The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops, April 13th, 1861.
- Creator(s):
- Title:
- The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops, April 13th, 1861.
- Description:
- The American Civil War began in April 1861 when South Carolina military forces laid siege to Fort Sumter, a U.S. Army garrison positioned on an island in Charleston Harbor. Not wanting to appear to be the aggressor, President Lincoln had opted to not reinforce the fort’s military defenses and instead had sent only a resupply of provisions. Confederate President Jefferson Davis then ordered an attack. That bombardment galvanized the North’s support for fighting to preserve the Union. The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first of roughly 10,500 armed conflicts between the Union and Confederate Armies. Major battles often would be memorialized in pamphlets printed by local publishers, which became the first drafts of history.
- Source:
- Photograph by Vincent Dilio. Courtesy of David M. Rubenstein.
- Citation:
- The Battle of Fort Sumter and First Victory of the Southern Troops, April 13th, 1861. Charleston: Evans & Cogswell, 1861.