Named after General Thomas Sumter, a Revolutionary War hero, Fort Sumter was built following the War of 1812, as one of a series of fortifications on the southern U.S. coast. Construction began in 1827, and the structure was still unfinished in 1861, when the Civil War began. Seventy thousand tons of granite were imported from New England to build up a sand bar in the entrance to Charleston Harbor, which the site dominates. The fort was a five-sided brick structure, 170 to 190 feet long, with walls five feet thick, standing 50 feet over the low tide mark. It was designed to house 650 men and 135 guns in three tiers of gun emplacements.
On December 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina declared its secession, Major Robert Anderson abandoned Fort Moultrie and relocated his 127 men to Fort Sumter. He thought that providing a stronger defense would delay an attack by South Carolina militia. The fort was not yet complete at the time and fewer than half of the cannons that should have been available were in place. Over the next few months, repeated calls for evacuation of Fort Sumter from the government of South Carolina and then from Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard were ignored. Union attempts to resupply and reinforce the garrison were repulsed on January 9, 1861 when the first shots of the war, fired by cadets from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina (a state funded school), prevented a steamer, hired to transport troops and supplies to Fort Sumter, from completing the task. After realizing that Anderson's command would run out of food by April 15, 1861, newly elected President Lincoln ordered a fleet of ships to attempt entry into Charleston Harbor and support Fort Sumter.
On Thursday, April 11, 1861, Beauregard sent three aides to demand the surrender of the fort. Anderson declined, and the aides returned to report to Beauregard. After Beauregard had consulted with the Confederate Secretary of War, he sent the aides back to the fort and authorized them to decide whether the fort should be taken by force. The aides waited for hours while Anderson considered his alternatives and played for time. At about 3 a.m., when Anderson finally announced his conditions. The aides then left the fort and proceeded to the nearby Fort Johnson. There, they ordered the fort to open fire on Fort Sumter.
On Friday, April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m., Confederate batteries opened fire, firing for 34 straight hours, on the fort. No attempt was made to return the fire for more than two hours. The fort's supply of ammunition was not suited for the task, also there were no fuses for their explosive shells, only solid balls could be used against the Rebel batteries. At about 7:00 A.M., Captain Abner Doubleday (yes, he is the inventor of baseball), the fort's second in command, was given the honor of firing the first shot in defense of the fort. The shot was ineffective, in part because Major Anderson did not use the guns mounted on the highest tier, the barbette tier, where the gun detachments would be more exposed to Confederate fire. The firing continued all day, the Union fired slowly to conserve ammunition. At night the fire from the fort stopped, but the Confederates still lobbed an occasional shell in Sumter. On Saturday, April 13, the fort was surrendered and evacuated. During the attack, the Union colors fell. No Union soldiers died in the actual battle though a Confederate soldier bled to death having been wounded by a misfiring cannon. One Union soldier died and another was mortally wounded during the 47th shot of a 100 shot salute, allowed by the Confederacy. Accounts, such as in the famous diary of Mary Chesnut, describe Charleston residents along what is now known as The Battery, sitting on balconies and drinking salutes to the start of the hostilities.
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