The beginning of the American Civil War.
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The Battle of Fort Sumter marked the beginning of the Civil War, it was the first "official" battle. Fort Sumter was a Union Fort. But, Confederate troops wanted to seize it, as they had with other Union forts. They asked commanders at Fort Sumter to surrender, but they wouldn't. As a result, Confederate troops opened fire in an effort to seize Fort Sumter from the North. Southern troops fired first, followed by Americans. The bombardment lasted for about 3 days. Fort Sumter surrendered in the end.
Confederate artillery in Charleston firing on the US Army garrison at Fort Sumter, to assert sovereignty over the whole of South Carolina.
Lincoln could not declare war, because this would mean recognising the Confederacy as a sovereign nation. But he called for volunteer troops to put down 'a rebellion', and that sounded belligerent enough to provoke four states of the Middle-South into joining the Confederacy. The two sides were lined up. The war was on.
the southerners have become a free state and thought of them selves as their own state
The battle that was fought after Fort Sumter was Manassas Junction.
The Confederates attacked the Union fort on April 12, 1861.
First shots exchanged between the Confederates and the Union.
Major Robert Anderson
Lincoln said he would send food but no arms to the fort.