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• Fort Sumter
  Fort Sumter

  noun

  a fort in SE South Carolina, in the harbor of Charleston: its bombardment by the Confederates opened the Civil War on April 12, 1861.
• Sumter, Fort
  Sumter, Fort

  A fort at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the location of the first military engagement of the Civil War. In April 1861, several months after South Carolina had declared its secession from the United States, the militia of South Carolina demanded that the commander of the fort surrender. He refused, and the South Carolinians fired on the fort. There were no deaths in the incident. In response, however, President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the “insurrection,” and the American Civil War began.

Fort Sumter

American  

noun

1. a fort in SE South Carolina, in the harbor of Charleston: its bombardment by the Confederates opened the Civil War on April 12, 1861.

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Fort Sumter British  

/ ˈsʌmtə /

noun

1. a fort in SE South Carolina, guarding Charleston Harbour. Its capture by Confederate forces (1861) was the first action of the Civil War

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Sumter, Fort Cultural  

1. A fort at the entrance to the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the location of the first military engagement of the Civil War. In April 1861, several months after South Carolina had declared its secession from the United States, the militia of South Carolina demanded that the commander of the fort surrender. He refused, and the South Carolinians fired on the fort. There were no deaths in the incident. In response, however, President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the “insurrection,” and the American Civil War began.

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Example Sentences

The attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 enraged him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

Before the first shots of the Civil War were ever fired at Fort Sumter, a poem titled “The Southland Fears no Foeman” was published in Richmond’s “Southern Literary Messenger.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2025

It’s more than two years before shots will be fired at Fort Sumter, but secession is already on his mind.

From Slate • Jan. 24, 2024

In Charleston Harbor, where the initiating shots of the Civil War were fired — Fort Sumter is distantly visible — I’m on the site of a former shipping pier known as Gadsden’s Wharf.

From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2023

On April 12, 1861, Confederate cannons in Charleston, South Carolina, fired on the U.S. garrison at Fort Sumter in the harbor.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow