Battle of Fort Sumter

Where this fits on the timeline. This is the first battle of the Civil War, in April 1861, after the Confederate States of America formed and before land battles such as First Bull Run.

A crisis years in the making. By 1861, decades of compromises over slavery in the territories had failed. When Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in November 1860, seven Deep South states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as president. Charleston, where secession began, was now the Confederacy's most important port on the Southeast coast.

Three forts, one garrison. Federal forts guarded Charleston Harbor: Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, Castle Pinckney near the city, and Fort Sumter on a man-made island at the harbor mouth. Major Robert Anderson commanded roughly 90 U.S. soldiers. Fort Moultrie's guns pointed seaward and could not stop a land attack, so on December 26, 1860, Anderson quietly moved his men to the more defensible Fort Sumter. Charleston secessionists called the move "like casting a spark into a magazine."

Supplies run low. Anderson's food and ammunition dwindled through the winter. On January 9, 1861, the relief ship Star of the West tried to reach the fort with reinforcements and provisions, but Citadel cadets fired on it and the ship turned back. In March, P. G. T. Beauregard took command of Confederate forces in Charleston. Beuregard had studied artillery under Anderson at West Point years before; now former classmates faced each other across the harbor.

Lincoln's choice. On April 4, Lincoln told Southern delegates he would try to resupply Sumter, not abandon it. To many white Carolinians, any federal reinforcement meant war. Confederate leaders ordered Beauregard to reduce the fort. On April 11, three Confederate officers sailed to Sumter and politely demanded surrender. Anderson courteously refused, citing honor and duty, but admitted his supplies would last only a few days.

The first shots. At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, a signal mortar shell burst over Sumter. Batteries on the shore and floating platforms opened fire. Anderson waited until about 7:00 a.m. to reply. Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first Union shot; it bounced off a Confederate iron battery. For nearly 36 hours the unequal duel continued. Hot shot set buildings inside Sumter ablaze. The flagpole was shot away; defenders raised the colors again on a makeshift spar.

Surrender and salute. On April 13, with ammunition and supplies exhausted, Anderson agreed to evacuate. The next afternoon his garrison marched out with honors. They fired a 100-gun salute to their flag; an accidental explosion during that salute killed Private Daniel Hough and mortally wounded another soldier, the battle's only deaths. Anderson and his men were hailed as heroes in New York; Beauregard won praise in the Confederacy.

War spreads. Lincoln refused to recognize secession as legal. He called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the "insurrection." Four Upper South states, including Virginia, seceded and joined the Confederacy. Enslaved people began reaching Union lines hoping for refuge, though early commanders often returned them. What had been a political crisis was now a war that would last four years and transform the nation.