Summary of The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson E-Book
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Summary of The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
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Dark Magic
The author recounts the saga of Fort Sumter and the American Civil War, focusing on the events of January 6, 2021. The author reflects on the anxiety, anger, and astonishment experienced by Americans during the time of Sumter, highlighting the suspense of the time. The author questions how South Carolina became the site of America's greatest tragedy and what malignant magic led Americans to imagine the wholesale killing of one another. The author invites readers to step into the past, experiencing the passion, heroism, and heartbreak of that time, as if they were living in that day and did not know how the story would end.
A Boat in the Dark
On April 12, 1861, the fort of Charleston was transformed from a cluttered relic into an edifice of death and destruction. The fort's commander, Maj. Robert Anderson, and his garrison of U.S. Army regulars, along with a cadre of men under Capt. John G. Foster of the Army Corps of Engineers, had transformed it from a cluttered relic into an edifice of death and destruction. The fortress was still drastically undermanned, with only 75 soldiers, including officers, enlisted men, engineers, and members of the regimental band. However, its guns were ready, and five large cannon had been mounted on makeshift platforms in the parade and pointed skyward to serve as mortars, capable of throwing explosive shells into Charleston itself.
The fortress, named after Thomas Sumter, had become a profoundly dangerous place to invade and could have resisted attack quite possibly forever. However, it was staffed by men, and men had to eat. The food supply, cut off by Confederate authorities, had dwindled to nearly nothing. Major Anderson, a clean-shaven man, adored his family and mourned the separation required by the Army. He proposed a pact with Eba, who suffered from an indeterminate chronic illness, to save her the physical strain of writing letters.
Charleston was a central hub in the domestic slave trade, which thrived and accounted for much of the city's wealth. The "Slave Schedule" of the 1860 U.S. Census listed 440 South Carolina planters who each held one hundred or more enslaved Blacks within a single district.
South Carolina planters, known as the "chivalry," constituted an aristocracy with dominion over a subservient population of enslaved Blacks. This led to fear that this population might rise in rebellion. The 1860 census found that South Carolina had 111,000 more enslaved people than whites, and free and enslaved Blacks together accounted for over 40% of the population of Charleston, causing uneasiness among white citizens. Planters built backyard plantations with out-structures housing kitchens, stables, and slave quarters, surrounded by high walls to limit the dangers of insurrection and midnight murder.
The chivalry valued honor above all human traits and would happily kill to sustain it, but only in accordance with the rules set out in the Code Duello. They dressed in the highest fashion, rode magnificent horses over clean, well-tended streets, and promenaded nightly along the city's Battery.
However, time and steam began to upset this world, as South Carolina seemed to have fallen out of step with the nation's march into the Railroad Age. The Census Bureau's tally of occupations counted 364 railroad men in the state as of 1860, while New York had 6,272. Dennis Hart Mahan, a New York-born, Virginia-raised professor at West Point, wrote that South Carolina had grown ever more insular, with its fine old, careless hospitality no longer fitting with the modern age. Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, published in December 1860, exemplifies South Carolina's retreat into its own world of indolence and myth.
In April 1863, the Confederate forces arrived at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, to take control of the fort. Major Anderson informed the Confederate officers that they would soon run out of food and be starved into capitulation. They asked Anderson to declare a date and time for evacuation, and the Confederate batteries would stay silent to allow them to leave safely. Anderson's officers agreed to stay put and not surrender the fort before then.
Anderson assured the officers that he would evacuate the fort in three days, with a caveat that he would not open fires unless compelled to do so by hostile acts against the fort or the flag of the Union. The emissaries knew that a Union naval expedition was dispatched to Charleston, and they feared that the fleet might be an expedition of war.
The officers read Anderson's response on the spot, but his qualification rendered it moot. Col. James Chesnut, Jr., one of the chivalry's most-favored sons, wrote out a reply that informed Anderson that he would open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour. Anderson accepted this without comment, demonstrating that honor was more important to him than honor to the Confederate officers.
