Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, is known as the place where the “Civil War” began. The South is normally portrayed as the aggressor, the side which fired the “first shot,” and is thus given the blame for starting the war. The whole truth is, however, that the governments of South Carolina and the Confederate States of America made repeated efforts to resolve the crisis of Fort Sumter peacefully before any shots were fired. Though they knew that secession might bring on a conflict, and made defensive preparations, the Southern leaders desired a peaceful separation from the union, not one bought with blood. The war that followed the bombardment of Fort Sumter was one of the North’s choosing.
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