165 Years Ago Today

Exchange Hotel/Confederate HQ

"On April 12, 1861 - 165 years ago today - Confederate batteries opened fire on Union troops who refused to abandon Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.

The telegram ordering General P.G.T. Beauregard to fire on the fort was sent the previous evening from the Winter Building, which still stands today on Dexter Avenue in Montgomery.

Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had their offices in the Exchange Hotel, which was located on the site of the old Colonial Bank building, because the governor and the legislature were using the capitol building to continue operating Alabama's state government.

Confederate Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker walked across the street from the Exchange Hotel to send the bombardment order from a telegraph office located on the second floor of the Winter Building, and that's how simply the War Between The States began."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of those voting in favor of opening fire on Ft. Sumter thought the "war" would last one month.

It continues for four years!