John Wilden fires on the Star of the West

Meanwhile, back in the peninsular city, 21-year-old Cadet Captain John Marshall Whilden, together with some of his two dozen classmates at the South Carolina Military Academy -- popularly known as the Citadel -- determined to celebrate their impending graduation with a formal ball on the evening of April 5.Footnote 1 Undeterred by the threat of war, the Cadet sponsors of the ball appointed a committee to plan the affair and to send out invitations. At the graduation ball, Irvine Walker Footnote 2 valedictorian of the Citadel Class of '61, danced opposite General Beauregard and later recalled the evening as a "grand success." The affair lasted well into the evening as Cadets danced the "Deux Temps" with their belles to the strains of "Dixie", a song which Cadet Adjutant Walker described as then "all the rage." Though probably unforeseen by virtually all the Cadet merrymakers, the graduation ball marked not only the end of their college days but also their youth. Meeting on April 9, the Citadel's Board of Visitors resolved to cancel formal commencement exercises "in consequence of the imminent collision between the troops of the Confederate States and the forces of the United States, in the immediate vicinity of Charleston . . . ."Footnotee 3 That collision occurred at 4:30 a.m., April 12, when a shot fired from a mortar at Ft. Johnson signaled the start of a 34-hour bombardment of Ft. Sumter Footnote #4 The newly graduated John Marshall Whilden, known to his Citadel classmates as "Johnnie", participated in the reduction of Ft. Sumter, Footnote 5/ although his exact role has been obscured by time. Perhaps young Whilden assisted the Confederate battery located at his home town, Mount Pleasant, on the eastern shore of Charleston Harbor.

The shooting war had actually begun for Johnnie Whilden several months before the shelling of Ft. Sumter. In the darkness of December 26, 1860, Major Anderson, thinking that his command stationed at Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island might be overrun, moved his officers and men into unoccupied Ft. Sumter in the mouth of Charleston Harbor. Viewing this as an act of war, South Carolina's Governor, Francis W. Pickens, ordered state forces to occupy Ft. Moultrie and dispatched another force to Morris Island, an island southwest of the harbor's mouth and close enough for artillery to command the main ship channel into Charleston Harbor. The force assigned to Morris Island included two Charleston militia companies, the Zouave Cadets and the German Riflemen, plus a contingent of 40 to 50 Citadel CadetsFootnote 6 under the command of Major P. F. Stevens Footnote 7 Superintendent of the Citadel. The Citadel Cadets were selected because of their familiarity with artillery drill Footnote 8 and they were ordered to construct and man a battery of four 24-pounder siege guns Footnote 9 near the northern end of the island. The militia companies were to support the Cadet battery in case of an enemy landing.

Battling wind, rain and sandfleas, the Cadets completed a sand fortification on Morris Island within a few days. Each of the four guns was mounted en barbette Footnote 10 behind dunes that had been strengthened with sand bags. Quartered in a converted small pox hospital, the Cadets' living accommodations on Morris Island were Spartan. Some of the Cadets, however, found solace in a two-gallon demijohn of spirits that they had sneaked onto Morris Island and had concealed in the straw covering the floor of their quarters. In any event, the Cadets would not have long to wait for action, because on January 5, 1861, the U.S. War Department dispatched the Star of the West, a mercantile paddle-wheel steamer, from New York to Charleston to reenforce and supply Ft. Sumter.Footnote 11 Although unarmed, the Star of the West transported 200 men and officers of the 9th U.S. Infantry. As a result of security leaks in Washington, almost everybody in South Carolina, except for Robert Anderson's command, soon learned of the ship's mission.

Shortly after daybreak on January 9, Cadet William Simkins spotted the Star of the West from his guardpost along the beach of Morris Island. Major Stevens was quickly alerted, and the Cadets were summoned by drum roll to their stations in the battery. Crossing the bar, the Star of the West steamed up the ship channel that runs parallel to Morris Island, her course right under the guns of the Citadel battery. Gun No. 1 of the battery was manned by several Cadets, with Cadet Captain Whilden acting as gun commander. (Though some accounts credit Whilden with sighting No. 1 Gun, Footnote 12 probably Major Stevens had sighted all four guns of the battery.) Instructing the Cadets to fire a warning shot across the pathway of the vessel and, if she did not turn and change her course, then to fire into the ship until she stopped, Major Stevens took his position on the parapet. A red Palmetto flag whipped in the wind above the sand fort.

When the ship hove into range, Stevens gave the order: "Commence firing." Johnnie Whilden passed it on: "Number One fire", and Cadet George Haynsworth dutifully pulled the lanyard, sending the first secessionist shot of the coming war on its way.Footnote 13 The shot passed over the bow of the Star of the West, splashing harmlessly into the Atlantic. Just after the first shot had been fired, a full-sized garrison flag was run up the Star of the West's flagstaff. Below her decks, anxious soldiers loaded their muskets and awaited the orders of their officers. As the ship continued toward Ft. Sumter, several other Confederate batteries on Morris Island and Sullivan's Island joined in the firing. Altogether, the Cadet battery fired at least 17 shots at the Star of the West, two or three of which hit the ship. Having no cannon to defend herself and receiving no support from the unalerted Ft. Sumter, the Star of the West aborted her mission, lowered the U.S. flag at the stern and steamed back out to sea, headed for New York. The next day, the peppery Charleston Mercury carried the headline: "THE CITADEL CADETS FIRE THE FIRST SHOTTED GUN."Footnote 14 The Mercury characterized the firing on the Star of the West as the "opening ball of the Revolution" and expressed pride that "our harbor has been so honored."Footnote 15