The officers departed from Charleston, heading west towards James Island, where a mortar battery was established in Fort Johnson. The garrison's distinctive American flag raised over the fort, symbolizing the bombardment of Sumter. The officers ordered their commander to fire one round at precisely four-twenty, signaling the bombardment of Sumter.
Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of the colonel delivering the Confederate ultimatum, described the party as the merriest and maddest she had had yet. The city had a festive yet anxious atmosphere, with house visits and return visits being intense. The atmosphere was "phosphorescent," with soldiers in uniform marching and singing, and the streets filled with soldiers in uniform marching and singing.
After a particularly buoyant dinner, Mary retreated to her room, feeling stifled and unable to see or hear the men. On Thursday, April 11, while Mr. C and his fellow officers shuttled to and from Sumter with their ultimatums, the fever of anxiety and war lust grew unbearable. Mary wrote in her diary, "Patience oh my soul—if Anderson will not surrender, tonight the bombardment begins." She lay awake, a church bell boomed four times, and silence followed. At four-twenty, the actual time designated for the first shot, there was again only quiet.
PART ONE
THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS
Cataclysm
On Election Day, November 6, 1860, in Springfield, Illinois, nearly everyone was already up and voting in a four-way race with Abraham Lincoln as the frontrunner. If none of the candidates obtained a clear majority of votes, the election would be decided in the House of Representatives. The day was marked by an "out-door tumult" as people surging toward the city's only polling place, on the second floor of the Sangamon County Court House. Lincoln's hometown, Springfield, was located in the Illinois state capitol.
A cataclysmic change occurred as if Lincoln won and the Republican Party took control in Washington, it would sweep out the administration of James Buchanan and the proslavery Democratic Party. The Democrats had held almost unshakeable control of both houses of Congress since 1833, but Lincoln seemed to have a chance. Conflict within the Democratic Party had caused a rift that led Northern and Southern factions to propose presidential candidates of their own. Lincoln's backers saw a clear path to the White House.
At about three-thirty, Lincoln walked across the square to cast his own vote, as adoring locals called out his various nicknames. A crowd followed him, and Lincoln made it easy by wearing a black silk stovepipe all the same. At the window, the candidate announced his name, "Abraham Lincoln," as if the clerk and everyone else in town did not already know him. He dropped his ballot in an adjacent glass bowl, demonstrating humility by snipped his own name from the paper ballot.
The early returns of the early elections in the South were brought to the campaign office via telegraph, transforming communication and causing tension. Lincoln, known for his secretive nature, was anxious and nervous. By nine o'clock, the tension was too great for him, and he walked to the telegraph office with secretary Nicolay and two friends. The messages arrived in code, and Lincoln received cryptic messages from the chair of New York's Republican Party. The crucial telegram from New York announced Lincoln's victory, with New York City winning by 250% of the vote. Lincoln also won Springfield by 222%. The election was seen as a crucible event, as it would determine whether the Southern States would remain free or be politically enslaved. Fire-eater Edmund Ruffin hoped that Lincoln would win, as he believed that if the South did not resist, future maintenance of their rights would be impossible and the end of negro slavery may be considered as settled. The election was a momentous crisis of institutions and the fate of the South.
In Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln won the election with nearly 1,866,000 votes, becoming the first president to win more than any candidate. However, the race was split four ways, and Lincoln took the Electoral College by a wide margin. The returns offered little hope for bridging the nation's division, as he received few votes in Southern states where he was included on the ballot. Lincoln's victory was met with uncertainty as the final certification of Electoral College votes would not take place for another three months.
The South did not like the outcome, as it had a direct cost on the financial well-being of its leading citizens, its planters. Cotton prices fell, and the market value of slaves limited their ability to use them as security for mortgages and investments. South Carolina reacted with fury, with federal judge Andrew Gordon Magrath resigning and vowing to obey only the wishes of his own state.
Lincoln was unsure of South Carolina's reaction, as he had won an election and America's greatest democratic tradition had been upheld. He revealed his own myopia, as he had little understanding of the South, particularly the existential fear that its planter aristocracy harbored about his becoming president.
