lt. henry s. farley fired the first shot of the civil war at fort sumter.
lt. henry s. farley fired the first shot of the civil war at fort sumter.
who fired the first shot of the civil war at fort sumter?
lt. henry s. farley
at 4:30 a.m. on april 12, 1861, lt. henry s. farley, acting upon the command of capt. george s. james, fired a single 10-inch mortar round from fort johnson. (james had offered the first shot to roger pryor, a noted virginia secessionist, who declined, saying, "i could not fire the first gun of the war.") the shell exploded over fort sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at fort moultrie, fort johnson, the floating battery, and cummings point. under orders from beauregard, the guns fired in a counterclockwise sequence around the harbor, with 2 minutes between each shot; beauregard wanted to conserve ammunition, which he calculated would last for only 48 hours. edmund ruffin, another noted virginia secessionist, had traveled to charleston to be present for the beginning of the war, and fired one of the first shots at sumter after the signal round, a 64-pound shell from the iron battery at cummings point. the shelling of fort sumter from the batteries ringing the harbor awakened charleston's residents (including diarist mary chesnut), who rushed out into the predawn darkness to watch the shells arc over the water and burst inside the fort.
battle of fort sumter
on friday, april 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., confederate batteries opened fire, firing for 34 straight hours, on the fort. edmund ruffin, noted virginian agronomist and secessionist, claimed that he fired the first shot on fort sumter. his story has been widely believed, but lieutenant henry s. farley, commanding a battery of two 10 inch siege mortars on james island fired the first shot at 4:30 a.m. no attempt was made to return the fire for more than two hours. the fort's supply of ammunition was not suited for the task; also, there were no fuses for their explosive shells, which means that they could not explode. only solid iron balls could be used against the confederate batteries. at about 7:00 a.m., captain abner doubleday, the fort's second in command, was given the honor of firing the union's first shot, in defense of the fort. he missed, in part because major anderson did not use the guns mounted on the highest tier, the barbette tier (where the guns could engage the confederate batteries better), where the gunners would be more exposed to confederate fire. the firing continued all day. the union fired slowly to conserve ammunition. at night, the fire from the fort stopped, but the confederates still lobbed an occasional shell into sumter. on saturday, april 13, the fort was surrendered and evacuated. during the attack, the union colors fell. lt. norman j. hall risked life and limb to put them back up, burning off his eyebrows permanently. a confederate soldier bled to death having been wounded by a misfiring cannon. one union soldier died and another was mortally wounded during the 47th shot of a 100 shot salute, allowed by the confederacy. afterward, the salute was shortened to 50 shots. accounts, such as in the famous diary of mary chesnut, describe charleston residents along what is now known as the battery, sitting on balconies and drinking salutes to the start of the hostilities.
fort sumter