History of North America

What was the immediate conflict that sparked civil war?

The immediate conflict that sparked the American Civil War was the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861.

South Carolina had seceded from the Union in December 1860, and the Confederate States of America had been formed in February 1861. President Abraham Lincoln refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Confederacy and ordered federal troops to reinforce Fort Sumter. When Confederate forces attacked the fort, the Union troops surrendered, and the Civil War began.