Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Greetings from Fort Sumter!

Dear Francois,
Guess where I am?  On vacation in Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina!  Guess what I found out?!  The commander of the northern troops stationed inside of Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson, is my Great Uncle!!  He was stationed inside of Fort Sumter with his troops waiting for President Lincoln to send them some more supplies.  The commander of the southern forces, General Beauregard, wanted them to leave, but my Great Uncle didn’t want to leave.  He had not received orders from President Lincoln.  General Beauregard sailed out to them and told them that if they don’t leave they were going to start open fire in one hour.  Sure enough, at 4:30 am on April 12, 1861, Lieutenant Farliegh of the southern troops fired the first shot at Ft. Sumter.  That was the shot that started the war.  Eventually my Great Uncle decided to surrender on April 14th and asked if they could do a 100 shot salute before they sailed home.  During the salute, a cannon exploded and David Huff became the one and only casualty at Ft. Sumter.  Isn’t that crazy that Major Robert Anderson is MY Great Uncle!!!!
I hope you enjoy your vacation and see you when I get back!
Your Chum,
Maxime