The Battle of Fort Sumter

1491 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Battle of fort sumter 5 paragraph essay

The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will swarm out and string us to death. It is unnecessary. It put us in the wrong. It is fatal. –Robert Toombs. (Boerner paragraph 2). The Civil War impacted the course of history forever. But it had to start somewhere and the Battle of Fort Sumter marked the start. The Battle of Fort Sumter had various causes and effects. Before the start of the Civil War, conflict had been brewing between the states of the North and South. The election of Abraham Lincoln did not enhance the situation at all. Lincoln was a noted abolitionist and he wanted to abate the expansion of slavery into the Western states. The Southern states saw this as an infraction to their way of life by controlling their economy. How could the Northern states regulate the Southern states? The economy of the North was very different than the South. Especially since slavery was vital to farmers in the planting and harvesting the crops. Secession was on the horizon and Lincoln knew he had to do something to prevent this. To help build the Union Army, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve for 90 days. Every state was asked to fill a quota based on its population. This did not help Lincoln’s and only hurt the Union cause. This only enraged the Southern state more and seceding for the Union was becoming a reality. Fort Sumter was one of many forts during the Civil War in the United States, and was named after General Thomas Sumter who was a hero in the Revolutionary War. Plans for the fort were originally develope... ... middle of paper ... ...l War officially ended on April 18th, 1865. Was it by chance the initial battle started at Fort Sumter? Did President Lincoln use the situation at the fort to gain support in the North? Or was the battle initiated by the Confederates to gain supporters in the South, knowing they had the advantage in this battle? Historian will debate this topic for years to come. One thing is for certain, the outcome of the Civil War resulted in the reunification of the United States. Sadly, it took a war to reunite the nation and that war began at the Battle of Fort Sumter. Works Cited Atlas of the Civil War, the Everything Civil War Book, the www.boerner.net/jboerner/?p=10867 Fort Sumter:How Civil War Began with a Bloodless Battle An Illustrated History of the Civil War Images of an American Tradegy Civil War, the www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fort-sumter/html?tabfacts

Show More
Related

  • Summary: Why The North Won The Civil War

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Civil War, beginning in 1861 and ending in 1865, was a notorious event in American history for many influential reasons. Among them was the war 's conclusive role in determining a united or divided American nation, its efforts to successfully abolish the slavery institution and bring victory to the northern states. This Civil War was first inspired by the unsettling differences that divided the northern and southern states over the power that resided in the hands of the national government to constrain slavery from taking place within the territories. There was only one victor in the Civil War. Due to the lack of resources, plethora of weaknesses, and disorganized leadership the Southern States possessed in comparison to the Northern States,

    Read More

  • Civil War Diary Of Cyrus F. Boyd

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Civil War had a very large affect on all of the States. It changed men from gentlemen that went to church every Sunday and never cussed to people who rarely went to church and cussed all the time. Some of the people in the war were also very corrupt and did not do things as they should be done. The way that the enemy was looked at was even changed. All of these things were talked about in "The Civil War Diary of Cyrus F. Boyd".

    Read More

  • The Battle of Fredricksburg

    1164 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ition. Even after the South was all set up and it looked impossible for Burnside to win, he decided to try anyway. All of the mistakes Burnside made could have been avoided, so it was Burnside’s entire fault for this big disaster. I think that General Burnside was out-of-line; he was being very naïve by ordering more troops up the hill when he knew they would die. For these reasons, Fredericksburg was a morale booster for the South and a man-killer for the North.

    Read More

  • Did the North Win the Civil War before it Began?

    1097 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the Civil War came underway the South’s military, smaller than the North’s, would take heavy blows from the decisions of the Confederacy. First of all they knew that if all their plantation owners fought in the war, their crops would possibly die out or not produce as much. To combat this problem they decided in the Conscription law that if someone had twenty or more slaves, they didn’t have to fight in the war. This caused the price of slaves to increase and caused crops from small slave holding plantations and yeoman farmers to do terrible. Since most Southerners fell into that category, the South would really feel the damage. Also the Impressment Act would take food from farmers to help feed the armies. This would demoralize the small Southern farmers and cause desertions, poor riots and ultimately put a negative face on the new confederacy. These internal divisions weren’t only a Southern problem, in fact the North had bitter divisions over conscription, taxes, suspension of habeas corpus, martial law and emancipation. “If anything, the opposition was more powerful and effective in the North than in the South.” (Why Did the Confederacy Lose?, pg 120) However the powerful opposition in the North w...

    Read More

  • Battle of Fort Sumter

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...p;The bombardment had lasted thirty-six hours, and over 3,000 shot and shell had been hurled at the fort. The evacuation of the fort took place the following day on April 14, 1861. The fort had been evacuate, not surrendered. Before the evacuation the citizens of Taunton Mass. had voted Maj. Anderson an elegant sword. New York gave him the freedom of the city in a gold box. Finally, on June 6, 1861, the Chamber of Commerce of New York ordered the execution of a series of medals to be presented to Maj. Anderson and to each man of the garrison. (www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/battle-fort-sumter.html)

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    The sacrifice of the lives of so many soldiers gave Lincoln a new perspective on life, liberty, and freedom and now Lincoln is no longer defending slavery. Before the Civil War, the “Union” tried to ignore slavery and the fact that blacks were actually included in the Declaration of Independence. This was now recognized by Lincoln and the rest of the nation as the essence of a democratic government. The sacrifices of the Union soldiers ensured a government geared by the people and for the people.

