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

In this forlorn historical reverie, the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol is the latest flare-up of a wildfire that began at Fort Sumter.

From Washington Post

“Until relatively recently, the entertainment industry, which helps shape what is history and what is forgotten, did the same. That includes projects of mine. I knew about the attack on Fort Sumter, Custer’s last stand and Pearl Harbor but did not know of the Tulsa massacre until last year, thanks to an article in The New York Times.”

From Washington Times

Last summer marked a “Fort Sumter moment,” Mr. Hanson said when unrest in multiple cities left some neighborhoods and small businesses as smoking ruins — a reference to the start of the Civil War.

From Washington Times

In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces.

From Washington Times

Meeting at the Alabama Capitol, 49 delegates from seven states - Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas - signed the constitution just a month before Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter.

From Washington Times