The Cannons Roar

Fort Sumter and the Start of the Civil War—An Oral History

Bruce Chadwick

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781639363407
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

The first-ever oral history ofthe attack that started the Civil War that combines illuminating historical narrative withintense first-hand accounts. On April 12, 1861, Confederate troops began firing on Fort Sumter, beginning the bloodiest conflict in American history. Since that time numerous historians have described the attack in many well-regarded books, yet the event still remains overlooked at times in the minds of the public. The Cannons Roar seeks to remedy that. Rather than providing a third-person, after-the-fact description, acclaimed author Bruce Chadwick will tell the story of the attack from the people who were in the thick of it. In so doing, readers can hear from people themselves, telling a compelling story in a new way that both draws readers in and lets them walk away with a better understanding and appreciation of one of the most dramatic and important events in our nation's history. The Cannons Roar will not only provide portraits of the major players that are more descriptive than those offered by historians over the years, it will give voice to dozens of regular people from across the country and socioeconomic spectrum, to provide readers with a true and complete understanding of the mood of the country and in Charleston.Using letters, newspaper articles, diaries, journals, and other written sources, Chadwick describes in vivid detail the events preceding the attack, the attack itself, and its aftermath. While we hear from historic pillars like Abraham Lincoln to PGT Beauregard to Jefferson Davis, Chadwick also features Charleston merchants and Northern farmers, high society doyennes and "the dregs, " South Carolina's new governor Francis Pickens, who was the blustery former Minister to Russia. Collectively, readers will obtain a fuller understanding of the politics and thinking of political and military leaders that influenced their decisions or lack thereof. The book will also capture both the South and North's expectations regarding England entering the war (as well as letters from England's leaders showing their reluctance to do so), as well as an expectation on both sides of a quick resolution.Skillfully combining traditional historywith the in-the-moment ethos of an oral history, The Cannons Roar to bring this historic moment in American history to new and vivid life.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Main Characters
• Prelude: Blaming Major Anderson: March 4, 1861
• Chapter 1: Washington, D.C.: The White House: March 5, 1861
• Chapter 2: The Coming Storm
• Chapter 3: Washington, D.C.: Lincoln’s Inaugural Address to a Nation Holding Its Breath
• Chapter 4: Washington, D.C.: The White House: Ugly Abe Lincoln
• Chapter 5: Washington, D.C.: Lincoln’s Humor
• Chapter 6: Charleston, South Carolina: What to Do About Fort Sumter?
• Chapter 7: Fort Sumter: Peace, Not War
• Chapter 8: Charleston, South Carolina: The Jewel in the Crown
• Chapter 9: Montgomery, Alabama: The Capital of the Confederacy
• Chapter 10: Fort Sumter: The March to Battle
• Chapter 11: Fort Sumter: Blaming Major Anderson
• Chapter 12: Charleston, South Carolina: The Drumbeat for War Grows Louder
• Chapter 13: Washington, D.C.: Rumors of War
• Chapter 14: (Still) Blaming Major Anderson
• Chapter 15: Fort Sumter: Brother Against Brother
• Chapter 16: Washington, D.C.: Prime Minister Seward
• Chapter 17: Charleston, South Carolina: Sex, Sex, and More Sex in the Old South
• Chapter 18: Charleston, South Carolina: Lincoln’s Envoys Plunge into a Hostile City
• Chapter 19: Fort Sumter: The Cannons Roar
• Chapter 20: Pensacola, Florida: Fort Pickens: A Messy Thorn in Everybody’s Side
• Chapter 21: Fort Sumter: The Bombardment
• Chapter 22: Columbus, Ohio: April 12, 1861, Glory to God!
• Photographs
• About the Author
• Sources
• Index
• Copyright