Civil War History
The first military engagement of the Civil War began at dawn on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, located on an island at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Although Fort Sumter was of no strategic value, it became a symbol of national union when President Lincoln refused to comply with Confederate authorities' demands to evacuate the fort. Union troops, under the direction of Major Robert Anderson, defended the fort for thirty-four hours before surrendering.
This stately portrait of Anderson standing on a battlement at Fort Sumter was painted about 1861 by Alban Jasper Conant. Conant, a founder of the Western Academy of Art in St. Louis, painted several portraits of leading statesman, including Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s.
Pictured: Alban Jasper Conant, 1821–1915, The First Gun at Fort Sumter (Major Robert Anderson), about 1861?, oil, 102 x 63 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Larz Anderson.
The first military engagement of the Civil War began at dawn on April 12, 1861 when Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, located on an island at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Although Fort Sumter was of no strategic value, it became a symbol of national union when President Lincoln refused to comply with Confederate authorities' demands to evacuate the fort. Union troops, under the direction of Major Robert Anderson, defended the fort for thirty-four hours before surrendering.