Battle of Fort Sumter More Symbolic Than Strategic

This week’s blog will explore the bombing on Fort Sumter. 160 years ago, on April 12, this event marked the beginning of the American Civil War. With the booming of cannons over the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, the crisis of the Southern states seceding that held America captive for months abruptly escalated into a shooting war. The attack on the fort was the culmination of a simmering conflict in which a small garrison of Union troops in South Carolina found themselves isolated when the state seceded from the Union. The action at Fort Sumter lasted less than two days and had no strategic significance. And casualties were minor. But the symbolism was enormous on both sides. Once Fort Sumter was fired upon there was no turning back. The North and the South were at war.