Civil War Confederate Army Soldier. It is believe that while he was a 16-year old cadet at The Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina, he fired what many believe to be the first shot of the Civil War. On January 9, 1861 he and other cadets manning the artillery defenses of Charleston Harbor heard the Federal gunboat "Star of the West" enter into the harbor on a clandestine mission to re-supply the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter. On discovering the ship they fired shots at the gunboat, turning it away, with Private Simkins being recorded as firing the very first one. When the war began in April 1861 he became an artillery officer in the Confederate Army, and had risen to Colonel when the war ended in April 1865. After the war he became a lawyer, moved to Texas, and eventually became a law professor at the University of Texas, serving in that role from 1899 until his death in 1929.
Civil War Confederate Army Soldier. It is believe that while he was a 16-year old cadet at The Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina, he fired what many believe to be the first shot of the Civil War. On January 9, 1861 he and other cadets manning the artillery defenses of Charleston Harbor heard the Federal gunboat "Star of the West" enter into the harbor on a clandestine mission to re-supply the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter. On discovering the ship they fired shots at the gunboat, turning it away, with Private Simkins being recorded as firing the very first one. When the war began in April 1861 he became an artillery officer in the Confederate Army, and had risen to Colonel when the war ended in April 1865. After the war he became a lawyer, moved to Texas, and eventually became a law professor at the University of Texas, serving in that role from 1899 until his death in 1929.
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