Civil War: The Battle Of Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter is located in Charleston, South Carolina. The fort is in Charleston's harbor. The fort was not even complete when war broke out. This was a big turning point for the United States of America. It separated the north from the south and in some cases it separated families. This war would impact how the United States saw slavery. It is the most deadly war that the United States has every seen in its history.

His ended his speech with a plea for the restoration of the bonds of union. The South just ignored his plea. Violence and outrage turned to belligerence in the North, which in turn had many southerners clamouring for war. At 4.30am on April 12th 1861, Confederate gunners opened fire on Federal - held Fort Sumter, situated in the middle of Charleston Harbour. The only real casualty was a horse. This gentle brawl was the start of a longer, harder and bloodier war than anyone could dream of.

Between the battle of Fort Sumter a Confederate victory and the First battle of Bull Run anther Confederate victory, there were nine other smaller battles many not large enough to truly be called a battle. Of those nine battles three were won by the Confederates and two were inconclusive. At the first battle of Bull Run, the Union still believed that this is going to be a very short war, they believed it so much that spectators came and lined the sides of the battlefield to watch the Union smash the Confederate Army. Of the spectators most we're just common folk or people near that community, but

On April 12-14, 1861, the Battle of Fort Sumter happened. The location of the Battle of Fort Sumter is near Charleston, South Carolina. General P.G.T Beauregard, who was the commander of the Confederate army, ordered for the Union’s surrender of the Fort. However, Major Robert Anderson stood his front and refused to surrender which resulted in the Confederates opening fire on the Fort on April 12. Major Robert Anderson was unable to return the gunfire for the first two hours as the fort lacked ammunition and fuses. Abner DoubleDay, who was captain of the Union army, was the one who fired the first shot to defend the fort. The firing continued all day but lessened as the Union Army had to save their ammunition. On April 13, Major Robert Anderson decided to surrender the fort and it was a victory for the Confederates. There were 580 forces engaged, 80 from the Union and 500 from the Confederates. The important figures in this battle are General P.G.T Beauregard, Major Robert Anderson, Edmund Ruffin, Abner DoubleDay, Louis Wigfall, Private Daniel Hough, and Private Edward Galloway. Surprisingly, there were no casualties in this battle. It has major significance as it was the site of the first

The election of Lincoln and his actions during the Fort Sumter crisis were a large reason for the outbreak of Civil War. Historian’s views on the causes of war has changed greatly over the years. In the 20th Century, James Randall stressed that Lincoln took extreme caution over the question of emancipation and the Lincoln had deliberately engineered the war. Avery Craven agrees with this as he argues that Lincoln deliberately engineered the war, but he felt that he did this during the Fort Sumter crisis. However, post-war views are very different. David Potter absolved Lincoln of engineering the war as he argues that, up to the very last minute, Lincoln wanted peace.

On March 5th, 1861, the day after his inauguration as president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was delivered an urgent message from the Commander of the U.S. Troops holding Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Maj. Anderson stated that there was less than a six- week supply of food left available in the fort. President Lincoln developed a plan that would hopefully cause the confederates to fire the first shot with the hopes that the states not yet seceded from the union would reunite in an effort to restore the Union.

The Civil war began at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. However, the Civil War did not really start to amp up until the First Battle of Bull Run or also know as the first Battle of Manassas. The battle was fought just miles from Washington D.C., on July 21, 1861. At a place near Manassas Junction, Virginia. The battle began when about 35,000 Union soldiers marched from Washington D.C. to fight a confederate force of 20,000 along a small river called Bull Run. The goal of the Union army was to make quick work of the Confederate Army, make way to Richmond, the Confederate capital, and end the war.

After the firing of fort sumter, both sides knew that this meant war. Both sides started preparing according to their advantages: The Northerners had many advantages. They had 90% of the factories, 70% of the railroads, and a much bigger population. Due to the factories, the north was able to feid feed and equip large numbers of people. Northerners were also inspired by abolition, had an organized government, and wise political leader (Lincoln). Although the Southerners had a population and resource disadvantage, they had cotton. Cotton was the number one export of the U.S. at the time, and if sold to Britain, could make a lot of money.

