The Battle of Fort Sumter
The roar of the crowds overwhelmed the conference hall. Nathaniel MacArthur sat there, blocking out most of the noise, doubting where he was in the fight for the Union. He wanted to be in the fight, where all the real action was. His mind was always filled with anger and disappointment because he believed that he was doing nothing to help. Later that night, he sat up on his bed, restless and disturbed by his doubt. At that moment, there was only one thing going through his mind. ‘What am I doing, wasting every second debating and talking when I could be at a base fighting for the Union and saving innocent people from the rebel forces.’ The next day, he resigned from his position as being a spokesman for the Union. The same day, he went to a Union recruitment office. As he walked in, an officer greeted him at the door. The officer brought Nathan into his office.
“I would like to enlist,” Nathan said. The officer responded, “Ok, what is your name?” Nathan stated his name. The officer suddenly looked puzzled.
“MacArthur? Weren’t you one of the Union’s spokesman?” asked the officer.
“I resigned from that position this morning. I was tired of talking about the fight. I needed to fight for the Union, not preach about it every day,” said Nathan.
“Good man! Hmm....Well, I’ve seen all I need to. Welcome to the Union!”
“Really,” asked Nathaniel,“That's it?”
“Son, we need soldiers, and for the few minutes that I've known you, you got the heart and the pride of an exceptional soldier.”
Nathaniel smiled and said,“Thank you sir!”
“Well, you're probably wonderin where you're goin?”
Nathaniel sat up straight immediately and slightly grinned.
“I'm guessin that's a yes. Okay... Hmmmmm...”
The officer rummaged through his files and looked for the emptiest file.
“Ah! Here we go,” said the officer as he pulled out a very thin file. The officer looked in the file and said,“You’re going to be deployed at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, SC.”
All of a sudden, Nathaniel's smile disappeared. He remembered the last time he heard that name.
Nathaniel was a young boy when he heard about Fort Sumter. The MacArthur family lived in Boston in a small little house in the city. One day, there was a knock at the door.
“I'll get it,” said Nathaniel's mother. Little Nathaniel followed behind his mother silently. She opened the door and there stood a man in uniform. He handed her a letter. She opened the letter and read over it. As she read the letter, she gasped and started sobbing.
Nathaniel couldn't hear much from where he was. All he heard was, ‘Fort Sumter,’ ‘Caught in artillery,’ and, ‘I'm sorry.’ The soldier left and Nathaniel walked up to his weeping mother. He asked,“What happened Mom?”
“Your brother isn't going to be comin back.”
“Why?”
“I guess you're old enough to understand this now. When your brother left 5 years ago, he went into the Union to fight for those black people. I just found out that he...well, he was caught in artillery fire today.”
“Wait!You mean...”
His mother nodded and kept crying. Nathaniel joined her in weeping as they sat there on the floor…
“Whoa! You feelin sick boy,” asked the worried officer.
“No, no. I'm fine.” Nathaniel shook himself out of his flashback.
“You’ll be training there and you’re commanding officer is Major…”
“Major Anderson.”
“That’s right. How did you know that?”
“My brother was stationed there until he was killed in action. We got a letter sent to my family saying that he was caught in the middle of artillery fire.”
“I’m sorry about that. Will you have a problem being there?”
“No sir. I’m ready to go wherever you need me.”
“Good, because we need more soldiers at Fort Sumter, and we always need a soldier with pride and commitment. You’re the perfect man for the job. Your train leaves tomorrow. Good luck, soldier.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The next day, he boarded the train from Boston to Charleston harbor. He had finally felt happy because he was going to finally do something he could be proud of. It was five hours before the train reached Charleston harbor. The squealing of the train made Nathan jump out of his booth. He looked outside the window and saw the base from inside the train. He was astonished at the size of the base and how there was a small amount of people even heading in that direction. He got off of the train and headed towards the base. He walked along the path with 50 other recruits, marching with pride and happiness. Nathaniel joined them in marching with pride. When he got to the front gate, a guard yelled to Nathaniel.
