What Is the Fort Sumter National Monument?
The coastal fort in Charleston, South Carolina known as Fort Sumter has its place in the history books for being the site where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired. After the War of 1812, Fort Sumter was built as a part of a series of coastal fortifications in the Southeast United States. It was built from granite brought in from New England at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. Today it is part of the Fort Sumter National Monument and is maintained by the National Park Service; it was dubbed a national monument in 1948.
