American Civil War
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American Civil War
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Fort Sumter
Battle · Naval & Coastal
Battle of Fort Sumter
April 12–14, 1861 · Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
Bombardment of Fort Sumter · Currier & Ives · public domain
Narrative
Commanders
At a glance
Outcome
1
Secession winter
The Fort in the Harbor
Anderson (North) slips his garrison into Fort Sumter by night. South Carolina rings the harbor with guns and waits out a starving garrison.
2
Lincoln’s gambit
The Last Word from Washington
Lincoln sends food, not war, forcing Davis to either let the fort be fed or fire the first shot. The South fires.
3
April 12–13
Thirty-Four Hours
Forty-three guns open on the fort. Anderson barely fires back, the artillery teacher sparing his men while his star pupil pounds him from shore.
4
April 14 & after
One Death, and a Country at War
The fort surrenders; an accidental blast kills the war’s first man. Then 75,000 volunteers, four more states gone, and a nation at war.
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the American Civil War
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