“The Traitors Are Firing On Sumter!”

April 12, 2011, marks the 150^th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War, as this is the anniversary of the bombardment of Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The bombardment began at 4:30 a.m. and lasted continuously for 34 hours until the Union forces surrendered. President Abraham Lincoln immediately called for 75,000 volunteers to organize to take back the fort. Connecticut’s response to Lincoln’s call was swift and unequivocal as the following excerpt from Beer’s 1885 History of Middlesex County indicates:

During the interval between the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 and the bombardment of Fort Sumter in 1861 the position of Connecticut was not equivocal. The declarations and acts of her governor, her legislature, and her representatives in Congress, were all in favor of a firm maintenance of the national honor, and against any concession to those who sought to compromise that honor, or to humiliate the nation.*

Very few Nutmeggers opposed the actions of the federal government. In fact, such was the enthusiasm of the people that an entire regiment was raised within 4 days and within 3 weeks, 54 companies—5 times the quota required by the federal government—had offered their services. Connecticut furnished 54,882 men for the war, of whom 1,804 were in the navy. The total represents over 6,600 more than the quota required by the state. Furthermore, the number of men who served from Connecticut, in proportion to the state’s population, was exceeded only by Iowa and Illinois.

Connecticut’s population at the time was about 460,000. The state would supply 30 full regiments to the war effort;  2 of these regiments—the 29^th and 30^th—were entirely Black , constituting an amazing 25 percent of the Black population of the state at the time (8,600). At least 5,318 Nutmeggers died during the war, including 97 officers.

Besides manpower, however, Connecticut played other important roles in supporting the war effort. Notable gun manufacturers, such as Colt’s and Sharp’s in Hartford and the New Haven Arms Company, manufactured arms for the Union army. Waterbury—the brass city—made most of the buttons for Union uniforms, and Mystic shipbuilders produced naval vessels for the cause; the Hazard Powder Company of Hazardville, CT, supplied gunpowder. Henry Clay Work, a Middletown resident, even furnished music for the war campaign, as he was responsible for writing the very popular Civil War song, “Marching Through Georgia.”

In 1960, the state legislature established the Civil War Centennial Commission. One principal task of that commission was to find an historian to write the history of Connecticut’s participation in the war. The commission wisely chose John Niven—a war veteran himself-- to write the story. The result was Connecticut For The Union, published in 1965—a book long out of print and rather difficult to find these days. Niven had this to say about April 12, 1861, in Connecticut:

Friday, April 12, was a raw, storm-lashed day. Streaks of rain and wind   blown in fitful gusts whipped telegraph wires and interfered with transmission. By early morning the news that Sumter had been under attack since 4:30 a.m. was known along the line of the New York and New Haven Railroad, and a little later the news had reached New London and Norwich by way of the Shore Line Road. At the same time Hartford telegraphers in the New Haven and Hartford depot were relaying the news…The storm increased in intensity, and all Saturday night transmission was intermittent. Sunday dawned clear and beautiful…The worse had come to pass.**

The war had started. It lasted almost exactly 4 years. Before it was over, the Civil War would claim more lives—over 620,000 (soldiers)—than the sum of all of our other wars combined from the American Revolution through Vietnam. The price in blood was enormous.

Note: This article begins a series of Civil War-related articles on Connecticut’s role in the War of the Rebellion. Similar articles will regularly appear in this column to commemorate the statewide sesquicentennial activities that begin this week and will continue throughout the year.

Notes, Sources, and Links:

1.  * History of Middlesex County 1635-1885—Beers.
2. ** Connecticut For The Union by John Niven; Yale University Press, 1965.
3. http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties
4. Croffut, William A. and John M. Morris, Military and Civil History of Connecticut During the War of 1861-1865, New York: L. Bill, 1868.
5. Union regiments had about 1,000 men (about 10 companies).
6. Article title comes from postings found in CT telegraph offices.