1. Fort Sumter

2. Taking Control
After seceding, the Confederates took control of U.S. forts and arsenals in their states.
President Buchanan claimed that this was illegal, but did nothing to stop the Southerners.

3. Charleston, SC
U.S. Major Robert Anderson was in command of a small fort – Fort Moultrie.
The fort was too tough to defend, so Union soldiers retreated to a larger fort –
Fort Sumter.
The fort was in a key place in
Charleston Harbor, and in
desperate need of supplies.

4. Fort Sumter

5. The New President
Lincoln worried that helping Fort Sumter might cause more states to secede.
He pledged he would send supplies, but NO SOLDIERS to Fort Sumter...unless the fort was attacked.
Attempts to negotiate
with the South failed.

6. at the Fort…
Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard (Anderson’s good friend) was ordered to capture Fort Sumter.
The Confederates ordered Anderson to surrender, but Anderson refused.
Fort Sumter was attacked
on April 12, 1861 at 4:30 am.

7. The Battle
Confederates fired over 3,000 shells at the fort. Union troops in the fort fired back.
Fort Sumter was severely damaged and on fire, but Anderson continued to hold out.
At 1:00 pm on April 13,
Anderson surrendered.
No one was killed on
either side.

8. The Aftermath
Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve in the Union army for 90 days.
Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee joined the Confederacy.
Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri,
and Delaware became “border
states.”
slave states that did
not secede from the Union