Beauregard to Commence Operations Against Fort Sumter

From the Northampton County Journal 3 April 1861

The Confederates demanded Union forces to surrender at Fort Sumter in South Carolina before their much needed supplies were restocked.  Negotiations became heated; the Union would not surrender.  Confederate General Beauregard ordered the shots to be fired against Fort Sumter from nearby Fort Johnson. Beginning in the early morning hours on April 12, 1861, Confederate guns fired on Fort Sumter for 34 hours.  This was to become the beginning of the American Civil War.