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Union
Confederacy

1/3 · April 11 — The Ring Closes

← All battles of Civil War

Battle of Fort Sumter

April 12–14, 1861 · Eastern Theater

Confederate Victory — Union garrison surrenders fort

Phases

April 11, 1861

Major Anderson’s 85-man garrison has held the unfinished fort in Charleston Harbor since December, food running out, while Beauregard rings the harbor with batteries. On April 11 three Confederate officers row out under a white flag to demand surrender. Anderson refuses — but remarks he will be starved out in days anyway. Word comes back from Montgomery: open fire before the relief fleet arrives.

  • Fort Sumter — Anderson’s garrison
  • Fort Moultrie
  • Cummings Point — the Iron Battery
  • Fort Johnson

The numbers

Union

Engaged

85

Casualties

0

A garrison of 85 men, low on food, in an unfinished fort

Confederacy

Engaged

6,000

Casualties

0

Beauregard’s batteries ring the harbor on every side

Casualties are cumulative from the start of the battle.

Commanders

Union · Maj. Robert Anderson
Confederacy · Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard