--- title: Battle of Fort Sumter: The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War author: Joshua J. Mark source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter/ format: machine-readable-alternate license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) updated: 2026-07-27 --- # Battle of Fort Sumter: The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War _Authored by [Joshua J. Mark](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/JPryst/)_ The [Battle](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/battle/) of Fort Sumter (12-13 April 1861), also known as the Attack on Fort Sumter and the Fall of Fort Sumter, was the opening engagement of the [American Civil War](https://www.worldhistory.org/American_Civil_War/). It began when Confederate Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard ordered his artillery, positioned around the island fort, to open fire after Union Major Robert Anderson had refused to surrender. The Confederate bombardment lasted roughly 34 [hours](https://www.worldhistory.org/Horae/), beginning at 4:30 a.m. on 12 April. Major Anderson, low on ammunition and waiting for better visibility, began returning fire at 7:00 a.m. Both sides continued this exchange until Anderson surrendered the fort on 13 April at 2:30 p.m. The Battle of Fort Sumter galvanized both the North and the South for [war](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/War/). Each side believed the other was weak, would not put up much of a fight, that casualties would be few, and that the conflict would be over in a very short time – perhaps a few weeks at most. In fact, the war would rage for four years, cause millions of dollars in damage, and cost upwards of 650,000 lives. ### The Forts of Charleston Harbor In 1776, a small fort was built on Sullivan's Island (also known as Sullivan Island) in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. This installation later became known as Fort Moultrie, in honor of the Patriot General William Moultrie, who defended the position on 28 June 1776 against a British fleet during the [American Revolutionary War](https://www.worldhistory.org/American_Revolutionary_War/). On the other side of the harbor was Fort Johnson, part of which dates to before the Revolutionary War, on James Island. Further out in the harbor, a battery had been installed on Morris Island (later the site of Fort Wagner, built in 1862). Close to the shore of Charleston, about a mile out in the harbor, was Castle Pinckney, built shortly after the Revolutionary War. All four of these sites had been garrisoned to protect Charleston from an attack by sea, but the [War of 1812](https://www.worldhistory.org/War_of_1812/) had proven them inadequate, and so, in 1827, a new fort was commissioned in the center of them all, built on an artificial island on top of a sand bar, and this was Fort Sumter, whose construction began in 1829. The earlier forts had been the property of South Carolina but were ceded to the United States Government in 1805. When South Carolina seceded from the Union on 20 December 1860, Fort Moultrie was garrisoned under the command of Major Robert Anderson, Castle Pinckney was occupied by a small force (under the command of a sergeant), and Fort Sumter – unfinished due to budget cuts – was unmanned except for a work crew. ### Lead-up to Battle Major Anderson recognized that his position at Fort Moultrie was untenable. The fort had been poorly maintained, and sand dunes rose to the height of the walls, meaning it could be easily taken by an assault from any direction. On the night of 26 December, Anderson ordered his command to move quietly across the harbor to Fort Sumter. This had to be done secretly because Governor Pickens of South Carolina had extracted a promise from President Buchanan that Sumter would not be fortified by Union troops. Buchanan had made no such promise, however, only telling Pickens that the fort would not be garrisoned "immediately." Anderson also had orders to protect his men and the interests of the Union in Charleston Harbor. On the morning of 27 December, the Charleston militia discovered that Anderson had moved his men to Sumter, and Pickens ordered all the other forts seized. The battery on Morris Island, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Johnson were taken, and the Union garrison at Castle Pinckney joined Anderson at Fort Sumter. The Confederates then built the Floating Battery of Charleston Harbor in early 1861, and so, by March, Fort Sumter was encircled by hostile forces which, having seized all the ammunition, cannons, and mortars from the forts (except Moultrie, whose guns Anderson had ordered spiked) – as well as all ordnance from the federal arsenal in Charleston – were heavily armed – and all their guns were pointed toward Sumter. [ ![Map of the American Civil War, 1861-1865](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/21119.png?v=1783225337-1759291607) Map of the American Civil War, 1861-1865 Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21119/map-of-the-american-civil-war-1861-1865/ "Map of the American Civil War, 1861-1865")Fort Sumter had been built to defend the [city](https://www.worldhistory.org/city/) of Charleston, and so its gun emplacements faced toward the mouth of the harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. It had also been constructed to be manned by a force of 650 soldiers