“HEY! What’s your business here?”
“I’m a recruit as well as the other 49 people behind me!”
“Don’t get smart with me! State your name.”
“Nathaniel MacArthur.”
“Oh. I’ve heard of you. So, does the desk jockey think he can fight?”
The guard started laughing as pulled the lever. The gate opened and Nathaniel walked in, ignoring the chuckling guard. Nathaniel slowly walked inside the fort gazing upon the glory of the base. Nathaniel’s jaw dropped as he saw the fort from the inside. The walls exceeded the height of anything he had ever imagined. His moment of astonishment was interrupted by another soldier. Nathan was very short compared to this soldier and Nathan was considered a tall person. The soldier looked at him for a second, and then spoke.
“Welcome, recruit. What’s your name?”
“MacArthur, sir! The name’s MacArthur.”
“I like the spirit, recruit, but you’re going to need a lot more than spirit alone!”
“I do have some weapons experience. It’s not much, but I’ve been hunting since I was a young child.”
“Well that helps. I’m Sergeant… wait a minute. What did you say your first name was?!”
“I didn’t. I just said MacArthur.”
“What...is...your first name, soldier?”
“Nathaniel.”
The sergeant took a step back and he acted shocked, but grinned.
“Look at how much you’ve grown.”
“Uhmmm, sir?”
“Let me ask you this. Do you remember a man named Jonathan MacArthur?”
“Yes sir. He was my brother. He was killed in action by heavy artillery fire.”
“Did he? How did you get this information?”
“The Union sent a letter back to my family when I was younger.”
“Huh. Interesting.”
“Why, sir?”
“Because… I’m your brother, Nathan.”
Nathaniel lifted his eyebrow in confusion.
“How? My brother is dead.”
“I was caught in the heavy artillery fire, but I was only slightly wounded. I made my way back here after the bombardment. They must have sent the letter before I got back.”
“Wow. John. I don’t know what to say. I haven’t seen you in nine years.”
“How about hello? How have you been?”
“I guess so. All I can really say is that I’ve missed you, a lot. You are the reason I’m here.”
Nathaniel let out a tear and he wiped it off his face. John couldn’t tell if it was a tear of joy or sadness.
“Well, it has been nine years, so I guess that would be your first reaction. I always wondered if I’d ever see you again.”
“Well, here I am. So, what are my next orders, sergeant?”
“Formal? Not the Nathaniel I know, but it works. Come with me. I’ll show you where you’re gonna be sleeping.”
He followed John to the soldier’s quarters. In the tent, there were beds lined up. A few of them were occupied, but the rest looked like they were empty for years.
“It seems so empty, John. Why?”
“You’re one of the few recruits we’ve had the past few months. Well, there’s your uniform and you’re other gear. Try it on.”
Nathan slipped the gear on and as he gently placed the Union cap on his head, he grinned and stood tall, expressing his pride.
“Fits you perfectly,” said Jonathan in astonishment of how well the uniform actually fit Nathaniel.
“Did it feel this good when you put it on?”
“I’d have to say that it was the best feeling I ever had. The commendations are just a plus.”
Their moment of admiration was interrupted by a loud voice.
“Atteeeention!”
Major Robert Anderson walked in to the tent. Both Nathan and John immediately stood tall and at attention.
“At ease soldiers. So, you’re the brother of Jonathan MacArthur, our finest soldier. I’ve heard from him that you had spirit even when you were a little boy. I’m guessing you already know this, but spirit alone won’t make you a good soldier. You need to know how to fight…like a soldier.”
“I know how to hold my own. I’ve been getting in fights and using guns for a long time. Jonathan was the person that first taught me to use a gun.”
“Really? Well, you’re going to need to show me, not tell me.”
