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It's before sunrise on April 12, 1861, but the sky above Charleston Harbor is ablaze with light.

Mortar shells whistle through the air. The thunder of artillery rolls across the mouth of the harbor and echoes off the red brick walls of Fort Sumter, a military base off the South Carolina coast, and the target of this bombardment.

Striding down the seawall, ordering volley after volley of cannon fire, is General Gustav Beauregard.

A dandyish Louisiana with a black goatee.

Beauregard is a military officer for the Confederacy, the name adopted by the southern states

which have recently declared their independence from the Union.

Beauregard's eyes gleam as he watches Fort Sumter burn.

To the Confederacy, the presence of the stars and stripes flying above Charleston Harbor

is a reminder of the U.S. government's refusal to acknowledge their independence. And after repeated

request to surrender the fort peacefully, the government refused. So the Confederate Army readied their

cannons and at 4.30 this morning, fired the first shots of the American

Civil War. Inside Fort Sumpter, Major Robert Anderson of the U.S. Army struggles to be heard

of her the deafening noise. Amidst the fire and smoke, disoriented soldiers scrambled

to mount a defense, but Anderson orders them not to fire. There are only 86 men defending

force under against a force of thousands. If they're going to have a chance of withstanding the

siege, they must preserve ammunition. But even as he says it, Anderson knows there's not much hope

in resistance. They are stranded, surrounded, and running dangerously low on food and supplies.

Their only chance at fighting off these rebels is if reinforcements arrive by sea.

...