The American Civil War

Submitted By ohxerosis
Words: 322
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Military History Period 3 American Civil War
There are many reasons why the United States had a Civil War, but what caused the war to actually start? Slavery, the expansion of the western side, and the dispute between state laws and federal laws all played a major part in the separation between the North and the South. In 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president and it caused seven southern states to succeed from the union including: Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The Civil War started in the spring of 1861 and ended by the surrender of the Confederates in 1865.
Lincoln took office in March of 1861, and the Confederates demanded that the Union army release all of their troops out of the Charleston Harbor. Then General Beauregard demanded that Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter, but Anderson refused. At 4:30 in the morning of April 12th 1861, the Confederates fired one 10 inch mortar on Fort Sumter, but it didn’t stop there. That shot signaled a total of 43 mortars and guns to shoot at Fort Johnson, Fort Moultrie, and Cummings Point. Beauregard was in command for the Confederates and he had guns fire every two minutes in a counterclockwise rotation. General Beauregard calculated that if he shot one shot every two minutes, he would have enough ammunition to last him for 48 hours. Anderson didn’t return fire for at least two hours, and unfortunately for him he didn't have access to all 60 of his guns, leaving