who would operate 135 pieces of ordnance. In April 1861, Anderson's force numbered 85 men, 43 of whom were workers at the fort, not soldiers, and another eight were musicians. Only 60 guns had been placed at the fort prior to December 1860, and most of these were on the first level of the three-story fortification. As their casements were designed to defend against an attack by sea, the guns of Fort Sumter were aimed away from the threat now posed by Confederate positions at Moultrie, Johnson, Morris Island, Castle Pinckney, and the Floating Battery. Anderson did his best to prepare the fort for defense against an attack but was low on ammunition as well as rations. President Buchanan authorized a relief force to resupply the fort, and it was decided the unarmed merchant ship *Star of the West* would be best suited for the mission, as it was unlikely to draw fire. When the *Star of the West* tried to resupply Fort Sumter on 9 January 1861, however, it was fired upon by the guns of Morris Island and Fort Moultrie, forcing it to turn back. Governor Pickens then wrote to President Buchanan demanding the immediate surrender of the fort. Buchanan ignored his demand, and the small force at Sumter had to make do with whatever provisions they had – since none would be coming by sea, and Charleston had made it clear they would offer nothing but cannon fire. ### Battle of Fort Sumter [Abraham](https://www.worldhistory.org/Abraham,_the_Patriarch/) Lincoln was inaugurated on 4 March 1861 and, in April, authorized another mission to resupply Sumter. On 6 April, he issued an alert to Governor Pickens that the fort would be resupplied only with provisions, not reinforcements or weaponry. Pickens rejected this, and General Beauregard, after conferring with Confederate President [Jefferson Davis](https://www.worldhistory.org/Jefferson_Davis/), again demanded the surrender of the fort and the evacuation of the garrison. Beauregard sent delegates out to Fort Sumter on 11 April with his demands – but Anderson refused them. At 1:00 a.m. on 12 April, the delegates returned with another message that, if Anderson would state when he would evacuate the fort, Beauregard would not fire upon his position. Anderson replied that he would leave the fort by 15 April unless he was ordered to hold his position or was resupplied. [ ![Major Robert Anderson](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/21939.jpeg?v=1784122652-1785141744) Major Robert Anderson Mathew Brady (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21939/major-robert-anderson/ "Major Robert Anderson")This message was delivered to Beauregard, who then sent the delegates back with a final message at 3:20 a.m.: the fort would be fired upon in one hour. At 4:30 a.m., Lt. Henry S. Farley, under Captain George S. James, fired the shot that began the American Civil War from a 10-inch mortar at Fort Johnson. This first shot signaled the bombardment that began the Battle of Fort Sumter. The Confederate batteries fired counterclockwise from their positions with two minutes between shots. Anderson held his fire until 7:00 a.m. to conserve ammunition and allow for better visibility. Captain Abner Doubleday aimed the first gun fired from Fort Sumter. Once Anderson began returning fire, he could only use the 21 guns on the lowest tier of the fort because those on the third level risked higher casualties. Due to the limited elevation of Sumter's bottom-tier guns, they were ineffective at silencing fire from Fort Johnson, Moultrie, Morris Island, or the Floating Battery. All the Confederate guns, however, could place direct shots not only upon the walls of the fort but over them, and these, striking the wooden structures inside, set them on fire. Anderson and his command were now facing a non-stop bombardment in a burning building on an island. Compounding their problem was that they were running out of gunpowder cartridges. A rainstorm on the night of the 12th resolved the fire issue, and, to preserve ammunition, Anderson stopped returning his ineffectual fire as evening fell. The Confederate bombardment continued through the night, sending shells and balls crashing into the walls of the fort, and then, once it was daylight, landing shots inside and setting what was left of the wooden buildings on fire again. Anderson had calculated he had enough ammunition and rations to hold out until the 15th, but both were running low. Supply ships, which had arrived in the area on the afternoon of the 12th, were unable to approach the fort due to the heavy fire from Confederate guns. ### Surrender of Fort Sumter By noon on the 13th, Anderson was, again, defending a burning building on an island, running out of ammunition, with a garrison that had been surviving on half rations for months. At 1:00 p.m., the fort's flagpole was felled by a cannon shot and, afterwards, one Confederate felt this was the right moment to end the battle, as described by scholar Alan Taylor: > In Fort Sumter, the Union troops suddenly saw a beefy, hairy civilian in a frock coat, red [silk](https://www.worldhistory.org/Silk/) sash, and top hat clambering through a casemate. He was the South's greatest glory-hound, Senator Wigfall. > Without authorization from the Confederate commander, Wigfall had commandeered a small boat, a soldier, and three unlucky slaves to row him out to Sumter so that he could demand the fort's surrender. > Anderson had little