When the shooting began in 1861, almost no one envisioned a long, drawn-out war. Many believed it would be over in less than a year or perhaps only a few months. Two years later, as the war entered its third April, many of these same people were wondering if it would ever really end. Meanwhile, unimagined transformations that began with the shelling of Fort Sumter in April 1861 would continue in April 1863.
Richmond Bread Riots - On April 2nd in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, a determined group of grim-faced women enter a local bakery and demand bread. Unsuccessful in their efforts, the women decide they will simply take what they wanted rather than pay what they regard as extortionist prices. Before long both the crowd and the looting grow larger and more widespread. What began as a peaceful attempt to obtain food quickly degenerates into a massive public riot.
The outburst - repeated on a slightly lesser scale in towns throughout the South - is a reflection of the mental and physical strain being placed on southern citizens as the war drags on. Ironically, in a region overwhelmingly based on agriculture, the combination of war, a focus on staple crops such as cotton, and an inadequate transportation system is causing an acute shortage of food and the means to distribute it. The cold logic of supply and demand drives prices through the roof, and by 1863 many people are reaching their breaking point.
The rioting in Richmond only subsides after Confederate President Jefferson Davis appears on the scene with local militia in tow. Davis, never lacking in physical courage, actually stands in the middle of the angry mob and threatens to have the troops fire on them if they do not disperse. After several tense moments, the crowd finally begins to break up, and the rioting comes to an end.
Attack on Fort Sumter - On April 7th, nine Union ironclads attack Confederate-held Fort Sumter outside Charleston, South Carolina in an attempt to gain control of the harbor. The attack is a failure, and several of the Union ships are badly damaged. One of them - the Keokuk - is damaged beyond repair and sinks the following day.
Both the fort and the city it helps defend are widely regarded in the North as the foremost symbols of secession, and Union forces will continue, without success, to attempt to capture them right up to the end of the war.
