American Story podcast series123:06-125:08
Hey, tomorrow, don't miss episode 16 of The American Story. It is wherever you find your podcast this weekend. It's episode 16, How the Civil War Started, Lincoln, Early Battles, and America's Deadliest Turning Point. Do we have a clip from it? I don't care, whichever, whatever we have time for. And Lincoln faced a trap. If he abandoned Fort Sumter, he signaled weakness, maybe even the end of federal authority. But if he reinforced it, he risked provoking war. So he chose something in between. He notified South Carolina's governor that a supply ship was coming, with food only, no troops, no guns. It was classic Lincoln chess, forced the other side to fire the first shot. Lincoln's instructions to Anderson were clear. The resupply would be peaceful unless resisted. But in Charleston, Lincoln's nuance in the situation didn't matter. To the Confederacy, any resupply was aggression. Confederate Brigadier General Beauregard received his orders on April 10th. Demand surrender, and if Anderson doesn't comply, reduce the fort to rubble. At noon the following day, slaves rode three Confederate aides more than three miles across the harbor with the ultimatum. At Fort Sumter, they were received by U.S. Army Lieutenant Jefferson C. Davis. Not to be confused with the other Jefferson Davis, who had recently become president of the Confederacy. Major Anderson consulted with his officers. Without additional food, they could hold out for maybe five more days at most. Anderson refused to surrender, and in his message to the Confederates, said this. I will not in the meantime open my fire upon your forces unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort or the flag of my government. At 4.30 a.m. the next morning, the first mortar shell arced high from Fort Johnson and burst above Sumter like a signal flare from hell. You don't want to miss this. This is the beginning of the Civil War. We take you through all of the threats on Lincoln before anything, before he's even there. It's a remarkable story. It's the American story. And you can find that, the American story, wherever you get your podcast it comes out tomorrow get it wherever you get your podcast tomorrow or you can get all 20 episodes commercial free at glennbeck.com slash torch
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