<P> 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 . </P>
<P> 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 . </P>
who fired the first shot in the civil war
who fired the first shot in the civil war
Lt. Henry S. Farley
Lt. Henry S. Farley