US Fires the First Shot of the ACW

Delta Force

Banned
Under what circumstances could the United States have fired the first shot of the American Civil War instead of the Confederacy, particularly between Lincoln's election and the end of 1862?
 
i doubt they would have intentionally. Who the int'l community considered the aggressor was very important to Lincoln and the outcome of the war. My guess is, assuming Sumter never happened, the US would try to provoke the confederacy much like we provoked Mexico, Germany, etc etc. I could see confederate sympathizers entering territory claimed by the us (regardless of its allegiance) and getting attacked so that the US could "defend our sovereignty".

Now, without Sumter (which i doubt the US would have shot their way in) you would see a very different Confederacy. Virginia, NC, Tenn and Arkansas waited till after Sumter to succeed. That's basically the entire border region, and where most of the battles in the first couple of years would be fought. Without Sumter, i can see the United states waiting a decade or less while the Confederacy splits, succumbs to slave rebellions or yeoman uprisings or what have you, and then the first shot rings out when troops come in to "liberate" their trapped population and reclaim old territory.
 
Lincoln insisted the secessions were legally void and the U.S. would go about collecting the tariffs, delivering the mail, etc.

Ft. Sumter IIRC was part of the tariff situation.

Sooner or later, the Confederates will try to tell the Feds they have no jurisdiction and things will get ugly.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Perhaps the war could start with a maritime boundary or taxation dispute? Lincoln orders the USN to begin conducting "customs" inspections of ships going into Confederate ports in order to collect the federal tariffs and check for contraband that can fuel the illegal insurgency. Many ships from Europe and the CSA are caught up in what is essentially a blockade action, causing great concern for freedom of the seas for European and Confederate shipping companies.

One day a Confederate (or British) ship is stopped and searched by a smaller USN blockade ship and found to have illegal contraband onboard. The USN starts to tow the ship away when a larger CSN warship comes across the scene and responds to it as an act of piracy. After a brief exchange the USN ship is outmatched and surrenders to the Confederates, with the crew being taken to the CSA and charged with piracy.
 
Perhaps the war could start with a maritime boundary or taxation dispute? Lincoln orders the USN to begin conducting "customs" inspections of ships going into Confederate ports in order to collect the federal tariffs and check for contraband that can fuel the illegal insurgency. Many ships from Europe and the CSA are caught up in what is essentially a blockade action, causing great concern for freedom of the seas for European and Confederate shipping companies.

One day a Confederate (or British) ship is stopped and searched by a smaller USN blockade ship and found to have illegal contraband onboard. The USN starts to tow the ship away when a larger CSN warship comes across the scene and responds to it as an act of piracy. After a brief exchange the USN ship is outmatched and surrenders to the Confederates, with the crew being taken to the CSA and charged with piracy.

Unlikely, the Union had a MUCH better navy than the Confederacy.
 

Delta Force

Banned
Unlikely, the Union had a MUCH better navy than the Confederacy.

True, but many of those ships were smaller and obsolete. They were also spread out across the entire Confederate coastline, with only 60 or so modern warships available at the start of the blockade. The scenario above doesn't rely on the CSN being able to beat the USN in a pitched battle, just having local supremacy for a few hours, which is quite plausible.
 

Grimbald

Monthly Donor
The Winner writes the history books

In a Confederate victory , southern published histories would cite the Union troops firing on the Baltimore riots as the first shot or something not unlike that.
 
Under what circumstances could the United States have fired the first shot of the American Civil War instead of the Confederacy, particularly between Lincoln's election and the end of 1862?

The USA doesn't have to fire the first shot before the internal contradictions of the CSA force it to do so. The USA does more harm to the CSA by ignoring it than by opening a war with it.
 
True, but many of those ships were smaller and obsolete. They were also spread out across the entire Confederate coastline, with only 60 or so modern warships available at the start of the blockade. The scenario above doesn't rely on the CSN being able to beat the USN in a pitched battle, just having local supremacy for a few hours, which is quite plausible.

Not really. The Confederacy has no navy whatsoever at the start of the war, and had a hard task building one.

And something like the Virginia or those sorts of ironclads isn't going to be very effective as a sea going ship to put it mildly.
 
Under what circumstances could the United States have fired the first shot of the American Civil War instead of the Confederacy, particularly between Lincoln's election and the end of 1862?

Some union grunt with an itchy trigger finger at the Union garrison at Fort Sumter takes a shot at the slowly growing mass of rebels.
 
Can I just say that; arguably, the US did fire the first shots of the War.

Federal Troops at Fort Pickens opened fire on Southerners attempting to seize the fort on January 8th 1861.

The first shot in the Battle of Fort Sumter was not fired until April 12th 1861.

The Confederates also fired on the Star of the West on January 9th 1861.
 
Federal Troops at Fort Pickens opened fire on Southerners attempting to seize the fort on January 8th 1861.
well, objectively, this wouldnt be considered as Union troops firing the first shot, it would be defensive fire against encroaching enemies. if a union soldier personally picked out a passing confederate and shot him unprovoked, that would be firing the first shot (of that given engagement)
 
well, objectively, this wouldnt be considered as Union troops firing the first shot, it would be defensive fire against encroaching enemies. if a union soldier personally picked out a passing confederate and shot him unprovoked, that would be firing the first shot (of that given engagement)

I dont see why really. I mean, the Confederates at Fort Sumter didn't just pick some random passer by to shoot and if you use that criteria to judge who started the war then we can got back to John Brown at least and lay the blame there.

When Lieutenant Slemmer abandonded Fort Barrancas to fall back to Fort Pickens local Pro-Southern milita units came up to investigate, having heard rumours that Fort Barrancas had been abandonned. Picketts left by Slemmer act as a rearguard heard the milita coming and opened fire before fleeing to Fort Pickens.

It was not a Union vs Confederate affair, there were no orders to fire given and no ceremony such as when Edmund Ruffin fired one of the first shots into Fort Sumter but shots had been fired nonetheless.

So, as I said, arguably this could be called the incident where the first shots were fired.
 
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