Fort+Sumter+Story

Fort Sumter Story: By: Ashley Perry.

It was March of 1861, and we were all starting to get spring fever. The snow was gone, birds were chirping, and I was getting ready to go outside to play when my parents pulled me inside. They told me that Abraham Lincoln Had become the new President of the United States. Lincoln had declared that war was coming. The Civil War was going to be huge! I feel like my whole life is falling apart. My dad and my brother John have to go off to war now, Leaving Mama, my younger sister Anna,my older sister Mary & me all alone. When will this be over? I want my normal life back!

That's me, Sarah Ann, freaking out about just every thing. What can I say, Im only 7 years old and i am scared. Today is April 12th, 1861, the day that the Civil War broke out. We had people fighting left & right on our own front lawn! Little Anna was in the kitchen with Mama, she was terrified. We all just wanted this all to be over. Dad was our hero of the day though because he decided to move us to a new home. War was too dangerous ecpecially since it was on our front lawn. We moved to a small town in South Carolina where war couldn't find us. The Battle of Sumter was currently happening Charleston County, South Carolina. That morning that we moved, Dad & John had to go serve their time in the war. This was a sad for all of us, but we knew the time was coming. Us girld now had to be both men & women of this household. We had to clean the house & farm. Alls we could hope for now was for Dad & John tocome home safetly!

Mama was in the kitchen cooking, so i decided to go play with Anna. She was only 4 years old & was pretty shooken up about her daddy just leaving on such short notice. Mama & I had to tell her that everything was going to be ok even though we couldnt control the future. Today I helped Mama with the laundry and there really wasn't much for Anna to do. I had to go milk the cows & fed all the animals in the barn. We had some extra hands from our slaves, they did all the farming today. I ran inside thisafternoon because i was hearing fireing guns going off through the trees. It scared the heck out of me. Mama told us to stay alert & to not go outside anymore until war was over. Hopefully Daddy & John are okay, we havn't heard from them yet, but they will be in our prayers tonight.

Meanwhile, Dad & John were FightingOn the Confederate side of the army. The Union kept fireing at us but we just gave it all back to them.