The American Civil War Began at Fort Sumter

In the pre-dawn dark of April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries ringing Charleston Harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter, the small Union-held island garrison in South Carolina. At roughly 4:30 a.m., a flaming mortar shell arced across the water and burst above the fort, the first shot of the American Civil War.

The Union commander, Major Robert Anderson, held a badly outgunned garrison against the surrounding Confederate guns directed by Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard. After a relentless bombardment lasting about 34 hours, Anderson agreed to terms and evacuated the fort.

No one died in the bombardment itself, yet the war it began would kill hundreds of thousands.

Remarkably, the duel caused no battlefield deaths on either side. The only fatalities came afterward, when a cannon exploded during the surrender salute. The clash at Sumter united the North and pushed more states toward secession, opening a four-year conflict that reshaped the nation.