The American Civil War is generally considered to have started at Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.

Quick Scoop: Where did the Civil War start?

In the early morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate forces opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, after months of tension over secession and control of federal forts. After about 34 hours of bombardment, the small Union garrison surrendered, and this attack is widely used as the formal starting point of the American Civil War.

Key facts in bullet points

  • Place: Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
  • Date: April 12, 1861 (the opening shots; surrender followed the next day).
  • Sides involved: Confederate troops firing on a Union garrison.
  • Why there: It was a U.S. federal fort sitting in territory claimed by the newly formed Confederacy, making it a flashpoint in the secession crisis.

Many historians still treat “the first shots at Fort Sumter” as the symbolic and official beginning of the war, even though the political and social conflicts over slavery and states’ rights had been building for decades.

A tiny bit of extra context

Long before the cannons fired in Charleston Harbor, battles over slavery, new territories, and political power had already divided North and South. But when the Confederacy chose to bombard Fort Sumter instead of allowing it to remain a Union foothold, it turned a tense standoff into open war, triggering mass mobilization and four years of large-scale conflict.

TL;DR: The American Civil War started when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861.

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