who fired the first shot of the civil war north or south
Battle of Fort Sumter
At 4 : 30 a.m. on April 12 , 1861 , Lt. Henry S. Farley , acting upon the command of Capt . George S. James , fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson . ( James had offered the first shot to Roger Pryor , a noted Virginia secessionist , who declined , saying , `` I could not fire the first gun of the war . '' ) The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie , Fort Johnson , the floating battery , and Cummings Point . Under orders from Beauregard , the guns fired in a counterclockwise sequence around the harbor , with 2 minutes between each shot ; Beauregard wanted to conserve ammunition , which he calculated would last for only 48 hours . Edmund Ruffin , another noted Virginia secessionist , had traveled to Charleston to be present for the beginning of the war , and fired one of the first shots at Sumter after the signal round , a 64 - pound shell from the Iron Battery at Cummings Point . The shelling of Fort Sumter from the batteries ringing the harbor awakened Charleston 's residents ( including diarist Mary Chesnut ) , who rushed out into the predawn darkness to watch the shells arc over the water and burst inside the fort . 
At 4 : 30 a.m. on April 12 , 1861 , Lt. Henry S. Farley , acting upon the command of Capt . George S. James , fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson . ( James had offered the first shot to Roger Pryor , a noted Virginia secessionist , who declined , saying , `` I could not fire the first gun of the war . '' ) The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie , Fort Johnson , the floating battery , and Cummings Point . Under orders from Beauregard , the guns fired in a counterclockwise sequence around the harbor , with 2 minutes between each shot ; Beauregard wanted to conserve ammunition , which he calculated would last for only 48 hours . Edmund Ruffin , another noted Virginia secessionist , had traveled to Charleston to be present for the beginning of the war , and fired one of the first shots at Sumter after the signal round , a 64 - pound shell from the Iron Battery at Cummings Point . The shelling of Fort Sumter from the batteries ringing the harbor awakened Charleston 's residents ( including diarist Mary Chesnut ) , who rushed out into the predawn darkness to watch the shells arc over the water and burst inside the fort .
George S. James , fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson. The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the floating battery and Cummings Point. Edmund Ruffin, another noted Virginia secessionist,  fired one of the first shots at Sumter after the signal round, a 64 - pound shell from the Iron Battery at Cummings Point.
George S. James , fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson . The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie , Fort Johnson , the floating battery , and Cummings Point . Edmund Ruffin , another noted Virginia secessionist , had traveled to Charleston to be present for the beginning of the war , and fired one of the first shots at Sumter after the signal round , a 64 - pound shell from the Iron Battery at Cummings Point .
At 4: 30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Lt. Henry S. Farley, acting upon the command of Capt. George S. James, fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson.  The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, the floating battery, and Cummings Point.
At 4 : 30 a.m. on April 12 , 1861 , Lt. Henry S. Farley , acting upon the command of Capt . George S. James , fired a single 10 - inch mortar round from Fort Johnson . The shell exploded over Fort Sumter as a signal to open the general bombardment from 43 guns and mortars at Fort Moultrie , Fort Johnson , the floating battery , and Cummings Point .