5.25" x 8.25", 215 page hardcover with dustjacket titled STORM OVER SUMTER: THE OPENING ENGAGEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR by Roy Meredith/ Simon Schuster, New York, First Printing, Copyright 1957/ Shortly before dawn on the morning of April 12, 1861, a Confederate mortar shell arched over the waters of Charleston Harbor and burst on the parade ground of Fort Sumter. The Civil War had stated. This book takes you inside the walls of Sumter at that historic moment. It is a close-focus dramatic account of the intrigues, the conflicts of principle and policy, the clash of personalities that led up to that dawn-and to the battle that followed. You will meet the Union commander of Fort Sumter, Major Robert Anderson, a loyal and courageous officer tormented by his love for the South and his hatred of bloodshed. You will see him striving for nearly four desperate months both to arm Sumter and to prevent a showdown there. You will watch his adversaries-a fiery South Carolina governor; a U.S. Secretary of War secretly aiding the Secessionist cause; and Anderson's former pupil and comrade-in-arms, now a Confederate general-as they try to trap him into firing the first shot, to undermine the morale of his garrison and the faith of his supporters in the North, and to prevent supplies and reinforcements from reaching him. You will be with Anderson when last-minute negotiations fail and he has no choice but to await the first shot. And you will be at the battle itself-the thirty-four hour bombardment which the tiny Federal garrison valiantly endured, even though they were outmanned and outgunned, their supplies were depleted, and they had begun to fear that the Union fleet standing in the storm-lashed waters at the harbor entrance could not help them. Roy Meredith has drawn on the letters, diaries, news dispatches and official papers of the period to re-create the personal and public drama, the causes and consequences of a crucial episode in our history. The book is complete and in GOOD condition with some overall wear. The dustjacket has some edgewear and tears and a faded spine. The edges of the closed book pages are dust speckled/ stained and the boards have some foxing