April 12, 1861
- Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
- Beginning at 4:30 am on the 12th and continuing until the morning of the 13th, Confederate batteries along the shore of Charleston Harbor fire on Fort Sumter under the command of Major Robert Anderson.
- Bombardment of Fort Sumter–actual commencement of the war–began at 4.30 A.M., and continued all day and at intervals during the night.1
- Legislature of Pennsylvania voted $500,000 to arm the State.1
- Fort Pickens reinforced by U. S. troops.1
- A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863