Civil War Begins. At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Traditionally, this event has been used to mark the beginning of the Civil War.
<span>James Garfield is known as an activist president because he set the policies of his administration and sought to educate the public on national choices and priorities.
