**Sum­ma­ry of Chap­ter: Prac­tice Makes Per­fect**

In the chap­ter titled “Prac­tice Makes Per­fect,” the atmos­phere at Fort Sumter is dom­i­nat­ed by the sound of can­non fire as Con­fed­er­ate artillery crews engage in prac­tice ses­sions. This prac­tice is vital, as the fir­ing of heavy guns is both an art and a dan­ger­ous endeav­or, requir­ing pre­ci­sion and coor­di­na­tion among the crew, typ­i­cal­ly con­sist­ing of sev­en men. The term ‘gun­ner’ com­mon­ly refers to all crew mem­bers, but specif­i­cal­ly, it is the chief direct­ing the action. A sin­gle can­non is referred to as a “piece,” with can­noneers man­ag­ing the weapon’s posi­tion­ing and fir­ing.

To exe­cute the fir­ing accu­rate­ly, the gun­ners employ a series of com­mands and actions; they first pull the can­non away from the wall, sponge out any rem­nants of the last shot, load the can­non­ball, and final­ly aim and fire. The poten­tial for dis­as­ter looms with each mis­step, and his­tor­i­cal records from the Civ­il War reveal numer­ous artillery acci­dents, includ­ing a cat­a­stroph­ic inci­dent aboard the U.S.S. *Ticon­dero­ga* that result­ed in severe fatal­i­ties.

On March 12, the Con­fed­er­ate guns at Fort Moul­trie dis­charge hun­dreds of blank rounds, show­cas­ing their grow­ing skill in hit­ting a buoy with impres­sive accu­ra­cy. In con­trast, Fort Sumter’s Major Ander­son grap­ples with lim­it­ed ammu­ni­tion and resource short­ages, opt­ing to repur­pose flan­nel shirts into car­tridge bags. He reports to Wash­ing­ton on the impos­si­bil­i­ty of dis­play­ing pro­fi­cien­cy in artillery under such con­straints.

The chap­ter deep­ens fur­ther with admin­is­tra­tive chal­lenges, includ­ing issues over sup­plies and the deten­tion of a young Black ser­vant, Thomas Moore Lynch. The South Car­oli­na gov­ern­ment claims the young man, pur­port­ed­ly a slave, can­not return to Fort Sumter, cit­ing con­cerns over his cor­re­spon­dence with his moth­er that sug­gest­ed poten­tial insur­rec­tion. This entan­gles the mat­ter in a debate over hon­or and duty, with Ander­son express­ing his dis­dain for the impli­ca­tions about Lynch’s char­ac­ter and sta­tus. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in vis­i­ble ten­sions between Union sol­diers and the state author­i­ties of South Car­oli­na as they nav­i­gate com­plex social and mil­i­tary dynam­ics amidst prepa­ra­tions for con­flict.