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Easy Rider
Location: Moscow on the Ohio
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Originally Posted by Superbelt
1) How is your source able to make the decision that the ships were war ships and not supply ships?
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Abraham Lincoln, inaugurated President of the United States on March 4th, soon adopted the war policy which had been initiated by the concentration of troops by Major Anderson at Fort Sumter in December, 1860, the ordering of the Star of the West to Charleston harbor in January, 1861, with troops, arms and supplies, and the summons of several ships of the distant squadrons to steam homeward. The policy most practicable for immediate hostilities as became apparent to President Lincoln's advisers, was an invasion of the Confederacy by way of the ocean and the gulf. The first objective point, Charleston; the first State to be overthrown and brought to terms, South Carolina; the first movement, reinforcement of Fort Sumter, peaceably if permitted, otherwise by force. This plan was maturely considered during March, while the Confederate leaders were held in suspense with the hope of peace. which caused them to wait for the action of the Federal administration. At length, on the 8th of April, South Carolina was officially informed that "an attempt would be made to supply Fort Sumter, peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must." Eight armed vessels with soldiers aboard had been sent to sustain the notification, and moved so quickly on this expedition that only an unexpected storm at sea caused delay enough for the Confederate authorities to successfully meet the issue.
The Confederate States objected to this movement of the Federal authorities, because the reinforcement was invasion by the use of physical force; because it asserted the claim of the United States to sovereignty over South Carolina, which was in dispute; and because the supply of the garrison in Fort Sumter with necessary rations was not the object nor the end of the expedition. The purpose was to secure Fort Sumter, to close the port with the warships, to reduce Charleston by bombardment if necessary, to land troops from transports, and thus crush the rebellion where it was supposed to have begun by overthrowing South Carolina. This admirable scheme was frustrated by the necessary, prompt and successful attack on Fort Sumter after General Beauregard had exchanged the usual formalities with Major Anderson. http://www.civilwarhome.com/confedhistorypart3.htm
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Originally Posted by Superbelt
2) The land is an island and was never a part of Carolina property to begin with
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I think jb2000 answered sufficiently in the quote that follows from a previous message .
The question of whether Ft. Sumter was ever S. Carolina land (as posted by others) is not meaningful. Noone denied that it was a Federal fort, and by the same token, I don't think anyone can argue that it would have made sense, had the South been recognized as independent, for the fort to remain in Federal hands. The fact that it was created by Federal mandate or whatever doesn't change the fact that being in a S. Carolina harbor, for it to not become S. Carolina territory would be untenable.
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Originally Posted by Superbelt
3) Do you see the similarity to Guantanamo Bay?
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Yes I do. I don't know much about the history of Guantanimo Bay but it would seem that the analogy doesn't help my assertion that South Carolina was justified. A short search for info on Guantanimo turned up the fact that we still believe we are leasing it. I assume Castro would have resisted if he had the means to do so.
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The first American casualties of the Spanish-Cuban-American war were two marines killed at Guantánamo on June 11, 1898. A U.S. Marine battalion camped there the day before, marking the first U.S. presence on the bay.
Just about five years later, on February 23, 1903, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba leasing the bay for 2,000 gold coins per year. The agreement was forced on the puppet Cuban government (with an American-citizen for President) through the Platt Amendment, which gave U.S. authorities the right to interfere in Cuban affairs.
On July 2 1906, (just before the 2nd U.S. military intervention, a new lease is signed in Havana for Guantánamo Bay and Bahía Honda, for which the U.S. will pay a meager $2,000 per year.
After Cubans annulled the Platt Amendment in 1934, a new lease was negotiated between the Roosevelt administration and a U.S.-friendly government that included Fulgencio Batista as one of three signatories. Batista emerged as the strong man on the island over the next twenty-five years.
When the Revolution triumphed in 1959, the U.S. banned its soldiers stationed at the bay from entering Cuban territory. Legally speaking, Guantánamo should have been returned to Cuba at this time.
"It's no secret," writes Rafael Hernández Rodriquez in Subject to Solution: Problems in Cuban-U.S. Relations, "that the main mission of the naval bases in this area of the Gulf is to control, police and spy on Cuba."
In an interview with Soviet journalists in October 1985, U.S. President Ronald Reagan said that the purpose of the base was political: to impose the U.S. presence, even if the Cubans didn't want it.
Every year the U.S. sends a check for the lease amount, but the Cuban government has never cashed them.http://www.historyofcuba.com/history...ts/guantan.htm
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