Arcadia Publishing

On May 10, 1861, Union troops surrounded Camp Jackson, a military encampment where Confederate leaders were accused of conspiring to seize the St. Louis Arsenal, the largest store of munitions west of the Mississippi. The state militia, which numbered more than 600 men, answered the call of Missouri's pro-Southern governor Claiborne Fox Jackson to assemble but found themselves outnumbered 10 to 1 and were forced to surrender. As federal forces marched them through St. Louis, an angry crowd gathered. Gunfire crackled, leaving more than 24 people dead. St. Louis epitomized the growing tensions between the North and South. The city's strategic position enabled James Eads's shipyards to build ironclads, Jefferson Barracks to muster troops, and Gratiot Street Prison to hold POWs. The list of notables with ties to St. Louis reads like a who's who of the Civil War: Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, William T. Sherman, Nathaniel Lyon, James Longstreet, George Pickett, and others.

The first settlers came to the area that would become Palatine in 1837, shortly after a treaty with the local Indians. Farmers arrived first, merchants and tradesmen followed, and Palatine Township was formed in 1850. Joel Wood laid out a town and brought the railroad in 1855, and men of the area formed a Palatine company that fought in the Civil War.
 On April 2, 1866, 73 men voted to incorporate the Village of Palatine. The town served as a commercial center for the farms surrounding it. Growth was slow, and the population of Palatine in 1945 was still only 4,000. Then came the post-World War II boom. Chicagoans spread out searching for affordable housing, and the jobs and highways followed. Palatine, 35 miles northwest of the city, thus came to be considered a suburb of Chicago and is one of its oldest to the northwest. Its population today exceeds 72,000 residents. The village held special events throughout 2016 to celebrate its sesquicentennial. The articles in this book, which were published in the Daily Herald, were part of that celebration.

This short pictorial history documents the first shot of the Civil War, the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12-13, 1861. Historians Robert N. Rosen and Richard W. Hatcher III have gathered, in one book, more illustrations and photographs about the "First Shot" than can be found in any other previous book. Here the reader will find the dramatic story--in words and pictures--of the leaders, personalities, soldiers, forts, and the dramatic artillery bombardment itself, all under one cover.