Digital Learning Commons: Civil War: Fort Sumter, April 1861

Resources

Battle of Fort Sumter Facts and Summary
Great resource which covers the Battle of Fort Sumter. Includes maps, videos, image gallery, and more.
Chronicling America - Battle of Fort Sumter
Selection of newspaper articles from April 1861 covering the siege and surrender of Fort Sumter.
The Eve of War: The Moments and Months Leading to the Attack on Fort Sumter
The date and the hour are pretty certain. On April 12, 1861, close to 4:30 a.m., after months of escalating tension between the North and the South, a shot was fired across the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, to the federal contingency occupying Fort Sumter. But was that the beginning of the war?
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Perry, Warren. “The Eve of War: The Moments and Months Leading to the Attack on Fort Sumter | National Portrait Gallery.” National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, 8 Apr. 2011, https://npg.si.edu/blog/eve-war-moments-and-months-leading-attack-on-fort-sumter.
Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins
Nearly a century of discord between North and South finally exploded in April 1861 with the bombardment of Fort Sumter.
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Bordewich, Fergus M. “Fort Sumter: The Civil War Begins.” Smithsonian, Smithsonian.com, 1 Apr. 2011, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fort-sumter-the-civil-war-begins-1018791/.
Last chance for peace
For months the Confederates trained dozens of guns on Major Robert Anderson and his men at Fort Sumter. But no one seemed eager for war.
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Lindsay, Drew. "Last chance for peace: for months the Confederates trained dozens of guns on Major Robert Anderson and his men at Fort Sumter. But no one seemed eager for war." MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Spring 2011, p. 58+. General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A250035013/GPS?u=maine&sid=GPS&xid=9dea30b8.
A shot in the dark: once the Rebels took aim at Fort Sumter, there was no turning back--for anyone
Secession was a bone of contention charged with enough lightning to kill half a generation if it hadn't been run to ground sooner. The fact that the flashpoint burst in Charleston is no surprise; they'd been gnawing around that issue for 20 years, but if it hadn't happened there, it would have happened someplace else--that's how volatile the thing was. Or was it?
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Groom, Winston. "A shot in the dark: once the Rebels took aim at Fort Sumter, there was no turning back--for anyone." America's Civil War, Mar. 2011, p. 28+. General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A249879238/GPS?u=maine&sid=GPS&xid=8c0f7957.
Telegram Announcing the Surrender of Fort Sumter
Telegram announcing the surrender of Fort Sumter to the Confederate Army in 1861.

Highly Recommended | Primary Source | Multimedia

Animated Battle Map

Dig deeper and search the Digital Maine Library databases for the names, geographic areas, and terms below.

George Anderson	P.G.T. Beauregard	Star of the West
Abner Doubleday	Fort Moultrie	Fort Sumter Flag
Francis W. Pickens	Charleston Harbor	Abraham Lincoln
	James Buchanan

Databases

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Podcasts

The Civil War: A History Podcast (35 minutes)
Part one of five of a discussion of the dramatic events surrounding the growing crisis over the possession of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor.
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“#30 FORT SUMTER (Part the First).” The Civil War (1861-1865): A History Podcast, 30 June 2013, http://civilwarpodcast.libsyn.com/-30-the-civil-war-1861-1865-a-history-podcast.
The Coming Storm (54 minutes)
Discussion on the causes and some triggering actions for the start of the Civil War and discuss the siege of Fort Sumter
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Johnson, Justin. “The Coming Storm - Civil War: Part 1.” American Military History Podcast, 17 Jan. 2018, https://www.stitcher.com/show/american-military-history-podcast/episode/the-coming-storm-civil-war-part-1-52932621.
The Crisis at Fort Sumter (44 minutes)
Once in office, Lincoln was faced with military leaders and a cabinet that were almost unanimously in favor of evacuating the fort. Lincoln decided to ignore their advice.
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Calton, Chris. “The Crisis at Fort Sumter.” Historical Controversies, Mises Institute, 16 May 2018, https://mises.org/library/crisis-fort-sumter.
Fort Sumter Fallout & Army Organization (1 hour 5 minutes)
The short 2 months (ish) period after Fort Sumter brought with it a lot of action is gearing up for the war on both sides.
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Johnson, Justin. “Fort Sumter Fallout & Army Organization.” American Military History Podcast, 1 Feb. 2018, https://www.stitcher.com/show/american-military-history-podcast/episode/fort-sumter-fallout-army-organization-civil-war-pt-2-53108675.
The Bombardment of Fort Sumter (5 hours)
The official beginning of the Civil War came on April 12th, when the Confederacy commenced their attack on Fort Sumter.
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Calton, Chris. “The Bombardment of Fort Sumter.” Historical Controversies, Mises Institute, 23 May 2018, https://mises.org/library/bombardment-fort-sumter.