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
             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
             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.
             ...