The first major battle to be fought during the American Civil War took place on July 1, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia. The 1st Battle of Manassas, commonly known as The Battle of Bull Run by Union forces, saw an estimated 28,400 Union soldiers attempt to quickly defeat the Confederate army whose numbers out manned theirs. Believing the war would not last long and that the South would fall if defeated in a major battle, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, under the instruction of President Lincoln, led an army who was overwhelmingly under trained in a major battle setting to confront the forces of General Pierce Gustave Beauregard in Northern Virginia.

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought towards the beginning of the American Civil War that spanned over the course of four years, April 1861- April 1865 and consisted of 50 major battles and thousands of minor battles. The Battle of Fredericksburg lasted exactly five days, December 11-15, 1862. Its location was centered on Fredericksburg, VA and surrounding areas along the Rappahannock River including Falmouth, Marye’s Heights, Stafford Heights, Prospect Hill, and Hamilton’s Crossing (Yandoh, 2001). The Federal Union and Confederates had the same goal. To preserve their way of life, but that’s where the similarities stopped. Both sides wanted a different way of life preserved. The Confederates goal was to gain independence from the politically oppressive North and to establish an independent nation that allowed slavery (Olson-Raymer, 2014). The Federal Union’s initial goal was to restore the Union. But, its goal changed when it became obvious they would lose the war. The Union decided to reunite states under a banner in which slavery was no longer acceptable or tolerated. “The war from beginning to end would be a noble crusade for democracy for all people, not just in America, but throughout the world” (Olson-Raymer, 2014).

The camp was built by slave labor on 16 acres, later expanded to 26 acres, and was formally called “Camp Sumter” by the Confederacy. Andersonville was designed to imprison up to 10,000 “overflow” prisoners from elsewhere, but its inmate population climbed to 3 times that amount leave to about 33,000 prisoners by the end of the summer of 1864. Furthermore, its physical design was fatally flawed to begin with. In addition to the absence of any system for waste disposal within the camp, a creek flowing through the camp delivered upstream waste from the military camp where Andersonville guards were stationed. By the end of the war, 13,000 Andersonville prisoners (30 percent of the camp’s population) had died from a variety of diseases such as

The fall of Fort Sumter caused the war of the Union with the Confederacy. (Shi, 531) Before Fort Sumter falled, Lincoln wanted to include Fort Sumter to the territory of Federal Government which laid in Confederate territory. Southerns were offended that Federals put their flag on the southern territory.( Catton, 59) A letter from William H. Seward , the United States secretary from 1861- 1869 showed that he advised President Lincoln to resupply Fort Sumter in March 1861. The words of William H. Seward from the letter: “ The President submit to me the following question, namely, “Assuming it to be possible to new provision Fort Sumter, under all the circumstances, is it wise to attempt it? If it were possible to peacefully

It all started on April 28, 1948 In South Carolina. The Confederate forces commanded Beauregard to surround Fort Sumter. When he did they expected them to run away and they would takeover but that never happened. Three months later they finally fired at Fort Sumter and that is how it all began (Chrisp & McAvoy, 2005).

The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will swarm out and string us to death. It is unnecessary. It put us in the wrong. It is fatal. –Robert Toombs. (Boerner paragraph 2).

The American Civil War, which began in 1861 to 1865, has gone down in history as the one of the most significant events to have ever occurred in the United States of America, thus far. At that time, questions had arose wondering how the United States ever got so close to hitting rock bottom, especially being that it was a conflict within the country itself. Hostility steadily grew through the years dividing the nation further and further, and finally leading to the twelfth day in April 1861 in Fort Sumter, North Carolina. The American Civil War was an irrepressible battle and aside from the obvious physical effects of the war, the disagreement over states rights, the act of slavery, and the raising of tariffs played crucial roles in the