In her diary, Mary Boykin Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate general and aid to president Jefferson Davis, James Chestnut, Jr., presents an eyewitness account of the Civil War.

At 4:30 a.m. on the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate Brigadier-General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered the first shots to be fired at the federal garrison defending Fort Sumter in the Charleston Harbor, effectively igniting the Civil War. For nearly 36 hours, Beauregard's Confederates unleashed a general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars positioned at various points across the Harbor, including at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan Island, Fort Johnson off James Island, Cummings Point on Morrison Island, and a specially designed floating battery. Almost immediately, the inherent weakness of Fort Sumter became apparent to its defenders. The fort had been designed to withstand a naval assault, and naval warships of that time did not mount guns capable of elevating high enough to shoot over the walls of forts, but the Confederates' land-based cannons could lob artillery shells and mortar directly inside Fort Sumter. Though the defenders managed to protect themselves inside the fort, their return fire was completely ineffective, and by the morning of April 13 the fort was on fire, threatening the garrison. Unable to effectively reply or defend themselves, Major Robert Anderson raised the white flag early in the afternoon of April 13, bringing the first battle of the Civil War to a close. No casualties were suffered on either side during the dueling bombardments across Charleston Harbor, but ironically, two U.S. Army soldiers were killed by an accidental explosion during the surrender ceremonies. Fort Sumter is popularly remembered today as the first fighting of the Civil War, and a relatively painless battle at that, but much of the history before April 12 that led to the shelling of the fort is often overlooked. The federal garrison had been stationed there months before the fight, carefully watching the secession of South Carolina, the buildup of Confederate forces in the region, and the actions of the Buchanan administration and incoming Lincoln administration in the weeks leading up to the bombardment.

A gripping and original account of how the Civil War began and a second American revolution unfolded, setting Abraham Lincoln on the path to greatness and millions of slaves on the road to freedom. An epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields, 1861 introduces us to a heretofore little-known cast of Civil War heroes—among them an acrobatic militia colonel, an explorer’s wife, an idealistic band of German immigrants, a regiment of New York City firemen, a community of Virginia slaves, and a young college professor who would one day become president. Their stories take us from the corridors of the White House to the slums of Manhattan, from the waters of the Chesapeake to the deserts of Nevada, from Boston Common to Alcatraz Island, vividly evoking the Union at its moment of ultimate crisis and decision. Hailed as “exhilarating….Inspiring…Irresistible…” by The New York Times Book Review, Adam Goodheart’s bestseller 1861 is an important addition to the Civil War canon. Includes black-and-white photos and illustrations.

Every battle has two sides, and the Battle of Fort Sumter during the American Civil War is no different. Experience the event from perspecitve of the Union, and then read the perspective of the Confederates. A deeper understanding of the battle from both sides will give readers a clearer view of this event.