Ladies and gentlemen, the war has begun. We begin with Fort Sumter, lying along Charleston Harbor. We so desperately wanted the fort because those Yankees are on our turf! Charleston is ours! Those Yankees have no right being here! So we started it.
"They would not surrender,"said General Beauregard, "we had no choice. The fort belongs to us." At 2:30A.M. on April 12, 1861, we ordered the Yanks to Surrender, Major Robert Anderson refused. Beauregard kept his word and ordered fire.
The 20 guns and 17 mortars fired on the fort, and they attempted to fight back with only 47 of their 140 guns operational.
