The Civil War Begins

By 1861 the country was split in two: Northern states and Southern states didn't agree about slavery.

Eleven Southern states said they wanted to leave and start their own country.

Early one morning, cannons fired at a little island fort called Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

That was the first shot of the American Civil War, which lasted four long, hard years.

It was the most difficult time in American history, but out of it came a bigger idea of freedom for everyone.