Sober US remembers Civil War
Source: Agencies |
April 13, 2011, Wednesday
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SOMBER period music, flickering candlelight and booming cannons will usher in America's observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
The opening salvo of that war that began in Charleston Harbor was to be recreated yesterday. The war began before dawn on April 12, 1861, with the start of a Confederate bombardment of Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The conflict ended four years later with the surrender of Confederate forces in Virginia on April 9, 1865.
"We're very clear we don't see this as a celebration but rather as a somber time," Tim Stone, superintendent of the Fort Sumter National Monument said on Monday. "We know that over the course of the four years of the Civil War 600,000 lives were lost. It's a very tragic event."
Commemoration of the first shots was to begin with a brief, pre-dawn concert of period music on Charleston's Battery entitled "When Jesus Wept." Then a star shell will explode over the fort, signaling the start for several hundred re-enactors - manning cannon around the harbor - to re-enact the bombardment. Union troops in the fort surrendered after more than 30 hours of Confederate fire.
Re-enactors portraying Confederate units are camping at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, while Union re-enactors are in Sumter this week. They plan to recreate the Union surrender to Confederate troops tomorrow.
Stone said the National Park Service sees the anniversary as an opportunity for new generations to learn the story of the bloody conflict.
"We hope that in the National Park Service that manages many of the great Civil War sites - Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Antietam and, of course Fort Sumter - we provide the visiting public the opportunity to experience the history of those events."
The opening salvo of that war that began in Charleston Harbor was to be recreated yesterday. The war began before dawn on April 12, 1861, with the start of a Confederate bombardment of Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. The conflict ended four years later with the surrender of Confederate forces in Virginia on April 9, 1865.
"We're very clear we don't see this as a celebration but rather as a somber time," Tim Stone, superintendent of the Fort Sumter National Monument said on Monday. "We know that over the course of the four years of the Civil War 600,000 lives were lost. It's a very tragic event."
Commemoration of the first shots was to begin with a brief, pre-dawn concert of period music on Charleston's Battery entitled "When Jesus Wept." Then a star shell will explode over the fort, signaling the start for several hundred re-enactors - manning cannon around the harbor - to re-enact the bombardment. Union troops in the fort surrendered after more than 30 hours of Confederate fire.
Re-enactors portraying Confederate units are camping at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, while Union re-enactors are in Sumter this week. They plan to recreate the Union surrender to Confederate troops tomorrow.
Stone said the National Park Service sees the anniversary as an opportunity for new generations to learn the story of the bloody conflict.
"We hope that in the National Park Service that manages many of the great Civil War sites - Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Antietam and, of course Fort Sumter - we provide the visiting public the opportunity to experience the history of those events."
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