ON THIS DAY ·
Battle of Fort Sumter
12–14 Apr 1861 — After 34 hours of bombardment the fort surrenders; the only men killed die in an accidental salute. The cheapest battle of the war opens the costliest war in American history.
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The moment in context
The long interval before Lincoln could take office is the first thing that shaped secession, because the Constitution then left a president-elect waiting until March. Buchanan held that secession was illegal and that the federal government was also powerless to prevent it, a doctrine that produced complete paralysis. Into that gap the Deep South acted: South Carolina and six other states seized federal arsenals and forts, met at Montgomery to write a constitution that guaranteed slavery, and made secession an accomplished fact. Lincoln refused the last great compromise, the Crittenden proposal, because it would have allowed slavery to expand, which was the single issue his election had settled.
From Secession crisis and Fort Sumter, chapter 3 of The American Civil War, 1840–1877 (APR 1861).
The place: Battle of Fort Sumter — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — A four-month vacuum of power. The Constitution then left presidents-elect waiting until March. Buchanan held that secession was illegal but that coercion was also illegal. A…
- The turn — Fort Sumter, 12–14 April 1861. The bombardment killed no one in combat and changed everything: it turned a constitutional dispute into a rebellion under fire, brought four more…
- What it changed — The upper South flips — and doubles the war. Virginia brings the Tredegar Iron Works (the South’s only great foundry), Robert E. Lee, and a border on Washington itself. The capital moves to…
Then ask the room: Lincoln could have evacuated Sumter and bought time — many advisers urged exactly that. Was provoking the crisis a mistake? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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