suggest:
Steve Sheinkin's, Two Miserable Presidents