It was important to those on both sides of this battle, especially the officers, to appear nonchalant.
[…]
Stories would later be recited about clever witticisms uttered by them, chipper bons mots, so cherished by those raised on British war literature.
Late that first morning [of the bombardment], when Seymour came to relieve Doubleday, Seymour was insouciant. “Doubleday,” he said, “what in the world is the matter here, and what is all this uproar about?”
Doubleday, becoming caught up in Seymour’s sangfroid lingo, said, “There is a trifling difference of opinion between us and our neighbors opposite, and we are trying to settle it.”
”Very well,” Seymour answered, “do you wish me to take a hand?” He did so.
The men at the Confederate batteries also strove hard to appear casual. It was said that at Fort Moultrie, when one of its protective cotton bales was knocked down by shots from Sumter, someone shouted out, “Cotton is going down.” And when a cannonball struck the oven in the courtyard scattering loaves about, someone called out, “Foodstuff is going up.”
Source:
Detzer, David. “A Mere Point of Honor.” Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. New York: Harcourt, 2002. 280. Print.
Original Source Listed:
E. Milby Burton, The Siege of Charleston, 1861-1870, USCP, 1970, p. 45.
Further Reading:
No comments, yet...