The Majority of our funds go directly to Preservation and Education. Battle Of Fort Sumter Summary: The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. Abner Doubleday The Civil War had begun. Learn about the Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–14, 1861), the opening engagement of the American Civil War. VIDEO: Battery H Of The 3rd Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery At Gettysburg, Dan Bullock: The youngest American killed in the Vietnam War. On January 9, 1861, the Star of the West, a side-wheel merchant steamer that had been sent from New York with supplies and reinforcements for Anderson, was unable to reach Fort Sumter because Pickens had built up the harbor defenses and fired on it. Beauregard, an engineer officer of distinction, to Charleston to complete the defenses of the harbour.

The fort was named for Thomas Sumter, a general who had won key victories against the British in the Carolinas during the American Revolution. April 13, the barracks again caught fire and threatened the ammunition store, in spite of the rainy day. The rest of the men were taken by boat to the relief ships just outside the harbor.


Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Four border states held slaves but remained in the Union. His provisions would be exhausted by mid-April. The day after Beauregard reached Charleston, Lincoln was inaugurated in Washington, D.C. (March 4). At 2:30 pm on April 13th, Major Robert Anderson, garrison commander, surrendered the fort and it was evacuated the next day. The South hoped to force Lincoln’s hand over Sumter. The burning barracks so threatened the magazine that Captain Foster asked permission to pull out what powder they needed. On April 9, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet decided to “strike a blow!” The next day, Davis ordered Beauregard to reduce Fort Sumter.

Without attempting negotiation, their governors seized all the forts and arsenals in their respective states except Fort Pickens in the harbour of Pensacola, Florida. Neither Lincoln nor Davis could have foreseen the dimensions the war would assume. He would have gladly evacuated the fort to avert a civil war, but his duty as a soldier compelled him to sit with folded hands while the enemy was completing its preparations. The Battle of Fort Sumter was fought April 12-14, 1861, and was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. Between January 9 and February 1 six other states (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) followed South Carolina’s example.

Beauregard continued strengthening the harbor defenses and gun emplacements facing Fort Sumter. Anderson, to reduce his casualties and conserve ammunition, did not return fire until just before 7:00 a.m. when Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first return shot. At about 1 p.m. the flagstaff was shot away and the flag was raised on the ramparts on a makeshift staff. However, on December 26 Anderson put his plan into action: he assembled his men, loaded them and their families onto boats, and rowed to Fort Sumter. Shortly after, on January 11, Pickens demanded surrender and Anderson refused. Lincoln’s inaugural speech was really addressed to the slave states still in the Union. The Confederate government then assumed control of the negotiations about Sumter. Confederate forces bombarding Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, in a lithograph by Currier & Ives. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. In the afternoon, they spotted the three ships flying the US flag just outside the harbor and thought they would be resupplied during the night, not realizing that the ships were actually on their way to Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida. When the U.S. troops marched out of the fort, they waved the U.S. flag and carried out a gun salute. Pickens seized the arsenal and other forts around the harbour and began throwing up batteries against Sumter. Anderson had indicated he needed supplies and reinforcements in early March and again on April 3, but did not received news or further instruction until April 8, when he received a letter from Washington informing him of that a relief expedition was being mounted. A lively and informative new podcast for kids that the whole family will enjoy!

The event took place in April of 1861 when Fort Sumter was bombarded by the militia of South Carolina (because the Confederate Army has not yet been formed). Following his inauguration on March 4, 1861, Lincoln sent unofficial emissaries to observe the situation and report back to him while official negotiations with the Confederate government took place in Washington.

On March 1, Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard arrived in Charleston. James Buchanan’s term, when a succession of events occurred that brought the contending regions of the United States to the verge of armed conflict. Dan Bullock died at age 15 in 1969 and efforts to recognize the young African-American Marine continue and are highlighted in this Military Times documentary. By February 1861, six more states had joined the new Confederate States of America. Although Fort Sumter held no strategic value to the North—it was unfinished and its guns faced the sea rather than Confederate shore batteries—it held enormous value as a symbol of the Union. Although he did not inform Anderson, Lincoln gave Pickens precise information regarding his intention. To the Confederate states it sounded like a declaration of war, but they sought to avoid the responsibility of striking the first blow. The fire began on the roofline of the officers’ quarters on the gorge wall. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel hoped to find safety in the remote village of Herrlingen, but the town became a Nazi death trap for him in October 1944... Get inside articles from the world's premier publisher of history magazines. Battle of Fort Sumter, (April 12–14, 1861), the opening engagement of the American Civil War, at the entrance to the harbour of Charleston, South Carolina. In the meantime, Buchanan sent an unarmed commercial steamer, Star of the West, with supplies and reinforcements to Sumter, but it turned back when it was fired upon in the harbour on January 9, 1861. He hoped for compromise, and a committee of Congress considered various proposals for adjustment. Early on the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate guns around the harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter. No arms, munitions, or troops would be sent to the garrisons. A war that lasted four years and cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans and freed 3.9 million people from the bondage of slavery. If the Federal flag should be fired upon, that would constitute a casus belli, and the responsibility for beginning the war would rest on the Confederates. Louis WIgfall Francis Pickens sent commissioners to Washington, D.C., to claim possession of the forts in Charleston Harbor and all other U.S. property in his state. Please consider making a gift today to help raise the $170,000 we need to preserve this piece of American history forever. Reportedly, Hough was buried at the fort, but that has not been proven. The people of Charleston came out in boats on April 14 to watch the surrender and evacuation. Interior view of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, under the Confederate flag, April 15, 1861. He was informed that was not soon enough, firing would began at 4:30 a.m. After a signal gun was fired, Virginia fire-eater Edmund Ruffin, who had campaigned relentlessly through the 1850s for states’ rights, slavery, and secession, was given the honor of firing the first shot at Fort Sumter.

Later in the morning, the barracks caught fire and many of his men had to be used as a fire crew. He must have foreseen the actual event. The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as U.S. president, Washington, D.C., March 4, 1861. Anderson’s position there was daily growing more difficult.

After further negotiation, the same terms were eventually agreed to: surrender would occur April 14 at noon. Rather, supply ships with food, fodder, and other necessities of life were sent south. With the firing on Fort Sumter, the American Civil War was officially upon both the North and the South. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Fort-Sumter, American History Central - Battle of Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter is on an island in South Carolina not far from Charleston. The Confederate States of America consisted of 11 states—7 original members and 4 states that seceded after the fall of Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, Union: Major Robert Anderson The intense Confederate artillery bombardment of Major Robert Anderson’s small Union garrison in the unfinished fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, had been preceded by months of siege-like conditions.
As news of the relief expedition percolated through the Confederate government, Beauregard was instructed to demand the fort’s surrender and fire on it if surrender was refused. At this stage neither side wanted war. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The election of Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860 brought to a head the issue of slavery in the United States. Halfway through, one of the guns discharged prematurely, killing Private Daniel Hough, who had emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1849, and mortally wounding Private Edward Galloway.

The first state to secede was South Carolina on December 20, 1860.

Anderson also tried to reduce casualties by only using the guns from his lower casemates, where his men would be less exposed.


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