American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces on April 13, 1861

American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces: Fort Sumter is an island fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Originally constructed in 1829 as a coastal garrison, Fort Sumter is most famous for being the site of the first shots of the Civil War (1861-65). U.S. Major Robert Anderson occupied the unfinished fort in December 1860 following South Carolina’s secession from the Union, initiating a standoff with the state’s militia forces. When President Abraham Lincoln announced plans to resupply the fort, Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. After a 34-hour exchange of artillery fire, Anderson and 86 soldiers surrendered the fort on April 13. Confederate troops then occupied Fort Sumter for nearly four years, resisting several bombardments by Union forces before abandoning the garrison prior to William T. Sherman’s capture of Charleston in February 1865. After the Civil War, Fort Sumter was restored by the U.S. military and manned during the Spanish-American War (1898), World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45).

Fort Sumter: Construction and Design

Fort Sumter was first built in the wake of the War of 1812 (1812-1815), which had highlighted the United States’ lack of strong coastal defenses. Named for Revolutionary War general and South Carolina native Thomas Sumter, Fort Sumter was one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817. The three-tiered, five-sided fort’s coastal placement was designed to allow it to control access to the vital Charleston Harbor. While the island itself was only 2.4 acres in size, the fort was built to accommodate a garrison of 650 soldiers and 135 artillery pieces.

Construction of Fort Sumter first began in 1829 in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on a manmade island built from thousands of tons of granite. Building ground to a halt in the 1830s amid a dispute over ownership of the stretch of the harbor, and did not resume until 1841. Like many Third System fortifications, Fort Sumter proved a costly endeavor, and construction slowed again in 1859 due to lack of funding. By 1860 the island and the outer fortifications were complete, but the fort’s interior and armaments remained unfinished.

Fort Sumter: The First Battle of Fort Sumter

Construction of Fort Sumter was still underway when South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Despite Charleston’s position as a major port, at the time only two companies of federal troops guarded the harbor. Commanded by Major Robert Anderson (1805-1871), these companies were stationed at Fort Moultrie, a dilapidated fortification facing the coastline. Recognizing that Fort Moultrie was vulnerable to a land assault, Anderson elected to abandon it for the more easily defensible Fort Sumter on December 26, 1860. South Carolina militia forces would seize the city’s other forts shortly thereafter, leaving Fort Sumter as the lone federal outpost in Charleston.

A standoff ensued until January 9, 1861, when a ship called the Star of the West arrived in Charleston with over 200 U.S. troops and supplies intended for Fort Sumter. South Carolina militia batteries fired upon the vessel as it neared Charleston Harbor, forcing it to turn back to sea. Major Anderson refused repeated calls to abandon Fort Sumter, and by March 1861 there were over 3,000 militia troops besieging his garrison. A number of other U.S. military facilities in the Deep South had already been seized, and Fort Sumter was viewed by many as one of the South’s few remaining hurdles to overcome before achieving sovereignty.

With the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) in March 1861, the situation soon escalated. Knowing that Anderson and his men were running out of supplies, Lincoln announced his intention to send three unarmed ships to relieve Fort Sumter. Having already declared that any attempt to resupply the fort would be seen as an act of aggression, South Carolina militia forces soon scrambled to respond. On April 11, militia commander P.G.T. Beauregard (1818-1893) demanded that Anderson surrender the fort, but Anderson again refused. In response Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter shortly after 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861. U.S. Captain Abner Doubleday (1819-1893)—later famous for the myth that he invented baseball—ordered the first shots in defense of the fort a few hours later.

Beauregard’s 19 coastal batteries unleashed a punishing barrage on Fort Sumter, eventually firing an estimated 3,000 shots at the citadel in 34 hours. By Saturday, April 13, cannon fire had broken through the fortress’s five-foot-thick brick walls, causing fires inside the post. With his stores of ammunition depleted, Anderson was forced to surrender the fort shortly after 2 p.m. in the afternoon. No Union troops had been killed during the bombardment, but two men died the following day in an explosion that occurred during an artillery salute held before the U.S. evacuation. The bombardment of Fort Sumter would play a major part in triggering the Civil War. In the days following the assault, Lincoln issued a call for Union volunteers to quash the rebellion, while more Southern states including Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee cast their lot with the Confederacy.

