I hope you will all read my friend Richard's comment on the July 21 blog "Thursday, July 21, 1861 was a bloody victory for the South". It is excellent and I appreciate it.
Have you wondered what happened next? Richard touches on what "might have been" had the South gone on to take Washington. We can only speculate about that of course, but what we do know is that Lincoln replaced McDowell by General George McClellan.
Also in July 1861 the Federal navy began a blockade of the coast of the Confederacy. The South responded by building small, fast ships that could outmaneuvered Union vessels. Other than that, things seemed to be relatively quiet the remainder of 1861, until November 7 when Captain Samuel DuPont's warships silenced Confederate guns in Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard and took Port Royal, South Carolina.
Despite a tremendous volume of firepower, the loss of life on both sides was low. Total casualties came to less than 100. Union Commanders were DuPont and Thomas W. Sherman, and Confederate leaders were Thomas F. Drayton and Josiah Tattnall. I don't think any of these men went on to greater fame and fortune (at least I have not heard of them), but maybe you have!!!
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