The Major brought Nathan over to the firing range. Anderson pointed to a rifle leaning on an open crate of ammunition. Nathaniel went over to the range and picked up the Springfield musket, standard issue for the Union. He felt a slight tingle when he picked up the rifle and felt the stock. For the sake of saving time and frustration for the Major, he loaded the rifle as fast as he could and, at the same time, successfully loaded the weapon. Anderson signaled at Nathaniel to aim his rifle down range at the potato sack dummy set up at the end. As Nathaniel pointed his rifle down range, he took deep breaths and then held his breath.
“Fire,” Anderson loudly announced.
Nathaniel pulled the trigger and…POP! The cap went down the range and sped through the target. Anderson and Jonathan went down the range to see where the shot hit. Anderson analyzed the head of the target to see that the cap went straight through.
“Clean shot.”
“Clean shot!? He was a hundred yards away and the cap went straight through. That’s amazing. I haven’t been able to do that yet.”
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself. We haven’t actually seen him in combat yet.”
“Yes sir.”
So, for his first year of being at the fort, he was an engineer, fixing the cannons and the weathered down walls of the base. Even though he was doing petty things for the army, he felt that life was finally completed for him. He had been hoping for this moment since he was a child.
One day when he was working on the front gate of the fort, a man on a horse arrived at the gate and gave Nate a letter. Nate opened the letter and read it. As the man left, Nate dashed back into the base and busted into Anderson’s tent.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down soldier. Now, what’s wrong?”
“We got a letter from Beauregard! He wants us to evacuate the base or …Well, you know the rest.”
“He’s bluffing and you should get back to your duties, and that’s an order!”
“But…”
“Did you hear me?!”
“Yes sir.”
Nate returned to repairing the front gate until the sun set. Nate returned to his tent, full of doubt and regret. He dropped his exhausted self on his cot and drifted to sleep.
Later that night…
“wake up… wake up… WAKE UP!”
“Ugh,” Nathaniel pulled himself up, “ What’s wrong John?”
“The fort is getting bombarded by Confederates! Come on! We have to protect the base.”
“Let’s get up to the watchtower.”
They both ran up to the watchtowers and Nate picked up a rifle on the way there.
“We’ve got to take out the artillery crew. They’re about 300 yards out. Can you hit them from here,”asked John. “Of course I can,” said Nate.
Nathaniel lined up the shot. He held his breath and steadied his gun. He couldn’t even hear his own shots when he let them off. John put his thumbs up indicating that the shots were good.
Anderson yelled, “Guys! You gotta help us out with the evacuation.”
“But they’re still firing! We need to fend them off,” Nathaniel replied.
“Come on!”
They gathered the rest of the men and hid out in the underground bunker until the bombardment was done. The next morning, they evacuated the bunker and the fort. Nathaniel escorted a group of fellow engineers out of the base as a signal for surrender. The Confederate forces saw it as a threat and fired off the cannon once. It impacted in the middle of the group eradicating two of the engineers and leaving Nathaniel with pieces of shrapnel in his chest and lying on the ground. John dashed to his brother, lying on the ground, heavily breathing.
“Nate. Just hold on. We’ll get you some help.”
“I never thought it would end like this, but you wanna know something,” said Nate under his breath.
“What?”
“I’m happy I’m going out this way. I may be young and I could have had a good life ahead…Ugh…but I’m finally where I wanted to be. I fought for the Union and that was my lifelong dream, and I finally got to see you again. I think I’m right where I want to be.”
“I’m not gonna let you die here. I’m not gonna lose you again.”
“You gotta let me go. I’m happy. Let me go… let me go.”
As John wept, Nate drifted away into an eternal slumber. John picked Nate’s lifeless corpse up and carried it out of the base while evacuating the rest of the fort. When John arrived back in Boston, he gave Nate a proper burial. There were seven soldiers performing the twenty-one gun salute.
“Ready! Aim! Fire!”
One shot went off. John stood there, weeping and saluting.
“Fire!”
The second shot went off. John wiped the tears off his face, still saluting.
“Fire!”
The last shot went off. John slightly grinned and stopped crying. He finally realized why Nate was happy. He had pride when he died and he knew that Nate was finally at peace. He looked up at the Union flag and saluted as Nate’s casket was lowered into the burial site.
