Battle of Fort Sumter

Battle context

The bombardment of Fort Sumter by South Carolina militia forces, which compelled the U.S. Army garrison under Robert Anderson to surrender the fort, marked the opening of armed hostilities in the American Civil War. The fall of the fort to Confederate-aligned forces represented the first concrete military confrontation between Union and secessionist forces, transforming the political crisis over secession into open war. The engagement set the terms of the broader conflict that would follow: federal authority over installations in seceding states would be contested by force, and neither side would resolve the dispute through negotiation alone.