7.25 score years ago, this very day, the bloodiest war in US History, the Civil War, or The War for Constitutional Liberty... or The War for Southern Independence, The Second American Revolution, The War for States' Rights, Mr. Lincoln's War, The Southern Rebellion, The War for Southern Rights, The War of the Southern Planters, The War of the Rebellion, The Second War for Independence, The War to Suppress Yankee Arrogance, The Brothers' War, The War of Secession, The Great Rebellion, The War for Nationality, The War for Southern Nationality, The War Against Slavery, The Civil War Between the States, The War of the Sixties, The War Against Northern Aggression, The Yankee Invasion, The War for Separation, The War for Abolition, The War for the Union, The Confederate War, The War of the Southrons, The War for Southern Freedom, The War of the North and South, The Lost Cause, The Recent Unpleasantness or whatever you like to call it, began with an exchange of fire between the defending men under Union Major Robert Anderson and the seiging forces of Confederate Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard. Anderson and his men soon surrendered as the first prisoners of the Civil War and the country changed forever.

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"The war produced more than 970,000 casualties (3 percent of the population), including approximately 560,000 deaths. The causes of the war, the reasons for the outcome, and even the name of the war itself, are subjects of much controversy, even today."

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Now the answers to why all this happened, what we should call it and how the United States almost perished in the smoke and fire of civil war depends much on which historian's gospel you prefer. Sure, we've seen all the movies, they're all based on facts! The problem is, one stripe of historian will favor such-and-such ideas and insights over a different one's support of these-and-those facts and conclusions. And the folks these two self-loving inter-citing "established" historians label as "k00ks & crackpots" will usually go a bit further afield into the fringes and not-too-infrequently, stumble onto some ground-shaking and book-revising truth.

But you don't need any of them for perspective, not even the k00ks. Source files are easy to get these days and where do you think they got their ideas from in the first place? Take this day's famous event and read the letters and reports of the actual participants of the Battle of Fort Sumter. Remember, before the Civil War, this country was "These United States" and after more than half-a-million men died, we became "The United States." That small and costly shift signifies the beginning of what now is considered the US as a nation and these documents help clarify the mindset of the event's participants.

The Civil War and how it changed the world is a well-covered subject. So well-covered there are wildly varying accounts for why and how it happened. History can often be a conflicting subject, claimed as truth, based on whatever happens to be recognized as the correct and only facts. Can you just imagine the endless debates that last through the entire buffet at Whatever Annual Civil War (No! War Between the States!) Historians Conference? Just getting the program through the committee for printing must be an epic battle of wills.

Anyway, history is what they tell you it is. Sometimes, it's even what they Prophetize! But now, with more source documents being made available online every day, you have direct access to the history. It's everyone's history now. Some claim Abraham Lincoln was heard to say that "A tree is best measured when it is down..." in reference his approach to understanding complex problems. Whether he spoke it or not, that makes a lot of sense, so read up far-and-wide and decide for yourself!

Then call it whatever you like. I call it The Freemasonic Wars of the 1860s. And, if you look closely enough, you'll see they're about to resume.

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FACT:

Edmund Ruffin, at 67 a Fire-eater secessionist, is said — and disputed — to be the one who fired the very first shot at Fort Sumter starting the Civil War. What's not disputed is Ruffin loading a gun and committing suicide on June 17, 1865. Bookends the War quite nicely. Thanks Ruffin!

April 12, 1861
History | The Civil War | Fort Sumter | FACT

Delivered unto you by Grouchogandhi precisely at 11:02:00 PM