View images of the battle of Fort Sumter and ruins of the Fort, which Confederate forces took. The Battle of Fort Sumter took place on April 12, 1861, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Fort Sumter is considered to be the site of the first shots fired during the war. After Abraham Lincoln was elected to the presidency, southern states attempted to secede from the Union in protest over what they saw as a threat to states’ rights, particularly in the opposition the new president and northern states had to slavery.