fight left, so he capitulated to Wigfall. Returning to Montgomery, the Confederate capital, Wigfall boasted that he had won the battle, while bitterly complaining that Anderson failed to praise him in a published report. > (147) Anderson would not have praised Wigfall later because Wigfall did not win the battle or negotiate the surrender. He had arrived at Fort Sumter with a white handkerchief waving from the tip of his sword and, after praising Anderson for his stand, asked for his terms in evacuating, not surrendering, the fort. After Wigfall left, Anderson hoisted Wigfall's handkerchief on another of the fort's flagpoles, and delegates from Charleston responded by stopping the bombardment and sailing out to the fort. These delegates knew nothing of Wigfall's visit, rejected the use of the term "evacuate," insisted on Anderson's surrender, and threatened to renew the bombardment. Beauregard, however, had been apprised of the white handkerchief on the flagpole and sent another delegation, allowing for the use of the term "evacuation" rather than "surrender." Anderson agreed to Beauregard's terms, and Fort Sumter was surrendered at 2:30 p.m. on 13 April. ### Reactions of the North & South Beauregard, in turn, accepted Anderson's terms, which included a 100-gun salute to the United States flag before it was lowered. As the salute reached its 50th shot, a spark caught in some cartridges, which exploded, wounding the six-man cannon crew. Private Edward Galloway and Private Daniel Hough were both mortally wounded; Hough died on the spot, and Galloway a few days later in a Charleston hospital. These were the first casualties of the American Civil War and the only deaths of the Battle of Fort Sumter – although, technically, they died after it was over. The 100-gun salute was stopped, of course, and Anderson lowered the "flag of the Union." Anderson and his command were taken aboard the Confederate ship *Isabel* and, the next morning, were delivered to the Union ship *Baltic* – one of the supply ships that had been unable to reach Sumter – which took them to New York. No Union soldier was taken prisoner after the fall of the fort. Reactions to the Fall of Fort Sumter were the same in the North and South – but radically different in details, as Taylor notes: > The attack on Fort Sumter galvanized Yankee patriotism. The poet [Walt Whitman](https://www.worldhistory.org/Walt_Whitman/) recalled that the news "ran through the Land, as if by electric nerves." A Bostonian reported, "The whole population, men, [women](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/women/), and children, seem to be in the streets waving Union flags. A New Yorker exulted, "It seems as if we never were alive till now; never had a country till now…" > The fall of Fort Sumter stimulated Confederate nationalism in the Upper South. While bands played "Dixie," festive crowds lit fireworks, danced around bonfires, tore down the Stars and Stripes from public buildings, and raised Confederate flags. > (147-148) In the North, Robert Anderson was promoted to brigadier general, became a national hero, and the flag he had taken from Fort Sumter became a symbol of patriotic heroism and of national pride in a way it never had before. When Anderson appeared with Sumter's flag at a rally in Union Square, New York City, he looked out at an enormous crowd, all waving small flags back at him. After the Battle of Fort Sumter, the "flag of the Union" appeared outside of people's homes, on the rooftops of markets, in public squares, and outside of taverns in a way it had never been before. [ ![Fort Sumter Storm Flag](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/21941.jpeg?v=1784123255-1785141377) Fort Sumter Storm Flag Unknown Photographer (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21941/fort-sumter-storm-flag/ "Fort Sumter Storm Flag")In the South, P. G. T. Beauregard was the hero, the gallant general who had taken Fort Sumter and secured the Port of Charleston for the Confederate States of America, offering the gentlest terms of surrender to the Yankees and sending them "back home where they belonged." The day after Anderson and his command left Sumter, the flag of South Carolina (adopted 28 January 1861) was raised over the fort, and that flag became the symbol of the Confederacy and, likewise, appeared outside of people's homes, shops, and churches – not just in South Carolina, but elsewhere in the newly formed Confederate States of America. ### Conclusion On the same day that flag was raised over Sumter, President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion of the Southern States – and his call was answered by more than he hoped for. In the South, meanwhile, local militia commanders had no trouble finding recruits to fill the ranks of the army that would defend the Confederacy from Northern aggression and the North's long-standing policies of "taxing and cheating and swindling the South" (Taylor, 149). As noted, both sides believed the war would be won by them quickly, and both believed they had [God](https://www.worldhistory.org/God/) on their side to ensure this speedy victory. Four years and over 650,000 deaths later, they were proven wrong. On 14 April 1865, retired General Robert Anderson returned to Fort Sumter to raise the flag he had lowered on 13 April 1861. The event was intended as a symbolic closure to the war, the rebirth of the Union, but was