“A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War” is the subtitle of Erik Larson’s latest book, “The Demon of Unrest.” Larson is one of my favorite non-fiction authors, and the impeccable research that went into “The Devil in the White City,” “Dead Wake,” “Isaac’s Storm” and the rest of his oeuvre so eminently enjoyable and informative is clearly apparent in this newest work.
All most of us learned in history class about Fort Sumter was that it was the flashpoint of the War Between the States. Larson goes into deep and fascinating details as to the socio-economic dynamics that led to the War, and focuses on the minutiae of what went on in the run-up to the attack, with perspectives from both sides. The attack itself is discussed in precise, almost minute-by-minute detail. And the writing is almost poetic. For example: “To the onlookers on Charleston’s Battery, the scene had a strange beauty: black smoke, white pillows of cloud, dazzling blue sea and sky, and over the water an indigo shadow cast by pulsing orbs of smoke backlit by the sun.”
The battle itself was full of sound and fury, but amazingly light on bloodshed, Larson determined. That no one had been killed in the bombardment itself was remarkable given that the Confederate batteries had fired 3,341shells and balls, and Fort Sumter about a thousand.” There were only a few minor injuries on each side until the sole fatality of the conflict. The Union forces were allowed to fire a face-saving hundred round salute from their cannons, but on the 48th round one cannon blew up, killing the gunner. The surrender itself turns out to have been quite formal and gentlemanly. That would not be true of most of the conflict that followed.
Great history, great research, great read.
The Union 2nd in command was Abner Doubleday of baseball fame. He later became a general of fairly indifferent talents but had a good day at Gettysburg on the first day. He took over I Corps after Reynolds was killed shortly after arriving and held off a superior Confederate force for most of the day. He was blamed for the eventual collapse which actually started in XI Corps, as at Chancellorsville several months before. Meade chose to believe O. O. Howard who unfairly blamed Doubleday.
“To the onlookers on Charleston’s Battery, the scene had a strange beauty: black smoke, white pillows of cloud, dazzling blue sea and sky, and over the water an indigo shadow cast by pulsing orbs of smoke backlit by the sun.”
“Black Smoke”? This must be poetic license. Where would “Black Smoke” come from? Did the fort or the town catch fire and burn?
It could not have come from firing off all those thousands of rounds of cannon shells. Good old Black Powder was the propellent used during the civil war. When black powder is fired off, it produces brilliant WHITE smoke. So, if the smoke was coming from all that cannon fire, then it should have been:
“…the scene had a strange beauty: white smoke, white pillows of cloud, dazzling blue sea and sky, and over the water an indigo shadow cast by pulsing orbs of smoke backlit by the sun.”
Sorry for the nitpick! 🙂
However, I seem cursed with a mind that will spot even minor incorrect details, concerning firearms (or cannon), and chaffs when these details are wrong. It makes watching movies produced in Hollywood a challenge. It often disrupts the “suspension of disbelief” necessary to lose oneself in a story.
Mas, you are expanding my vocabulary. I have never seen the word oeuvre before this article. Now I know.