The next week, he arrived back at Charleston harbor with a Union military force of 600 men. Fort Sumter was in sight from a tall hill on the east side of the fort. They slowly crept for a few more feet and then they charged at the east side of the fort. The cannons fired off and blew a hole in the stone fortress walls. They charged in, bowling down any rebel in their way, and as they skewered rebels with bayonettes, John felt as though Nate was standing next to him. By the end of the day, there were no Confederate survivors left and the Union force only lost 30 men. John still believed that Nate was still there, fighting besides him. At the end of the raid, John lit the confederate flag on fire, announcing the Union control over the base. They started rebuilding the base and a few years later, they fixed up the base and got it up and running again.
“Finally done. What’s next, general,” asked the head engineer. John turned around and said, “Let’s start recruiting more soldiers.”
The engineer sent a message out to all of the surrounding recruitment offices telling them to send their recruits to the fort. A few weeks later, the first recruit arrived at the front gate. The guard yelled out to the first one in line.
“So, another desk jockey wanting to fight! Ha!”
John overheard the guard’s insult and it sounded familiar to him. He quickly turned around and saw a tall man walk in, acting astonished as he saw the size and the beauty. John interrupted his astonishment.
“Déjà vu. What’s your name?”
“Daniels. Frank Daniels, sir!”
“Soldier? I think you and I are gonna get along fine.”
Frank was puzzled, but followed John to the utility tent. Frank was fitted and left the tent, smiling and marching.
“Nate, I knew you would come back.”
Bang! Bang!
A loud bang woke John from his deep slumber.
“Ugh. Was all that just a dream,” John asked himself. Another loud bang.
“Ahhh! What’s happening,” yelled John.
John heard a voice shout back.
“Beauregard is attacking. The fort is getting bombarded,” the man shouted.
John left his tent to see what was happening. He saw Nathaniel on the watchtower firing at the artillery crews. He rubbed his eyes in astonishment to see that Nathaniel was still alive. Nathaniel gestured for John to get on the watchtower with him. John ran up, grabbed a rifle, and joined his brother in firing at the crew.
“Nathaniel! We have to get the men to the bunker,” John frantically yelled at Nathaniel.
“There are more artillery crews, but if you say so!”
Nathaniel and Jonathan escorted the soldiers to the underground bunker. They waited through the bombardment which lasted another 3 hours. They came out of the bunker the next morning to find the base in ruins. Nathaniel was about to escort a group of engineers to the front of the gate to surrender until John stopped him before he left.
“Nathaniel, I think it would be better if we just waved the white flag.”
“Okaay?”
They set up a white flag and started waving it. As the confederate forces waved their flag back, Nathaniel, John, and Anderson escorted the men out of the fort, but as they left, Nathaniel started waving the Union flag to show a sense of pride. As he did that, John joined him by marching behind him, and then the rest of the soldiers started marching with them. John smiled at Nathaniel and Nathaniel smiled back. A few days later, they arrived back in Boston with their equipment and their pride. They took a year to take a break and get away from the war. The next year, the two of them went to the Boston recruiting offices. The walked in and the officer looked at them and acted confused.
“Hey. Haven’t you guys signed up already,” the officer asked.
“Well, our base is now in the hands of confederate forces and we still wanna fight. So,” John said.
“Where to next,” asked Nathaniel.
Project Reflection:
- How did I connect to this project?
When I was writing my story, I came upon the idea of needing something else besides the story. I came up with the idea of igniting a confederate flag on fire. I had fun while doing this and I connected to it because I love fire (I'm a bit of a pyro) and this project fit with my love of fire.
- What was difficult about this project? How did you overcome these difficulties?
While writing the story, I put a lot of dialogue into my writing and I had a lot of difficulty putting emotion into the characters and their dialogue. I didn't realize this until we had a critique session and then I started revising it from there and a few days later, I had made a finished piece of work and I felt proud about it.
- What did you learn from having to turn history into narrative?
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