overshadowed by the assassination of President Lincoln hours later by the Confederate sympathizer [John Wilkes Booth](https://www.worldhistory.org/John_Wilkes_Booth/). [ ![Fort Sumter, South Carolina](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/21942.jpeg?v=1784123570-1785141840) Fort Sumter, South Carolina Judson McCranie (CC BY-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21942/fort-sumter-south-carolina/ "Fort Sumter, South Carolina")After Lincoln's [death](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Death/), closure and reunification seemed far from everyone's mind as the South sought to retain as much as they could of their former way of life and the North moved to prevent them through the policies of the Reconstruction Era. Fort Sumter had been battered into ruins by Union artillery in 1863, and there was little left of the building Anderson had known in 1861 when he returned there in 1865. Today, those ruins, reconstructed and preserved, are the focal point of the Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historic Park, drawing visitors from around the world annually to see the site where the first shots were fired in the American Civil War. #### Editorial Review This human-authored definition has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/). ## Bibliography - [Bradford, N. *Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.* E. P. Dutton, 1989.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B08Y73RDC2/) - [Chadwick, B. *The Cannons Roar: Fort Sumter and the Start of the Civil War, an Oral History.* Pegasus Books, 2023.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1639363394/) - [McPherson, J. M. *Battle Cry of Freedom.* Oxford University Press, 2003.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/019516895X/) - [Streissguth, T. *The Civil War: The North.* Greenhaven Press, 2001.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0064405885/) - [Streissguth, T. *The Civil War: The South.* Greenhaven Press, 2001.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B00Q8M1EYK/) - [Taylor, A. *American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1873.* W. W. Norton & Company, 2025.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/132411049X/) ## About the Author Joshua J. Mark is World History Encyclopedia's co-founder and Content Director. He was previously a professor at Marist College (NY) where he taught history, philosophy, literature, and writing. He has traveled extensively and lived in Greece and Germany. - [Linkedin Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/joshua-j-mark/38/614/339) ## Timeline - **12 Apr 1861 CE - 13 Apr 1861 CE**: The [Battle](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/battle/) of Fort Sumter begins the [American Civil War](https://www.worldhistory.org/American_Civil_War/). ## Questions & Answers ### When was the Battle of Fort Sumter? The Battle of Fort Sumter was fought on 12-13 April 1861. ### Where was the Battle of Fort Sumter fought? The Battle of Fort Sumter was fought in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, between the Union Fort Sumter and the surrounding Confederate artillery positions. ### When did the Battle of Fort Sumter begin and end? The Battle of Fort Sumter began at 4:30 a.m. on 12 April 1861 when Confederate artillery opened fire on the Union-held fort. It ended at 2:30 p.m. on 13 April 1861 when Major Robert Anderson, commanding the fort, surrendered. ### Who commanded the opposing forces during the Battle of Fort Sumter? During the Battle of Fort Sumter, the Union forces were commanded by Major Robert Anderson, and the Confederate forces were under General P. G. T. Beauregard. ## External Links - [American Battlefield Trust/Fort Sumter Battle Facts](https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-sumter) - [etv/Battle of Fort Sumter Anniversary by Andrew Davis](https://www.scetv.org/stories/2024/battle-fort-sumter-anniversary-history-nutshell-extra) - [Bill of Rights Institute/Fort Sumter and the Coming of the War](https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/fort-sumter-and-the-coming-of-the-war/) - [US National Park Service/Confederate Occupation of Fort Sumter](https://www.nps.gov/articles/confederate-occupation-of-fort-sumter.htm) ## Cite This Work ### APA Mark, J. J. (2026, July 27). Battle of Fort Sumter: The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War. *World History Encyclopedia*. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle\_of\_Fort\_Sumter/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter/) ### Chicago Mark, Joshua J.. "Battle of Fort Sumter: The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War." *World History Encyclopedia*, July 27, 2026. [https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle\_of\_Fort\_Sumter/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter/). ### MLA Mark, Joshua J.. "Battle of Fort Sumter: The First Shots Fired of the American Civil War." *World History Encyclopedia*, 27 Jul 2026, [https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle\_of\_Fort\_Sumter/](https://www.worldhistory.org/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter/). ## License & Copyright Submitted by [Joshua J. Mark](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/JPryst/ "User Page: Joshua J. Mark"), published on 27 July 2026. 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