Views of Fort Sumter National Monument, South Carolina

America's most tragic conflict ignited at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, when a chain reaction of social, economic and political events exploded into civil war. At the heart of these events was the issue of states rights versus federal authority flowing over the underlying issue of slavery. A powerful symbol to both the South and the North, Fort Sumter remains a memorial to all that fought to hold it.