Here’s what happened in April 1861, leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, which spurred the launch of the American Civil War.

In 1860, Fort Sumter, the federal sea fortress guarding Charleston, became a flash point in the tensions between North and South. "South Carolina saw it as an affront to their sense of honor ...

Calhoun, Fort Sumter was still not finished when the nation slid into civil war over sectional issues. Nevertheless, it became the “flashpoint for the Civil War in 1861” (p. xi). With the secession of ...

Today’s column picks up where last Monday’s ended as we look back at the week before the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter. We left off on April 6, 1861, when the first ...