Three days after the Confederacy fires upon Union forces at Fort Sumter, U. S. Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation against the Confederate States of America, calling for the raising of a United States militia to respond to the hostile actions of the CSA: Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time…
Two Americas, now formally at war, greet the first sunrise of a long, bloody, bitter military contest. Well aware that continued Union resistance is futile in the battle for Fort Sumter, the fort’s commander, Major Robert Anderson, arranges for a surrender. The formalities of defeat will take place on the morrow, but the Confederate celebration…
And so it begins. At 4:30 AM, Confederate batteries open fire on Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Sumter’s Union garrison returns fire. In the space of mere moments, month-longs apprehension evaporates. The war is on. There is no turning back. The first return fire from Sumter comes from a cannon manned…