The South had tried to avert war from occurring by sending delegates to a Peace Convention in Washington in February, 1861. But the convention accomplished little as none of the states which had seceded by then sent any delegates to attend; nor had several Northern states. When further efforts to meet with President Lincoln were ignored, with Lincoln finally sending only Secretary of State William Seward to meet with them instead of doing so himself, the South viewed the meeting with Seward as a snub by the North. While the two sides still tried to avert war, the first unofficial act of the war had already occurred. It occurred when Confederate guns fired upon the Star of the West, an unarmed merchant ship trying to resupply Fort Sumter with much needed supplies.
The North had tried to avert war as well, to some degree, when they promised South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens their efforts to resupply Fort Sumter would not include providing the fort with additional troops, ammunition, or weapons, but merely with food. When the South later learned of the North’s plans to send a total of eight ships to Fort Sumter, ships containing both additional cannons and soldiers, the South viewed the act as a direct threat and they prepared themselves for war. The fact that a federal fort sat in Charleston’s harbor had long been a point of irritation for the South, especially to South Carolina. That irritation helped to make Fort Sumter the logical place for war to start.
As the South viewed the Union’s attempt to resupply Fort Sumter with additional soldiers as a direct threat, correspondence which occurred between Washington and the fort’s commander, Major Anderson, seemed to indicate Washington was certainly expecting war to occur. A Union loyalist despite being born in Kentucky, and despite having a wife who had been born in Georgia, Anderson also knew war was soon to come. A line in a letter to Anderson seemed to reveal Washington’s position on the expected conflict. “Whenever, if at all, in your judgment, to save yourself and command, a capitulation becomes a necessity, you are authorized to make it.” While it is quite unlikely Washington wanted the fort to fall into the hands of the newly formed Confederacy, history will always question whether Washington wanted the fort to fall to aid their position in declaring war against the South.
To the credit of Governor Pickens, and to others in the South who sought to avoid war, he allowed visits to the fort to occur so officials from Washington could meet with Major Anderson. Pickens later did deny permission for a United States warship to enter Charleston harbor, a ship whose alleged mission was to evacuate the personnel assigned to the fort.
Even with the efforts of both sides to avoid war, it was easy to see war was looming on several different fronts. The South, after learning of the approaching federal naval warships headed towards Fort Sumter, did attempt one last time to negotiate the peaceful surrender of the fort through Major Anderson. Remaining loyal to the North despite his strong Southern ties, Anderson refused to surrender the fort to the South. His reply to their final offer of a peaceful surrender was a simple one. In summary, it simply said, “I will await the first shot.” As Anderson knew war was imminent, he also knew the South would have to be punished for the aggressive act they would soon undertake.
Despite the strained relations between the two sides, negotiations to avoid war were often polite and cordial, and often done in face to face meetings. When the final attempt failed to avert war from occurring, during the negotiations between the South and Major Anderson, he was advised by Southern negotiators when the first shot would likely be fired at the fort. It was perhaps due to being friends with Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Brigadier General Pierre G.T. Beauregard which caused Anderson to walk the Southern negotiators to their boat as they prepared to leave Fort Sumter. Before they departed, Anderson spoke to them. “If we never meet in this world again, God grant that we may meet in the next.” It is still hard to imagine such civility, demonstrated at times from both sides as they met during last ditch efforts to avoid a war, could not have prevented it from occurring. It was a war which could have been avoided by men who should have worked harder. It would soon prove to be a war that lasted far longer than anyone could have predicted. It would have terrible results and would devastate both sections of the country, particularly the South, in the years that followed.
Charleston’s motto ‘She guards her buildings, her customs, and her laws’ would prove to be true in very short time after the Southern negotiators left Fort Sumter. Soon the Confederate Army, at around 4:30 a.m., on April 12, 1861, fired what is thought to be the first official shot of the war, a shot fired upon the garrison of Union soldiers stationed at Fort Sumter. Over the next many hours, approximately five thousand rounds of cannon fire would be traded between the two sides. When the firing slowed down, and as many of Charleston’s citizens still stood on the roofs of homes close to Charleston Harbor watching the exchange of cannon fire between the fort and the Confederate artillery batteries which lined the harbor, the flagpole at Fort Sumter saw a flag soon replaced by a newly created one. The flag of the Confederacy would fly there for some time before the flag of the United States was again raised there. On April 14th, with supplies running low, Major Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to the Confederacy. Nearby, two other smaller Union pieces of property, Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, sat off in the harbor, having already been seized by the Confederacy. Having lost Fort Sumter to the Confederacy, the Union would soon lose another important asset as well. Six days later Colonel Robert E. Lee would resign his commission in the United States army; a resignation that would cause him to be remembered by the ages.
Almost five weeks prior to the first hostile shot being fired, the Confederacy had called for one hundred thousand volunteers to help wage war against the North. Now Lincoln would do the same. The day following the fort’s surrender, he would call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to help put down the Confederacy. Neither of those first two calls for volunteers would be the last one each side would make.