Fort Sumter: Later Civil War Engagements

Following Beauregard’s bombardment in 1861, Confederate forces occupied Fort Sumter and used it to marshal a defense of Charleston Harbor. Once it was completed and better armed, Fort Sumter allowed the Confederates to create a valuable hole in the Union blockade of the Atlantic seaboard.

The first Union assault on Fort Sumter came in April 1863, when Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont (1803-1865) attempted a naval attack on Charleston. Commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, Du Pont arrived in Charleston with a fleet of nine ironclad warships, seven of which were updated versions of the famed USS Monitor.

While Du Pont had hoped to recapture Fort Sumter—by then a symbol of the Confederate rebellion—his attack was poorly coordinated and met with unfavorable weather conditions. In collaboration with Fort Sumter, Confederate batteries commanded by P.G.T. Beauregard hammered the ironclad fleet with artillery fire, and underwater mines posed a constant threat to the ships’ hulls. Outgunned and unable to properly maneuver in heavy currents, Du Pont’s fleet eventually withdrew from the harbor after taking over 500 hits by Confederate guns. Only one Union soldier was killed during the battle, but one of the ironclads, the Keokuk, sank the next day. Five Confederates were killed during the attack, but the damage to Fort Sumter was soon repaired and its defenses improved. Confederate soldiers even managed to salvage one of the Keokuk’s 11-inch Dahlgren guns and mount it on the fortress.

In July 1863 Union troops laid siege to Fort Wagner, a valuable post on Morris Island near the mouth of Charleston Harbor. After being met with heavy fire from Fort Sumter, Union General Quincy Adams Gillmore (1825-1888) turned his guns on the fort and unleashed a devastating seven-day bombardment. On September 8 a force of nearly 400 Union troops attempted to land at Fort Sumter and capture the post by force. Union Rear Admiral John Dahlgren (1809-1870) mistakenly believed the fort was manned by a skeleton crew, but the landing party was met by over 300 Confederate infantry, who easily repulsed the assault.

Following the failed infantry attack, Union forces on Morris Island recommenced their bombing campaign on Fort Sumter. Over the next 15 months, Union artillery effectively leveled Fort Sumter, eventually firing nearly 50,000 projectiles at the fort between September 1863 and February 1865. Despite suffering over 300 casualties from the Union bombardments, the beleaguered Confederate garrison managed to retain control of the fort until February 1865. Only when Union General William T. Sherman was poised to capture Charleston did the Confederates finally evacuate. Union forces would reclaim Fort Sumter on February 22, 1865. Robert A. Anderson and Abner Doubleday, the two commanding officers from the original siege of Fort Sumter, would both return to the fortress on April 14, 1865, for a flag raising ceremony.

History Channel / Wikipedia / Britannica Encyclopedia / Civil War.org / U.S. National Park Service / Smithsonian American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces (YouTube)

Understanding Military Terminology - Military standard transportation and movement procedures

(DOD) Uniform and standard transportation data, documentation, and control procedures applicable to all cargo movements in the Department of Defense transportation system. Also called MILSTAMP.

Joint Publications (JP 4-01) The Defense Transportation System

The Old Salt’s Corner

Battlegroup Commanders

The overall battlegroup commander is the Composite Warfare Commander (CWC) who acts as the central command authority for the entire battlegroup.

The CWC designates subordinate warfare commanders are assigned to the:

CWC for air warfare (AWC),

Surface warfare (SUWC) undersea warfare (USWC),

Strike (STWC) and space and electronic warfare commander (C2W).

Supporting the CWC and his warfare commanders are coordinators who manage force sensors and assets within the battlegroup.

The CWC must remain cognizant of the tactical picture in all warfare areas and must be able to correlate information from external sources that develop locally. Generally, three prerequisites are necessary to adequately maintain the tactical picture: communications to disseminate information; displays to retain it; and a watch staff to understand and interpret it.

“I’m Just Sayin”

“Never discourage anyone

who continually makes progress,

no matter how slow.”

~ Plato

“Thought for the Day”

“People do not quit playing

because they grow old;

they grow old because

they quit playing.”

~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

“What I Have Learned”

“The six most important words: I admit I made a mistake.

The five most important words: You did a good job.

The four most important words: What is YOUR opinion?

The three most important words: If you please.

The two most important words: Thank You.

