9781422285947

The Civil War Begins

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Chapter 1: The Civil War Begins T housands of people in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, stayed up all night on April 11, 1861. They knew that the crisis, which had been building for so long, was about to erupt. At about 4:15 a . m ., on April 12, a single cannon shell flew from the mouth of a Confederate cannon. This shell made a long arc and then crashed against the wall of Fort Sumter, a federal military installation on an island in the harbor. No one was hurt, but that cannon shot started the American Civil War.

This 19th century artwork depicts the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter that began on April 12, 1861.