After Brigadier General Beauregard’s troops had fired on the fort, the Confederacy, at first comprised of South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida, soon would be joined by several other Southern states. In short order, the states of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia would join the Confederacy. As the Confederacy grew, they would continue to seize other federal property in the South. Among those properties was the United States Mint in New Orleans. Within the mint was a large amount of Union gold and silver. That gold and silver would also be seized by the Confederacy to help finance their war efforts.
The gold and silver would soon be moved from New Orleans across the Confederate States of America. It would take another one hundred and fifty years for most of it to be found.
Summer, 2011
3
A New Friend.
“In my mind I’m gone to Carolina, can’t you see the sunshine,
can’t you just feel the moonshine . . .”
James Taylor—Lyrics to ‘Carolina In My Mind’
The move to Murrells Inlet had gone as smoothly for Paul and Donna as any move could go when you pull up stakes and move over eight hundred miles away from your family and friends and the world you knew. All in all it had gone fairly well. Despite the usual problems associated with such a move, such as trying to find the essentials they needed to live with, much of which was still packed away within the moving boxes stacked in their garage, they were settling nicely into their new home. They had found no matter how well the boxes had been marked before they were packed away in the moving truck, trying to find the items they needed after they reached South Carolina had been difficult. Despite those small bumps they managed to survive the move. Now they only had to try and remember the names of their new neighbors who popped in to welcome them to the neighborhood.
In the first few days in their new home, even as hard as she tried to put on a good face for Paul, Donna’s heart was still back home with her boys. She also continued to mourn the
recent loss of her father. Still, she tried hard to adapt to their new life.
Neither of them had planned on returning to work after moving to South Carolina, at least not right away. But one day when they stopped at the bank to open their new checking and savings accounts, the bank’s branch manager, Kristi Thomas, who had helped them secure their mortgage, introduced Donna to her regional manager. As the three of them talked, Donna told them about her career as a banker back in Connecticut.
Karen Tracy was the regional manager for the sixteen branches of the Murrells Inlet National Savings and Loan in the greater Myrtle Beach area. She immediately took a liking to Donna as they chatted in Kristi’s office for several minutes. Karen was a native South Carolinian who had received her degree from Central Connecticut State University. Due to her outstanding academic performance in high school she had accepted the school’s offer of a full scholarship as it also had given her a chance to see a different section of the country while obtaining her degree. Majoring in finance, just as Donna had done during her college years back in Connecticut, she had completed her studies in less than four years. During their conversation, Karen talked about still managing to maintain ties with several of her friends from college despite her many family and career obligations in South Carolina.
As they spoke, Karen encouraged Donna to submit an application to the bank as they were constantly looking for experienced people to staff their branches. Donna had not been interested in starting to work again, but when she was told the bank was having difficulty in filling a branch manager’s position in nearby Garden City, a branch which had consistently been their most non-productive office, her interest in returning to work quickly returned. As she listened to Karen talk about the position, Donna initially thought about taking her up on the opportunity for a formal interview, but then elected to decline the opportunity at first. Later that same afternoon, after thinking over the offer which had been given to her, Donna called Karen on the phone telling her she had succumbed to the opportunity of a new challenge. By late afternoon she had her resume emailed to Karen’s attention at the bank.
Earlier when they had talked, Karen had told Donna to make sure she wanted the position as the previous three managers at the Garden City branch had all failed to meet the bank’s expectations. Karen had told her this as she did not want Donna to have a negative experience so soon after moving to South Carolina. However, when told part of the problems at the branch seemed to have also included internal problems caused by some of the staff members, she felt even more challenged to seek this new position.
Donna’s previous employer had determined one of her strengths was she could quickly identify root causes of operational problems within their branches. They soon assigned her to evaluate several of their branches in hopes of making them run more efficiently. Donna never had a problem identifying who the problem employees had been and when she identified them they were often quickly terminated. Her efforts had made all of those branches perform higher than they ever had. Now she had an opportunity to face another similar challenge. When it came to running a tight ship at work, Donna ran a tight ship. Everyone who worked for her quickly learned the inmates no longer ran the show when she was in charge. The employees at the Garden City branch would soon learn the same thing.
On the other hand, Paul had no interest in returning to work full-time as the thirty years he had spent as a state trooper had been enough of the work world for him. He was ready for a much quieter lifestyle and that meant little, if any, work in the foreseeable future. However, just like Donna had, he also soon found a job. It was actually a job which found him and it was the result of a good deed he had done for a stranger.
Paul was out running errands and was returning home from Pawleys Island one afternoon during a heavy rainstorm when he saw a car partially blocking traffic northbound on busy Highway 17. Running along the Carolina coast, Highway 17 has two heavily travelled lanes of traffic running in each direction and serves as one of the main arteries between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. The elderly male operator of the disabled car was partially blocking traffic where the highway forks in Murrells Inlet. The operator of the vehicle had turned his four way emergency flashers on and was attempting to change a flat tire on the left rear of his Mercedes Benz when Paul first saw him struggling to get the spare tire out of the trunk of his car. Because of the heavy rain, as well as the traffic moving both too fast and too close to the disabled car, he could tell the elderly operator of the vehicle was not having too much success at fixing the flat tire.
“If I do not stop to help this guy somebody is either going to run him or his car over and then nobody is going to be getting home.” Getting out of his vehicle, Paul could not help but notice that none of the other passing motorists had stopped to help. “Just like back home, everyone is in their own little world, too busy to lend a hand to someone.” Soon he had the tire fixed and the flat tire put away in the trunk of the Mercedes.
As he closed the trunk, the elderly male operator attempted to hand Paul a twenty dollar bill as a sign of his appreciation for the service rendered to him. “This won’t do much for the wet clothes you have on, but please accept this as a token of my appreciation. You were the only one to stop in the fifteen minutes I struggled with the flat.” Steve Alcott then extended his right hand as another sign of his appreciation.
“That’s not necessary, I was glad to be of help. I’m sure you would have done the same for somebody else,” Paul said as they shook hands.
With no success, Steve tried one more time to hand him the twenty again. “Tell you what, if my money is no good, how about letting me buy you a drink to settle the debt I owe you. It’s the least I could do to show my thanks.”
Paul had been more interested in getting home to change out of his wet clothes, but he knew Donna was being interviewed that afternoon for the position with the bank. She would not be home for another two hours. “OK, sounds like a plan. Where are we going?”
“Great! Just follow me down the road and we will stop at my favorite watering hole.”
Within a few minutes, Paul found himself seated at the bar within The Grumpy Sailor, a restaurant located along the marshwalk in Murrells Inlet. Both the bar and the adjoining restaurant were decorated with beach and golf related themes. Sitting there, he still had his wet clothes on, but he was somewhat drier than he had been after first changing Steve’s flat tire. Paul had driven by the restaurant one afternoon with Donna when they had been out exploring their newly adopted hometown, but they had not yet stopped in for a drink.
Paul was somewhat surprised when the barmaid quickly placed a Dirty Martini, complete with two olives, directly in front of where Steve sat at the bar. She had done so before they could even order their drinks. When she addressed Steve by his first name, Paul guessed she had done so as he was likely a regular at the bar. “Hey, what’s your wet friend drinking?” Looking at both of them sitting there in their wet clothing caused her to ask Steve the next question. “You boys been riding the surf out back or what?”
Steve explained to Kathy Comer, the lone bartender on duty, the events of the afternoon. He told her how Paul had been the only person to stop and help him with his flat tire. He also told her his reward, besides a frosted mug of cold Coors Light, were the wet clothes he was still wearing. They both had gotten soaked from the typical late summer afternoon thunderstorm which had run along the coast as they struggled with the flat tire.
Kathy was a long time employee of Steve’s. He had liked her from the first day she started working for him and had liked her enough to help her financially make ends meet on a couple of occasions. She had worked at the bar off and on for the past twelve years, struggling to make ends meet for her and her three children after two tough divorces. In her late forties, she was still a very attractive looking woman. Paul watched her as she playfully flirted with several of the other customers sitting at the bar. She
seemed to know each of their first names as she set drinks down in front of them. Kathy soon set Paul’s frosted mug of beer down on the bar in front of him. “Thanks for helping him out with his flat tire. Even though he’s the owner of this dump, he’s a great guy. I appreciate what you did for him. If he had to do it by himself he probably would have died of a heart attack as the most work he ever does is counting his millions.” Steve could not help but laugh at her comments as he knew she was one of his few employees who really did care about his health. She had been the only employee of his who had occasionally looked in on him when he had recovered from two heart attacks a couple of years back. As she walked away from where they now sat on two bar stools, Steve tossed a sarcastic comment back at her, one which made her laugh as she started to mix a drink for another customer.
Taking a long hit on his cold beer, Paul saw he had not gotten all of the grime off of his hands from when he had changed the flat on Steve’s car. Using some of the drink napkins on the bar, he managed to quickly get most of the grime cleaned off his hands.
As he finished cleaning off his hands, Paul asked Steve if he really was the owner of The Grumpy Sailor. “Yes, I am. I’m lucky enough to own a few other places as well.” Pressing him some more, he soon learned Steve’s family had been among the early settlers of Murrells Inlet. Steve described how his family had set up a trust fund for him many years ago and further described how the fund had allowed him to invest in several real estate ventures in both Murrells Inlet and in nearby Pawleys Island. Besides the bar they were now spending part of the afternoon in, Steve told him he also owned a nearby strip mall, a family friendly water park which the tourists flocked to each summer, and a small strip of land along the ocean in Litchfield, the next town south of Murrells Inlet. “I’ve had several offers for that piece of property, but I’m not interested in selling it. I do pretty well with what I own, considering the current economy and all, but of everything I own that dang water park makes me a ton of money every year. Those tourists are some of my favorite people.” Steve was not bragging as he spoke to Paul, he was just still amazed after all of these years how well his small water theme park had managed to provide for him.
Confederate Gold and Silver Page 3