A Proper Commander
Colonel John L. Gardner, commander of U.S. Army forces in Charleston, South Carolina, was increasingly worried about the vulnerability of Fort Moultrie, a squat fortress on Sullivan's Island. The presidential election had intensified the secessionist mood of Charleston, causing Gardner to become concerned that Fort Moultrie could be seized even by a mob of armed citizens. The fort was designed from the start to defend against ships of hostile foreign nations, with little attention paid to the potential for an attack from behind by fellow Americans.
Gardner had few soldiers and few small arms, and he had recommended that his garrison at Sumter be issued muskets from the city's federal arsenal. He also began to worry about a threat closer at hand, this from the civilian workers at the forts, many of whom were free men, many of whom were immigrants from Europe. Gardner feared that the workers, if armed, might "unrestrainedly deliver up the post and its contents on a bribe or demand." Instead of guns, he urged two companies to occupy both Sumter and Castle Pinckney.
Senior Army officials recognized that the colonel had to be removed and proposed to replace him with Major Anderson. Anderson, a Kentuckian by birth and a former owner of enslaved laborers, was sympathetic to the South but staunchly loyal to the U.S. Army. Before taking command in Charleston, Anderson had been promoted and assigned to help establish an "Artillery School of Practice" at Fort Monroe in Norfolk, Virginia, another important federal fortress.
In October 1860, Anderson asked to be relieved from his posting at the Fort Monroe Artillery School, and three days later, the Army issued Special Order No. 137: "Major Robert Anderson, First Artillery, will forthwith proceed to Fort Moultrie, and immediately relieve Bvt. [Brevet] Col. John L. Gardner, lieutenant colonel of First Artillery, in command thereof."
Charleston, a historic city in the United States, was a bustling port city that was surrounded by a peninsula at the convergence of two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. Visitors arrived by train or steamship, crossing the notorious Charleston Bar, a submerged triangular mass of shifting sand that required experienced harbor pilots. The city's southernmost wards were lined with two- and three-story homes embedded in rich, fragrant gardens, and many were encircled by airy verandas, or piazzas. The city's eastern waterfront was filled with masts and steamships, while swamps and mechanical industries occupied the west front. The Battery and its beloved esplanade formed the city's southernmost end, fronted by the mansions of the chivalry.
However, the streets were unpaved, and on hot, dry days, breezes raised clouds of dust. An unexpectedly primordial source aided in the city's sanitation, as observed by British visitor John Benwell. Charles Rosenberg, a countryman, decided to settle in Charleston, but with a caveat as to timing. The city had an heirloom quality, with an undercurrent of brutality for many visitors. Enslaved Blacks transported from the upper South in the domestic trade arrived by ship and train, and the city had thirty-two slave brokerages that held frequent auctions.
Ryan's Mart in Charleston became the center of slave trading, selling enslaved Blacks of all ages. The sale of a "Prime Gang of 235 Negroes" from the estate of Gen. James Gadsden on January 9, 1860, was a significant event in the South. The flyer for the sale identified the young people and their skills, which were crucial for their value as they grew up.
Anderson, born in the Deep South, understood the passions and resentments of the South and embraced the proslavery ethos that slavery was a positive good for both slaves and society. He believed that the Bible expressly permitted slavery. However, Anderson's senior officer, Capt. Abner Doubleday, believed that he had fallen out of step with the global shift that had driven the North and advanced societies of Europe to reclassify it as a repulsive moral wrong.
The Moultrie garrison maintained a comfortable relationship with the citizens of Charleston, and Anderson sought to establish a nonthreatening tone when he arrived at Moultrie. He echoed his predecessor's recommendation to reinforce Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney, arguing that strength was the best deterrent. Anderson knew that agitation for secession was intensifying, and Carolina authorities had made no secret of their desire to seize control of all federal property in the harbor.
As the storm of secession approached, scores of young men, dressed as the Young Men's Secession Association, marched through the city, bearing torches and firing off rockets and Roman candles. The clouds were gathering, and the storm may break upon them at any moment.
