I'll read anything Erik Larson writes. He has a brilliant way of weaving his inexhaustible research into a compelling story. So when I saw he had a new book out, The Demon of Unrest, it went immediately onto my reading list.
I'm a big fan of the history of the Civil War (and actually all of American history), so I was fascinated by how Larson could take a well-known tidbit of the Civil War -- the firing on Fort Sumpter -- and turn it into a full-fledged story. Of course he accomplished this; he's Erik Larson.
He weaves a tale by focusing on a few key players. He begins with Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union, contrasting him with Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity. He includes the delightful and catty Mary Boykin Chesnut, whose diary provides a fascinating peek into antebellum high culture. Woven throughout is newly elected President Abraham Lincoln, battling with the forces of time and awful communication. In addition, his frenemy and Secretary of State,William Seward, complicates matters at every turn.
While we know that Fort Sumpter will be fired upon by South Carolina, Larson has a fascinating way of making the inevitable less so. By giving us a window into the challenges Major Anderson faced, we can see how the march of time and the lack of clear communication pushed the nation inexorably towards Civil War. The timing was the worst it could be. Lincoln had been elected and that threw South Carolina into what it saw as a desperate fight for survival. But, Lincoln would not become president for another four months. That left the weak and indecisive Buchanan at the helm during these most critical days. The South thought Buchanan sympathetic to their cause and so believed succession would be a simple matter, like an amicable divorce. Just clean up a few house-keeping details and move on to separate lives. Buchanan did not actually see it that way, but decided to kick the can down the road to his successor.
Meanwhile, Lincoln was chomping at the bit to exercise power he did not yet have. He saw clearly that the South must not be allow to leave the Union. At a minimum, federal properties must be protected and reinforced. In frustration, he watched Buchanan dicker and let the all-important forts in the South Carolina harbor be taken over and reinforced by the Confederacy.
This uncertainty and lack of clear direction forced Major Anderson's hand. Finding the still-under-construction Fort Sumpter to be the most defensible property, he evacuated all the federal forces to it. While the surrounding military installations constructed batteries aimed exclusively at Sumpter, Anderson was running low on provisions and materiel. Although the South was allowed by Buchanan to pour men and resources into their stolen forts, any act of reinforcement by Anderson was seen as an act of war.
Lincoln faced an increasingly untenable situation. Sumpter needed reinforcements, but that very act would drive more states into the Confederacy and very likely start a war. Realizing that he had no choice -- Sumpter must be either surrendered or reinforced -- Lincoln approved a misguided and poorly planned mission to provide food and sneak in soldiers to the embattled location. The weather, hubris of the officers in charge, Southern batteries, and miscommunication conspired to assure the planned resupply never happened.
Sumpter fought valiantly, but once it became ablaze, all hope was lost.
Adding insult to injury, Anderson demanded a 100-gun salute to the bravery of the defenders. Miraculously, not one person at Sumpter had died in the battle. And yet, one of the cannons exploded during the salute killing one soldier. After the man was properly buried at sea, Anderson ordered the salute to continue, but limited it to 50. What a perfect picture of all that had gone wrong. So many, thinking they were doing the "honorable" thing, led to such eventual bloodshed.
Larson does a great job of telling "the rest of the story." He contrasts the "chivalry" (upper echelons of Southern society) and their elation at the start of the war to their eventual downfall. The Chesnuts lose everything; Ruffin shoots himself when he sees that his dream had turned into a nightmare. And the reader knows the horrifying destruction wrought by Americans killing other Americans.
Larson ends with a chilling anecdote: Anderson is invited back to Sumpter for a celebration at the war's end. The fort itself is in terrible shape, having been battered by Union forces over the course of the war. Anderson is a shell of his former self, never having recovered from the stress he faced in those months of uncertainty. At a dinner celebrating the victory, Anderson offers a toast to Lincoln and contrasts Lincoln ascension to the White House, under threat to assassination, to Lincoln's apparent security in a reunified nation. He had no idea that Lincoln lay dying at that very moment.
So much tragedy. So much possibility of a different outcome, and yet so much seems inevitable: all the elements of a great story.
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