Talk:Battle of Fort Sumter

Siege of Ft Sumter

Currently the intro paragraphs of this article contain this weaselly language: "During the early months of 1861, the situation around Fort Sumter increasingly began to resemble a siege."

It didn't RESEMBLE a siege. Ft Sumter was under an actual literal siege, from approx Dec 26 or 27 of 1860 until it was finally taken on April 13 of 1861. The incident with The Star of the West on Jan 9 shows the siege in action. Interdiction of supplies to the fort is exactly what a siege is. One of the first items on Lincoln's desk when he took office was a notice that the garrison at Ft Sumter was running low on supplies; the siege having its inevitable effect.

This is important, because downplaying the Confederate actions up before April 12 is an arguing tactic of Lost Cause sympathizers. Tacitly supporting the view that what was happening at Sumter from Dec 27 thru Apr 11 wasn't siege warfare, seems to violate NPOV policies.

I want to be clear that I don't intend any "blame" or criticism whatsoever of any of this article's previous authors/editors. Lost Cause sympathizers work very hard – have worked hard for many decades – to frame the discussion around the events at Ft Sumter. This aspect is an insidious little trap; easy not to notice. But the bombardment was not the first act of war levelled against Ft Sumter in 1861.

I'm going to make a change here, to clarify that it was an actual siege from January thru April. (Not immediately; will spend some time planning how to phrase it, to fit in with the rest of the article.) If anyone disagrees, let's discuss. Jim Hardy (talk) 21:31, 6 February 2025 (UTC)