Battle of Fort Sumter
Being the first
battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Fort Sumter has more to it than
just the battle. There was much involved in provoking the battle
and it lasted longer than most of the battles of the Civil War.
On December
26, Robert Anderson moved to the incomplete Fort Sumter in the middle of
the Charleston Harbor. Anderson's position grew very dangerous when
Confederate gun fire stopped his relief ship the "Star of the West" from
getting into the harbor.
Jefferson
Davis, the president of the Confederacy, gave orders to Pierre P.T. Beauregard
to take the fort shortly after Lincoln decided to supply it. A few
hours before dawn a group of Southerners rowed out to the fort to order
its surrender. Anderson refused and at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861
the Confederates began the first battle of the Civil War.
Finally,
after thirty-four hours of the fort being bombarded and many buildings
being burnt inside the fort, Anderson and his men capitulated and were
allowed to leave. There were no casualties until after the fight
when a freak explosion killed two Union soldiers during their hundred-gun
salute to their lowered flag.
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Cowpens
Camden
Wagner