When South Carolina’s coast guard batteries began firing on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, there were 72 union soldiers defending the fort, including a young Second Lieutenant from Monroe, Michigan named Norman J. Hall.
Jack Manning, “This Civil War Book is Different”, Detroit Free Press, April 9, 1961, p.17.
Articles and web sites about the Civil War:
Fort Sumter : Where the American Civil War Began : Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.
Fort Sumter: How Civil War Began With a Bloodless Battle, National Geographic Daily News, April 12, 2011.
Zlati Meyer, “Thank God for Michigan? Another Civil War debate; Lincoln remark questioned as Civil War milestone reached”, Detroit Free Press, April 12, 2011.
Dave LeMieux, “150 years ago, Muskegon residents filled regimental ranks after attack on Fort Sumter”, Muskegon Chronicle via MLive, April 12, 2011.
Civil war buffs may want to check out Classroom Connections: Civil War Poetry — Linking Literature to Primary Sources.
Also take a look at the Michigan and the Civil War Sesquicentennial, 2011-2015 web page.
Michigan in the Civil War, 1861-1865 : statistics, photos, and information about Michigan in the war assembled by Civil War Historian Don Harvey.
Civil War Day by Day – Courtesy of the University of North Carolina Library.
Civil War Interactive Web Site – courtesy of the New York Times.
Discovering the Civil War an online exhibit courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.