Telegram Which Began War Between The States / Winter Building

Built in 1841 by John Gindrat to house the Montgomery branch of the Bank of St. Mary's, the Winter Building later passed in 1854 to his daughter Mary Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Winter. On April 11, 1861, from the second-floor offices of the Southern Telegraph Company in the building, Confederate Secretary of War Leroy Pope Walker sent a telegram from Montgomery to Charleston authorizing Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard to fire on Fort Sumter. The telegram directed that Fort Sumter should not be bombarded needlessly if Major Anderson would state when he would evacuate and agree not to use his guns unless fired upon, but if that or its equivalent were refused, the fort was to be reduced as practicable. The subsequent bombardment was the first military action of the War Between the States. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and restored in 1978.

Montgomery, Alabama · United States