The one most important word: We.

The least important word: I.”

~ Anonymous

Bizarre News (we couldn’t make up stuff this good – real news story)

Why is Friday 13th unlucky? What has happened on the date?

That’s because the rare occurrence where the 13th day of a month falls on a Friday is not exactly popular with most people.

It’s thought to be downright cursed.

Is it because a really bad franchise of American horror films about a machete-wielding killer who never dies, and wears a hockey mask, was named Friday 13th? No, not really.

The Friday 13th movies were named after a very old superstition surrounding the date, which usually occurs between one and three times per year.

The fear of this single date is called paraskevidekatriaphobia (from the Greek), and it’s a spin-off of the more common fear of the number 13 (triskaidekaphobia).

Many people believe that the superstition is rooted in the crucifixion.

After all, Jesus Christ was betrayed on a Friday, and at the Last Supper there were 13 individuals present in the Upper Room.

This is evidenced in paintings of the Last Supper, when you count all the people at the table, including Christ himself.

However, we also have the stock market to blame for Friday 13th hysteria. A 1907 novel by Thomas W. Lawson called Friday, the Thirteenth helped spread awareness of the date.

The novel is about a stockbroker who decides to create a financial panic around the date itself in order to take advantage of the result.

It begins: “Friday, the 13th; I thought as much. If Bob has started, there will be hell, but I will see what I can do.”

If that wasn’t enough, some other novels, including those by Dan Brown, seem to link the fear back to Friday 13th October 1307.

This is the date when King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of the Knights of the Templar, a Catholic military order.

Yet in Spain and Greece, Tuesday 13th is thought to be the unlucky date, while Italians believe Friday 17th is a day of doom.

Beyond all this, no one quite knows the logic behind why everyone should have something to fear on a particular date.

But if you see a masked man in a ripped parka in a dark alleyway this Friday, you better run.

METRO (04/11/2018)

Mr. Answer Man Please Tell Us: Are There Number 1 Pencils? Are there Pencils other than Number 2? What are they good for?

Almost every syllabus, teacher, and standardized test points to the ubiquitous No. 2 pencil, but are there other choices out there?

Pencil makers manufacture No. 1, 2, 2.5, 3, and 4 pencils—and sometimes other intermediate numbers. The higher the number, the harder the core and lighter the markings. (No. 1 pencils produce darker markings, which are sometimes preferred by people working in publishing.)

The current style of production is profiled after pencils developed in 1794 by Nicolas-Jacques Conté. Before Conté, pencil hardness varied from location to location and maker to maker. The earliest pencils were made by filling a wood shaft with raw graphite, leading to the need for a trade-wide recognized method of production.

Conté’s method involved mixing powdered graphite with finely ground clay; that mixture was shaped into a long cylinder and then baked in an oven. The proportion of clay versus graphite added to a mixture determines the hardness of the lead. Although the method may be agreed upon, the way various companies categorize and label pencils isn't.

Today, many U.S. companies use a numbering system for general-purpose, writing pencils that specifies how hard the lead is. For graphic and artist pencils and for companies outside the U.S., systems get a little complicated, using a combination of numbers and letters known as the HB Graphite Scale.

“H” indicates hardness and “B” indicates blackness. Lowest on the scale is 9H, indicating a pencil with extremely hard lead that produces a light mark. On the opposite end of the scale, 9B represents a pencil with extremely soft lead that produces a dark mark. (“F” also indicates a pencil that sharpens to a fine point.) The middle of the scale shows the letters and numbers that correspond to everyday writing utensils: B = No. 1 pencils, HB = No. 2, F = No. 2½, H = No. 3, and 2H = No. 4 (although exact conversions depend on the brand).

So why are testing centers such sticklers about using only No. 2 pencils?

They cooperate better with technology because early machines used the electrical conductivity of the lead to read the pencil marks. Early scanning-and-scoring machines couldn't detect marks made by harder pencils, so No. 3 and No. 4 pencils usually resulted in erroneous results. Softer pencils like No. 1s smudge, so they're just impractical to use. So No. 2 pencils became the industry standard.

Artists Network • Mental Floss • Pencils.com • Quora • Wikipedia • How Pencils Are Made? (YouTube)

NAVSPEAK aka U.S. Navy Slang

Scullery: The washroom on board a ship for eating implements such as knives, forks, trays, and cups.

