Replies

Had the North invaded the South or fired upon the South first?

Ummm... pull out a US map... no, really, go on, we'll wait for a sec...

Got it? Okay, good. Now look up SOUTH CAROLINA... over there on the lower right... it's kinda far from the Pennsylvania/Maryland border, aka the Mason-Dixon Line.

Now, WHERE were those first shots fired again? Ft Sumter... Ft Sumter... in WHAT state? That's right, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Sooooo... Were the Confederate troops firing weapons with a range of 460 miles, the distance from Ft Sumter to Pennsylvania? No?
So WHERE were those Union troops when they were getting fired upon, more than FIVE MONTHS after South Carolina seceded (NOV 9 to APR 12)?

Foreign troops, more than 400 miles from their territory, refusing to leave for more than five months... hmmmm... sounds an awful lot like they weren't anywhere close to Pennsylvania, and sounds like they were occupying a military installation that did not belong to them. Hmmmmm.

Now, if a Mexican battalion was doing joint exercises with US troops in Ft Hood (near Waco, TX, just 300 mi from Mexico) decided to not leave... for five months... and we opened fire to force them to decide to leave... what would you call that?

Well to go back several years when a lot of this was going hot and heavy. Point number one: There was the United States of America. There was no "War of Secession" going on at the time. Ft. Sumter was an American fort (you know, Francis Scott Key and all that) in what was the United States of America. South Carolina was in the United States of America at the time the South attacked it by firing upon it. Prior to that VMI cadets had fired on a supply ship going to the fort. It was only >after< the attack the war actually started. So to repeat as you have done (and is why I quit in the battle of words back then) - your innuendo and surly response that I don't know where SOUTH CAROLINA is is out of line.

It does not matter where that fort is located. It was a federal fort in the United States of America and hence, SOUTH CAROLINA being part of the United States of America was on American soil/water/harbor/where ever.

Americans at the time were Americans and not "foreign troops" as you mentioned. And just as a further thought to you. SOUTH CAROLINA was a holdout signing the Constitution because they wanted to keep slavery in it.

Thus ends my response to you and the end of this argument. It would have been a pleasure to debate with you on this but considering your opening sentences smacks of pettiness.

Have A Nice Day.

R/Janey

Foreign troops, more than 400 miles from their territory, refusing to leave for more than five months... hmmmm... sounds an awful lot like they weren't anywhere close to Pennsylvania, and sounds like they were occupying a military installation that did not belong to them. Hmmmmm

Sounds an awful lot like the situation at Guantanamo Bay. What you you call that?