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Re: May 6, 2011
In Response To: Re: May 6, 2011 ()

"Could it possibly be that Buchannan was just doing the hand washing thing?"

I am sure that Buchannan being a lame duck President and having struggled with these problems for the last 4 years was just fine with having someone else to pass these troubles on too. He did not choose to run for re-election so that should be figured into the equation.

As for the terrain around Fort Moultrie I can not testify as to its condition in 1860. However it is today a thriving coastal community and I see no reason why troops could not have been landed and attack Moultrie from that direction. That was in fact the reason that Major Anderson gave for abandoning Fort Moultrie and moving to Fort Sumter in the first place was the suppostedly weak defences from the rabble of Charleston coming to sieze that Fort. If the militia and the mobs from Charleston could sieze Fort Moultrie then trained troops could do it also wouldn't you think?

My point about not being reasonablely to resupply Fort Sumter by sea without recapturing Fort Moultrie is the fact that a ship tied up to the wharf at Fort Sumter would be a stationary and easy target for the guns of Fort Moultrie. The ship would be kindling before it could be unloaded. Remember that Fort Sumter was built as an addition to the Charleston harbor defences not to replace those defences.

Fort Sumter was an important fortification in that harbors defences, but it was also dependent upon the other fortifications in the harbor for it support. And while Sumter could control the commerce shipping trade into and out of Charleston harbor it could not be supported from outside the harbor without at least controlling the ship channel between Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. Even then it would still be problematic with Johnson Island and Castle Pinckney still in southern hands.

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May 6, 2011
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LOL!
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