The Awakening
The text describes the life of Thomas Jefferson Hammond, a prominent planter in the South during the 18th century. Hammond was a leading advocate of secession but his greatest influence came from his role as one of the foremost architects of a profound shift in the South's thought about slavery and its own self. Hammond was born in 1807 and raised by a failure-prone father, Elisha, who sought to instill in his son a thirst for greatness. He attended a second-rate rural preparatory school called Poplar Spring, where his father assured him that great things lay ahead.
At South Carolina College, Hammond attended the "By-Laws," a handbook of rules that governed the behavior of gentlemen. The students developed a sensitivity to abrasions of honor and developed a penchant for violence. This became evident in the "Guard House Riot" in 1856, where over one hundred enraged young men confronted the city's militia.
At South Carolina College, Hammond may have engaged in sexual explorations involving men, or at least one man. Two letters survive that have led to endless speculation, both written in 1826 after the two men had graduated. One Hammond expert, Carol Bleser, took a boys-will-be-boys view, arguing that students often shared beds and that Hammond fell into the problematic cohort of teenaged boys.
The college instilled a reverence for Southern culture and the status of gentlemen, with the ultimate goal of training them in knowledge, virtue, religion, and refinement. The school's budget for 1845 included money for the purchase of a slave. Despite being fourth in his class, Hammond was disappointed to find himself working as a teacher at a provincial school, not graduating into the planter aristocracy. He decided to marry Catherine Fitzsimons, a fifteen-year-old heiress from one of South Carolina's richest families.
Hammond married Catherine, who became one of the wealthiest men in South Carolina. He quit his editorship at the Southern Times, closed his law office, and settled into his new life as a gentleman planter. His empire included 10,800 acres of land, centered on a plantation called Silver Bluff. The plantation had a sawmill, gristmill, cotton gin, and a small village of structures that housed the plantation's greatest asset: its enslaved laborers.
In total, Hammond owned 147 enslaved workers, of whom 73% were men and 74% were women. Enslaved Blacks were capital, and a slave family that regularly bore children was about as robust an asset as one could dream of. However, their penchant for dying inflicted financial costs in terms of lost labor and diminished capital. Hammond conflated human lives with other plantation assets, arguing that life seemed to be the mere sport of some capricious destiny.
Hammond, a planter, implemented a strategy of absolute dominance, allowing enslaved Blacks to visit town only twice a year and determining who would be allowed to marry or divorce. He also assigned names to babies and offered bonuses for newlyweds and divorces. Whipping was an important element of control, and planters preferred the more genteel term, "correcting." If a Black escaped, they received ten lashes for each day absent from the plantation, while if they returned voluntarily, it was reduced to three.
Hammond was selected by the state legislature to be a candidate for the House of Representatives in the 1834 U.S. congressional election. The chivalry did not go door to door begging for votes, and Hammond won. He and his fellow representatives did not physically convene until December 7, nine months later. In the interim, Hammond moved his family to Washington, where the slave trade thrived until 1851 when a federal law made it illegal to transport enslaved Blacks into the city for the purpose of being sold. Coffles of slaves moved over city streets to and from Washington's slave-auction houses and pens, where they were held between auctions or before transporting them to buyers and markets in the Deep South.
The Capitol building had its original wooden dome, which was replaced with a taller dome fashioned from cast iron. The assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson occurred before the Hammonds' arrival, and the assailant was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity.
The land around the Capitol was primitive, with cows milling about on the National Mall. Charles Dickens visited the city in 1842 to gauge the progress in realizing the grand design proposed in 1790 by Pierre L’Enfant. L’Enfant had envisioned grand boulevards radiating from the Capitol, linking distant quarters of the city. Hammond moved his family into a boarding house on Capitol Hill, where they lodged with John C. Calhoun, former vice president and now U.S. senator, and various South Carolina congressmen and their families. They shared meals and late-night conversation and shunned participation in the broader life of Washington.
During his congressional tenure, Hammond proved himself an effective partisan in the proslavery movement. He opposed all growth in federal power and presence, even "internal improvements" like railroads and canals, no matter how beneficial they might be. He and fellow activists went so far as to oppose funds bequeathed to America by an English philanthropist named Joseph Smithson, whose will directed that the money be used to found in Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.
