Here’s what happened in April 1861, leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, which spurred the launch of the American Civil War.

You probably remember Fort Sumter as the place where the first shot of the Civil War was fired back in 1861. Today, you can see for yourself where all the action happened by taking a ferry to the ...

NEW-YORK, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 1861. To the Editor of the New-York ... DOUBLEDAY, published in this city, stating that "the men in Fort Sumter missed their smoking tobacco more than anything else." ...

Calhoun, Fort Sumter was still not finished when the nation slid into civil war over sectional issues. Nevertheless, it became the “flashpoint for the Civil War in 1861” (p. xi). With the secession of ...

On April 15, 1861, after Fort Sumter fell to Confederate Army forces, President Abraham Lincoln issued his call to arms for 75,000 volunteers to serve for three months. Five volunteer companies ...

Here are the burning questions of Union and states' rights, John Brown at Harpers Ferry, the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, the firing on Fort Sumter, and the jubilant rush to arms on both ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of ...

On April 12, 1861, Captain George S. James fired the first Confederate shot at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, leading to a siege, a Union retreat and the start of the Civil War. Exhibits ...