Scupper: 1) (Surface Navy) Opening in a bulwark which allows water to drain overboard.

(2) (Submarine Service) A funnel-like device used to collect rogue liquids (usually from overflowing tanks in engineering spaces), as free openings to the outside are frowned upon in submarine design.

Scupper Trout: Sewage solids which have washed overboard, or have been pumped overboard. Also called “Cornbacked Gator” or “Brown Trout.”

Just for you MARINE

Un-fuck: To correct a deficiency, usually on a person.

Under Arms: Status of having a weapon, sidearm, “MP” or “SP” brassard, or wearing equipment pertaining to an arm such as a sword sling, pistol belt, or cartridge belt as part of guard duty; Marines under arms do not remove covers indoors.

Under Canvas: Living under temporary sheltering, such as a tent.

Under Way: o depart or to start a process for an objective.

Naval Aviation Squadron Nicknames

VFA-87 - “Golden Warriors”
Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia - Established February 1, 1968

Where Did That Saying Come From?

“By the Book”  Meaning: Correctly; according to the rules.

Origin: Which book? Well, the Bible sounds like a good guess. That may be so, as the early meaning of the phrase was 'I swear it to be true', as in the oaths taken in courtrooms.

An example of that usage, is recorded in The Times, January 1833:

“Patience in troth! By the book, it's myself is the moral o' patience!”

The present meaning also emerged around the same time. The earliest citation I can find is from the mid-19th century - in Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in Rue Morgue, 1845:

“To have a retentive memory, and to proceed by 'the book', are points commonly regarded as the sum total of good playing.”

Phrases.org UK

Science & Technology

Burning Out: What Really Happens Inside a Crematorium • This Is the New Nuke Putin Is Gloating About • Astronomers Detect First Stars in the Universe, Pointing to Influence of Dark Matter • Japanese Spy Plane Catches a Ship Illegally Selling Oil to North Korea • The 2019 GMC Sierra Has a Wacky “Tailgate Within a Tailgate” • The A-10 vs. F-35 Flyoff Could Start This Spring

Popular Mechanics

The Strange, Mysterious or Downright Weird

Russian Government Says Not to Worry About These 54 Severed Human Hands Found in Siberia

Macabre bag containing 27 pairs of human hands found in bag on Amur River island. Mystery over who the hands belonged to, when they were chopped off, and why. GRAPHIC IMAGES

A fisherman in Siberia made a grim discovery yesterday (March 8) while walking near the icy Amur River: 27 pairs of human hands, severed at the wrist and stuffed into a bag. Russian authorities said the hands were likely disposed of by a local forensics lab, bucking proper protocol.

According to the Siberian Times, the fisherman found the bag of hands on a small river island near the city of Khabarovsk, Russia, located in the country's far southeast about 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) from the Chinese border. The Amur River is a popular local fishing destination, the Times reported.

Initially, the fisherman saw only one hand sticking up out of the snow there, and discovered the full bag soon after. Photos taken at the scene and shared anonymously to Russian media reveal the discovery in brutal detail. In one image, the 54 hands lie in a haphazard pile in the snow like leathery catcher's mitts, seemingly upended from the bag; in another photo, the hands have been lined up in neat rows. [27 Oddest Medical Case Reports]

While many social media spectators (naturally) suspect foul play, officials from the Investigative Committee of The Russian Federation - a government agency responsible for criminal investigations - have said that the hands appear to have been improperly disposed of by a forensics lab in Khabarovsk.

“The biological objects (hands) found are not of a criminal origin”, the Investigative Committee wrote in a post (as translated) on the messaging app Telegram, “but were disposed of in a manner not provided for by law.”

Indeed, medical bandages and plastic hospital-style shoes were discovered near the hands. According to the Siberian Times, it's not unheard of for forensics labs in Russia to cut off the hands of unknown corpses in order to retain fingerprint information after the rest of the body has been discarded. Despite this possible explanation, investigators have been able to lift fingerprints from only one of the 27 pairs of hands. Little is known about the hands' previous owners.

“Based on the [investigation] results, a legal assessment will be made of the actions of officials of the forensic medical institution in the city of Khabarovsk responsible for the disposal of these biological objects”, the Investigative Committee wrote.

Live Science (03/08/2018)