Charleston in the American Civil War embattled leaders knew each other well. Beauregard, back at West Point, had been Anderson's assistant. So he prepared to defend Fort Sumter for the Union, the, large garrison-sized Stars and Stripes flying above the small group of 85 Federal men. After a 34-hour bombardment, Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Throughout much of the war, cadets from the Citadel, South Carolina's military institute, continued to aid the Confederate Army by helping to drill recruits, manufacture ammunition, protect arms depots, and guard Union prisoners. On December 11 of 1861, a massive fire burned 164 acres of the city, destroying the Cathedral
Irish Americans in the American Civil War American Civil War as a war to free the slaves and thus blamed them for the draft, as well as the war. Many black people were caught by the mob, stabbed, and lynched as a result. When the riots started, the New York State Militia were absent because they had been sent to assist regular Union troops repelling General Lee's Confederate Army in Pennsylvania, thus leaving the New York City Police Department as the only serious force available to put down the riot. The city police were unable to halt a crowd which was ten times more numerous, and the