A History of Fort Sumter

A thrilling account—from construction to ruin—of the South Carolina fort where the Civil War’s opening shots were fired, forging its place in history. In 1829, construction began on a fort atop a rock formation in the mouth of Charleston Harbor. Decades later, Fort Sumter was near completion on December 26, 1860, when Maj. Robert Anderson occupied it in response to the growing hostilities between the North and South. As a symbol of sedition for the North and holy ground for the South, possession