Bombardment of Fort Sumter

Also called: Battle of Fort Sumter

Confederate guns shelled the federal Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor for 34 hours and forced its surrender; Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers began the Civil War.

Even after South Carolina seceded, Major Robert Anderson’s federal garrison held Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor. When Lincoln announced that he would send only provisions, the Confederacy demanded the fort’s surrender and, refused, General Beauregard’s batteries opened fire before dawn on 12 April 1861.

The fort surrendered on 13 April and the garrison left on the 14th. No one was killed by the bombardment, but two Union soldiers died when a gun exploded during the salute at the evacuation. On 15 April Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion; the North rallied to the flag, and four more Southern states, Virginia among them, seceded.