The 10 Most PIVOTAL Events That Led to THE CIVIL WAR
On December 20th, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to officially secede from the Union for one primary reason – to avoid the impending ban on slavery which seemed all the more likely with the recent election of Abraham Lincoln. To deal with the problem of United States military forts existing within their state in Charleston Harbor, the state demanded that all U.S. Army personnel abandon their posts. Major Robert Anderson, who was in charge of the U.S. forces near Charleston, remained loyal the Union and moved himself and all union troops to Fort Sumter, the most powerful and defensible fortress in the harbor. Confederate forces would not allow any union ships to supply or reinforce Fort Sumter, effectively beginning a siege. Once President Lincoln took office, he informed the governor that he was sending supplies and food to Fort Sumter. The Confederate government had to make a decision – allow Fort Sumter to be re-supplied or attack, preventing hungry soldiers from r