Fort Sumter National Monument

The Confederacy opened the Civil War here — April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries fired on the U.S. Army garrison holding this unfinished sea fort on an artificial island in Charleston Harbor. Construction had begun in 1829; the fort was never completed. It took two battles to change hands, and never fully recovered. Since 1948, the National Park Service has operated it. Fort Sumter is only accessible by ferry.