The battle began on April 12, 1861.
at 4:30 AM the bombardment of Fort Sumter began. Maj. Anderson was not able to make much of a response. Anderson was completely outgunned by the confederates and their 500 men and without any assistance from Lincoln who had said he would send provisions to Fort Sumter which had either been misdirected or delayed by a storm the Union troops didn’t stand much of a chance. The bombardment lasted for a whole 36 hours. Maj. Anderson did not return fire for the first two hours due to the Fort’s lack of ammunition, the Union troops also lacked the fuses necessary for exploding shells, there for only solid artillery could be fired against the Confederates. Around 7:00 AM the first Union Shots were fired, the firing continued all day but much less rapidly because the Union troops were trying to save ammunition. "The crashing of the shot, the bursting of the shells, the falling of the walls, and the roar of the flames, made a pandemonium of the fort," wrote Captain Abner Doubleday, the fort’s second in command. The fort's large flag staff was struck and the colors fell to the ground and a brave lieutenant, Norman J. Hall, bravely exposed himself to enemy fire as he put the stars and stripes back up. That evening, the firing was sporadic with but an occasional round landing on or in Fort Sumter. On Saturday, April 13, Anderson surrendered the fort. Incredibly, no soldiers were killed in battle. The generous terms of surrender, however, allowed Anderson to perform a 100-gun salute before he and his men evacuated the fort the next day. The salute began at 2:00 P.M. on April 14, but was cut short to 50 guns after an accidental explosion killed one of the gunners and mortally wounded another. Carrying their tattered banner, the men marched out of the fort and boarded a boat that ferried them to the Union ships outside the harbor. They were greeted as heroes on their return to the North.