The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first military engagement of the American Civil War. It took place from April 12-13, 1861 in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina between Confederate forces and a small Union garrison stationed at Fort Sumter. The Confederates fired on the fort in an attempt to force the Union soldiers stationed there to surrender after the Union refused Confederate demands to evacuate the fort. Over the course of 34 hours, the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter with artillery until the Union garrison surrendered. The battle marked the start of armed conflict between the North and South and helped rally support for the Union cause in the North.

1. The Battle of Fort
Sumter
The attack on fort Sumter occurred
after the southern states seceded
from the union. Therefore, the
south didn’t consider itself part of
the United States anymore. So the
south being independent of the U.S
wanted all U.S. posts on their land
to be evacuated. Since the U.S. still
recognized these posts as part of
the U.S. they refused to leave. The
south (confederacy) aggravated by
their refusal took matters into their
own hands when a ship was sent to
resupply fort Sumter, the
confederacy opened fire.
The battle of Fort Sumter took
place in South Carolina on an
island in Charleston Harbor.
The battle of Fort Sumter
started on April 12 ending April
13, 1861. The first shot was
fired by the confederate army
at 4:30 A.M. The evening
rainstorms aided the troops in
fort Sumter due to the fire
brought on upon gun fire.The
battle went on for two days
until the confederates defeated
the union.

2. The goals of the
battle of Fort
Sumter
Unions Goal:
The military goal was to control
the entrance to Charleston harbor
which would allow the union to
control the import and export of
supplies of the confederate state.
President Lincolns plan was to get
the confederates to fire the first
shot. This would make the
confederates look bad and would
inspire states to unite under the
union.
Confederates Goal:
The confederates had a different
goal they wanted to preserve the
confederate states that hadn't
already seceded to the union by
demanding that the union army
abandon its facilities in Charleston
harbor.

3. Confederates
Union
Anderson and his men had a total of 60
guns but only fired six of them during the
duration of the battle.
The union only had 85 soldiers defending
fort Sumter.
Fort Sumter was low on supply and
ammunition . There were no fuses for there
explosive shells and the forts biggest guns
the Columbia's and eight-inch howitzers
were located on the top tier of the fort. The
big guns were not used because the big
guns had no protection for the men making
them vulnerable to enemy fire.
The only guns that were accessible without
being vulnerable to enemy fire were the
casemate guns on the lower tier. The
confederates only used six of their canons
during the whole duration of the battle.
Although
there were no
casualties
during the
battle of fort
Sumter, one
union soldier
died when a
canon
prematurely
exploded
during the
evacuation.
The confederates had 43 guns and
mortars.
The confederates had 500 soldiers
The Confederates bombarded Fort
Sumter from various locations. After
Anderson and his men abandoned
Fort Moultrie Beauregard and his
men took refuge in fort Moultrie.
Fort Moultrie wielded three 8-inch
Columbiads, two 8-inch
howitzers, five 32-pound
smoothbores and four 24-pounders.
On the outside of the fort were five
10-inch mortars, two 32pounders, two 24-pounders and one
9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore.
The Floating battery outside of fort
Moultrie had two 42-inch pounders
and two 32-inch pounders.
The confederates also took refuge at
fort Johnson located on James island
aiding the bombardment with one
24-inch pounder, four 10-inch
mortars, two 42-inch pounders, an
English Blakely rifled cannon, and
three 8-inch Columbiads.

4. • Both confederate
and union leaders
got there military
education at
WestPoint.
Union
Major Robert Anderson
Major. Robert, Anderson
major Robert Anderson
was general Beauregard's
artillery instructor at west •Major Anderson
point.
and Beauregard
Andersons strategy was to
not only trained
gain control over the
together they
harbor by controlling fort
Sumter at the entrance of
were close friends.
the harbor. Fort Sumter
Beauregard
was a vantage point due to became
the fort being accessible
Andersons
only by water and it was
known to be the strongest assistant after
fort in the united states at graduation.
the time.
Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
Confederate
General Pierre Gustave T.
Beauregard
The strategy of Beauregard was
to keep all shipments from
resupplying fort Sumter. the
Shipment (star of the west) was
sent to resupply fort Sumter by
president Lincoln. The shipment
failed to resupply due being fired
upon by the confederates.
General Beauregard knew that if
fort Sumter was resupplied they
might be able to hold the fort and
he was not going to let that
happen.

5. The battle of fort Sumter’s Significance
•The significance of the battle of fort Sumter is that Lincolns plan
to try to get the confederates to fire first worked out as planed it
allowed the success of uniting states that seceded from the
union by making people to want to join the unions side instead
of the aggressors (the Confederates). Without Lincolns plan the
southern states may have never united with the north and the
U.S. wouldn’t be what it is today.
•The second significance of the battle of fort Sumter is that Fort
Sumter was the first battle that started the civil war.

6. Work Cited:
Peace Keeper. Battle of Fort Sumter-Civil War Battles. Battle of Fort Sumter. Website.
Dec 3, 2013
http://thecivilwarbattles.blogspot.com/search?q=fort+sumter
U.S. History Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium. 33a. Fort Sumter. Website. Dec
3, 2013
http://www.ushistory.org/us/33a.asp
Robert, McNamara About.com 19th Century History. The Attack on Fort Sumter in April
1861 Began the American Civil War. Website. Dec 3,2013
http://history1800s.about.com/od/civilwar/a/fort-sumter-attack.htm
Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter. Website. Dec 3,2013
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h98.html
Fort Sumter April 12-14, 1861. Website. Dec 3,2013
http://www.us-civilwar.com/sumter.htm
Wikipedia. Bombardment. Website. Dec 3,2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter