The Beginning of the American Civil War: The Attack on Fort Sumter, Study notes of History of War

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Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins

An 1800s depiction of the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.

After Union troops refused to evacuate Fort Sumter, today a national

monument, Confederates opened fire.

In South Carolina, secessionist sentiment reached a fever pitch in 1860; on

December 20, delegates, whose supporters rallied in Charleston the previous month,

voted to leave the Union.

The secessionist sentiment was led by Gov. Francis Pickens.

Shown here are African-Americans living in bondage, c. 1861, possibly in Virginia. "The heart

and soul of the secession argument was slavery and race," says historian Emory Thomas.

Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy,

approved the orders to fire on Fort Sumter.

Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard

gave the order to bombard Fort Sumter.

 Jefferson Davis

P.T. Beauregard

On April 12, Southern gunners, firing from Fort Moultrie, bombarded Fort Sumter. Charleston

residents rushed onto rooftops and balconies to witness what the Charleston Mercury

described as a "Splendid Pyrotechnic Exhibition."

Maj. Robert Anderson, who took his orders directly from President Lincoln, marveled at the

nearly miraculous absence of bloodshed.

In reaction to the absence of bloodshed, President Lincoln declared, "There has been a

higher power over us."