Were the shots fired at Ft. Sumter on April 12, 1861
really the first shots of the Civil War?

     On the cold night of January 31, 1861, Captain John Collier on the steamer A. O. Tyler had just rounded DeSoto point enroute to Vicksburg when several orange-red flashes of light erupted from the left (Mississippi) bank of the river. Seconds later, several cannon shells whistled across the bow of the steamer, splashing into the river near the Louisiana shore.
     When the north-bound steamer City of Louisiana passed between the Tyler and the batteries on the Mississippi shore only minutes later without being fired at, Captain Collier continued on his course, not understanding the meaning of the event.
     Unbeknownst to Collier, Mississippi had seceeded from the Union only four days earlier and Governor John J. Pettus had been warned by Governor Moore of Louisiana that several steamers were said to be on their way downriver loaded with troops and munitions intended to fortify U.S. garrisons and arsenals in the southern states.
     Rumors were soon circulating in Vicksburg that the Silver Wave was "downbound" carrying several cannon and 500 ruffians — called Wideawakes — whose mission was to ransack the city.
     Consequently, Governor Pettus dispatched the Jackson [MS]Artillery to join the Volunteer Southrons, Vicksburg Sharpshooters and Warren Guards (all volunteer State Militia units) above Vicksburg with orders to "take such position as would enable [them] to prevent any hostile expedition form the Northern States descending the river."
     Upon reaching the wharf at Vicksburg, the Tyler was immediately boarded by armed men and Captain Collier, though well known at that city, was ordered to take his boat back upstream and report to the officers of the militia who had earlier fired across his bows. When she nosed up to the shore under Fort Hill, the Tyler was again boarded — and this time thoroughly searched — by men wearing uniforms and bearing arms.
     Happily, the militia units were bound by the assurances of the Mississippi Secession Convention that the river would "remain open to free trade and passage so long as no military cargo was involved." Therefore, the militia officers having determined that the Tyler's cargo consisted entirely of civilian goods, she was allowed to proceed on her way, though Captain Collier was much annoyed at the waste of time and coal.
     Ironically, none of the participants in this early drama could have guessed that in less than seven months the A. O. Tyler — having been purchased by the Union government and converted into a vessel of war — would "return the compliment" by becoming the first Union vessel on the western rivers to fire at Confederate troops.

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