Fort Sumter
The Fort that Started the War
Facts About the Attack on the Civil War
- April 12, 1861 the confederate forces began to fire on Fort Sumter in the middle of the Charleston Harbor.
- The fort was under the command of Union Major Robert Anderson who had requested supplies for his men as they couldn't get supplies from the area around itself.
- The fire fight from land to the fort lasted all through the night and the fort was surrendered the next day with no death to either side during the firing.
- Fort Sumter was unfinished at the time of the attack and lack sufficient supplies to keep up a strait fire fight with the south and had no exploding weapons only solid shots.
- On the early morning of the 14th of April Anderson and his 85 men fled the fort after the surrender and a 100 gun salute that had failed resulting in the only death through out the entire in counter.
- Sumter became known as the start of the civil war all though no one was injured or fought face it face, it brought the amassing animosity into a full out conflict.
Fort Sumter Before the Battle
This is painting of the fort before the fire fight that toppled its walls.
The Attack in Progress
The fort goes on bombardment as shells become lodged in the walls.
Fort Sumter Today
Today the original two feet thick outer wall stands but the barracks inside were never rebuilt or finished for that matter.
Maj. Robert Anderson
Anderson was the commanding officer of Sumter at the time of the attack.
P.G.T. Beauregard
Beauregard was the Confederate general who oversaw the attack and terms of surrender.
Confeds. Fire on Fort Sumter
Confederate soldiers continue the bombardment on the fort from one side of the harbor.
Mortar Shell in the Wall
Sumters' nearly two foot thick wall protected well against the fire laid down on them, in the process many shells became lodged in the wall.
The Proposed Fort
Fort Sumter was not completely finished at the start of the Civil War, it was supposed to composed of additional barracks and walls up to three stories high.
Union and Confederate Positions
The confederates held many advantages of the Union fort on the land which they used many of to bombard the fort.
By Katie Kennedy