FREE ESSAY ON FORT SUMTER

FORT SUMTER

Rough Draft
Fort Sumter was a turning point in determining the outcome of the Civil War. Fort Sumter
was built on a man-made island of seashells and granite. It was a pentagon shape that was
fifty feet high and the walls were eight to twelve feet thick. Fort Sumter is located in
South Carolina. It was a defense system for Charleston Harbor. It was named after a
Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina.
For one of the causes of the Civil War was that the South demanded that fort Sumter be
turned over to its new government. United States troops were to leave the fort. President
Abraham Lincoln refused to let them. Lincoln said that Fort Sumter belonged to all of the
people of the United States, not just to South Carolina. The people of South Carolina
were determined to have the fort. They threatened to starve the men stationed there.
Lincoln sent food and supplies to the men stationed there. The Carolinians fired on the
ship and, then they fired on the fort and destroyed it. That was how the war began (Hakim
61).
On April 13, 1861, Fort Sumter surrendered after heavy bombardment to Confederate forces.
Accounts of this victory created wild excitement in North Carolina. The Union was deeply
saddened that war had started. On the other hand, the South was ecstatic (Hakim 62).
President Lincoln had a major role in the Civil War. Lincoln refused to withdraw soldiers
from Fort Sumter. He sent a supply ship after the South threatened to stop supplying
them. He differed with other northern leaders by that the other leaders told him to back
out and Lincoln did not listen to them. He refused to let the South leave the United
States. Lincoln proclaimed a blockade on April 16, 1861. The blockade extended from
Virginia to Texas. At the time, it was impossible for the federal government to enforce a
blockade of the coastline measuring almost four thousand miles and containing one hundred
and eighty-nine harbors.
In conclusion, many important battles such as Gettysburg and Antietam took place after.
The Civil War lasted for four years. Today, Fort Sumter is a tourist attraction and it
attracts many visitors.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Eaton, Clement. A History of the Southern Confederacy. New 
York: The Macmillan Company, 1956.
Campbell, R. Thomas. Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the 
Civil War. Shippensburg, Pa: Buard Street Press, 1955.
Hakim, Joy. War, Terrible War. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1994.
Biel, Timothy L. Life in the North During the Civil War. 
San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1997.
Barrett, John G. The Civil War in North Carolina. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of
North Carolina Press, 1963.
War Between the States: Battle of Fort Sumter. Electric Scotland.com.
http://www.electricscotland.com/ (24 Feb 2000) (prt. out 1-5).
Fort Sumter. Thinkquest.org. http://library.thinkquest.org
/3055/graphics/battles/fortsumter.html(24 feb. 2000) 
(prt out 1-1).
Battle of Fort Sumter. Excite Search Results. http://
search.excite.com/search (24 feb. 2000) (prt out 1-1).