April 13
Fort Sumter Surrenders to Confederates
The Union garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor capitulated after a day and a half of Confederate bombardment, opening the armed phase of the sectional crisis.
Summary
As tensions over slavery and states' rights escalated following Abraham Lincoln's election, South Carolina seceded and demanded the evacuation of the federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Major Robert Anderson refused, leading to a 34-hour bombardment by Confederate forces under General P.G.T. Beauregard beginning April 12. On April 13, with supplies exhausted and the fort heavily damaged but no fatalities among defenders, Anderson surrendered the fort. The bloodless victory for the Confederacy was hailed in the South as a major triumph. Lincoln responded by calling for 75,000 volunteers, prompting additional Southern states to secede.
Context
By early 1861 the United States stood on the brink of dissolution. Abraham Lincoln’s election the previous November had prompted seven Southern states, beginning with South Carolina on December 20, 1860, to secede and form the Confederate States of America. Charleston Harbor remained a flashpoint because it contained the last major federal installation still under Union control inside Confederate-claimed territory.
What Happened
Major Robert Anderson commanded roughly eighty-five U.S. soldiers at Fort Sumter, an unfinished brick pentagon guarding the harbor entrance. When Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard demanded evacuation and Anderson refused, Southern batteries opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on April 12. For the next thirty-four hours more than three thousand rounds struck the fort, setting its wooden barracks ablaze and threatening its powder magazine. Anderson’s men returned only a handful of shots before ammunition and provisions ran critically low.
Aftermath
On the afternoon of April 13 Anderson accepted terms allowing his command to evacuate with honors. The formal surrender and 100-gun salute occurred the following day; two Union soldiers were killed by an accidental explosion during the salute, the first fatalities of the conflict. News of the capitulation reached Washington on April 14. President Lincoln immediately issued a call for 75,000 volunteers, prompting Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina to join the Confederacy.
Legacy
Fort Sumter’s fall converted a political deadlock into open war. The bloodless Confederate victory was celebrated across the South as proof that secession could be defended by arms, while in the North it unified opinion behind the preservation of the Union. Over the next four years the fort remained a Confederate stronghold until Union forces recaptured Charleston in February 1865. Historians continue to regard the engagement as the conventional starting point of the Civil War, the conflict that ultimately restored the Union and abolished slavery.
Why It Matters
The surrender ignited the American Civil War, transforming a political crisis into armed conflict that ultimately preserved the Union and ended slavery. It galvanized Northern support for the war effort and established Fort Sumter as an enduring symbol of the conflict's origins in sectional division.
Related Questions
Why was Fort Sumter so important in 1861?
It was the principal remaining federal military post inside a seceded state and therefore a direct test of whether the Confederacy could control territory claimed by the United States.
Did anyone die during the bombardment itself?
No combat deaths occurred on either side during the thirty-four-hour shelling; the first fatalities came during the ceremonial salute after surrender.
What did Lincoln do immediately after the surrender?
He called for 75,000 state militia volunteers, a step that prompted four additional Southern states to secede.
How long did Confederate forces hold Fort Sumter?
They occupied it from April 1861 until Union troops recaptured Charleston in February 1865.
Related Portfolio Site
US Military Atlas: Fort Sumter Surrenders to Confederates connects to military history, war consequences, or postwar diplomacy.
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Sources
- What Happened on April 13, History.com. Accessed 2026-07-09.