What if Lewis Powell's gun had fired?

[MaddieM]

(09-09-2012 04:25 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  With due respect MaddieM, your facts are wrong. The land was ceded to the federal government in 1805 by South Carolina and the fort was originally built by the federal government in the 1820s to protect the harbor of Charleston.

Please read this history of the fort which was issued by the National Park Service.

I would also recommend:

Lincoln and the First Shot by Richard Nelson Current, who has in his last chapter a historiographical account of Lincoln and the Sumter crisis. I would also recommend any of a dozen books on the secession crisis. I'm sure they are available in your local library.

Best
Rob

However.... A state of war often wipes away any past claims of ownership for land or property. So regardless of the history of the place, the fact remains that it was clearly 'reclaimed' as it were. No doubt both sides saw themselves as being in the right. That too, is the nature of war time. Often, land and or property is reclaimed in this way when war breaks out. The history of the place is therefore erroneous in this case, as the confederacy clearly considered it theirs to take.