    Read More

  • Why The North Won the Civil War

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American Civil War was fought between the North (The Union) and the South (The Confederates), because of the South wanting to secede from the North. Lincoln's election as president in 1860, triggered southerners' decision to secede believing Lincoln would restrict their rights to own slaves. Lincoln stated that secession was "legally void" and had no intentions of invading the Southern states, but would use force to maintain possession of federal property. Despite his pleas for the restorations of the bonds of union, the South fired upon the federal troops stationed at Fort Sumter, in Charlestown, Virginia. This was the event that decided the eventual beginning of the Civil War. Despite the advantages of Northerners, their victory in the ...

    Read More

  • Election of Lincoln and Civil War

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion the election of Lincoln as president in 1860 caused a civil war because it was falsely perceived by the south that Lincoln would threaten the state’s constitutional right to slavery. This false idea was due to a rift between the northern and southern states in both an economic and ideological manner. That is the north was based on industry and generally was opposed to slavery. But the South was an agricultural society which ran on slavery and, due to Nat Turner’s Insurrection and John Brown’s stand at Harper’s Ferry, was fearful of the north’s involvement in the governing of states as well as being opposed to this on the basis of state’s rights. The election of Lincoln caused the south to succeed from the union causing civil war.

    Read More

  • Essay On Fort Sumter

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    The administration of the president, James Buchanan, ordered Major Robert Anderson, to go to Charleston in late November 1860 and command the small outpost of federal troops guarding the harbor.

    Read More

  • Fort McAllister

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Savannah Campaign was one of the many battles waged by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman in his total war concept to destroy and devastate the Confederacy’s support. With the destruction of the rail and commercial center at Atlanta, General Sherman set his sights on Savannah with an intent to further cripple the state and ensure Union victory. In order to accomplish this task, there was one obstacle that his forces must overcome. This obstacle was Fort McAllister, a massive earthwork whose sole purpose was to defend the southern area of Savannah from coastal attacks by Federal forces. The purpose of this information paper is to provide a general summary of Fort McAllister’s history and purpose and the importance of its strategic location in the Savannah Campaign. Additionally, the six warfighting functions will be analyzed surrounding Fort McAllister’s garrison unit led by Major Anderson and the assault from Brigadier General Hazen’s infantry units.

    Read More

  • The Savannah Campaign: The Cause Of The Civil War?

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    MAJ George Anderson was left in charge of Fort Macalister and he did everything he could to prepare it for battle. Major Anderson had his troops clear the trees, buildings and anything that could obstruct the confederate troop’s field of fire on troops advancing from the only available attack point, the rear of the fort . General Anderson instructed his men to construct a palisade around the fort as well as an abates obstacle around the Fort to hinder the movement of any advancing force. Along with the obstacles intended to hinder the movement of union forces up the avenue of approach Major Anderson had his troops place torpedo’s what we now know as landmines around the fort. When placing the torpedo’s the confederate troops attached them to railroad ties, meaning that an opposing force only had to step on the railroad tie to detonate the device, greatly enhancing their

    Read More

  • Dead Horse Hill: The Battle Of Fredericksburg

    210 Words  | 1 Pages

    The actual battles that took place in Fredericksburg were fought at Prospect Hill which was a devastating loss. In order for the Union to reach the Confederate army and attack, they had to cross a seven mile expanse in the open. The Confederates had hid behind a stone retaining wall that had been built around the main thoroughfare to Richmond. Before the Union soldiers started the battle they had gone through the town, ravaged it, broke windows, and stole property to try and coax the Confederates out of there place. During this battle so many draft animals were killed that the battle was nicknamed ‘Dead Horse Hill’ due to the vicious artillary battle that occurred for more than an hour. The next place the battle occurred was at Marye’s Height.

    Read More

  • Expansion Of Government Power

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    The power of the federal government can also be seen during Lincoln’s presidency at the time of the Civil War. He swayed the entire purpose of the war to something far off from what had been the initial purpose. From fighting for the preservation of the Union, Northerners readily began to accept that the abolition of slavery was the cause of the war for them, not the Union. Lincoln and his power made this happen.

    Read More

  • William Tecumseh Sherman Outline

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    The leader of 100,000 troops, became the most hated man in Georgia but honored in Lancaster, Ohio. William Tecumseh Sherman was known as a major architect of modern war. William Sherman was a strong military leader who changed the course of the Civil War. William Tecumseh Sherman was born in a family in Lancaster, Ohio, on February, 8, 1820, one of 11 children. When William was 9 years old, his father died suddenly. Because his mother was now widowed, she sent William to be raised by his father’s friend Thomas Ewing, who was an Ohio senator.1

    Read More

  • 1860: The Cause Of The Civil War

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today we have mind blowing news with the Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard began bombarding Fort Sumter at exactly 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861. Heavy Confederate guns, rang around Charleston Harbor, shattered Fort Sumter with bullets for approximately 34 hours, before Major Robert Anderson of the Union, the commander of Sumter, surrendered the fort to the Confederates.This will brand the beginning of a civil war that will divide the nation, between the Union (North) and Confederate (South). President Abraham Lincoln is now calling for 75,000 militiamen from Union states to put down the Southern rebellion, anybody who is willing to fight and die for their cause must report to the nearby post office.

    Read More

More about The Battle of Fort Sumter

Open Document