Thunder in the harbor : Ford Sumter, Charleston, and the American Civil War

At 4:30 a.m. on Friday, April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries opened fire.

Thirty-four hours later, with their supplies running low but their honor satisfied, Federal forces lowered their tattered flag.

The only casualty-an accidental death-came after the surrender.

It was otherwise a bloodless first battle to the bloodiest four years in American history. But those fateful first shots of the Civil War-certainly the war's most famous-marked only the first of many chapters for Sumter.

Over the next four years, the fort and the harbor it protected weathered the storms of war: bombardments and blockades; the launch and loss of the Confederate submarine Hunley; the assault on Battery Wagner, on adjacent Morris Island, by the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry; and Sherman's march to the sea. Thunder in the Harbor recounts Fort Sumter's storied history in the engaging prose that has become the hallmark of the Emerging Civil War Series.

Author Chris Mackowski brings the story to life as only an insider can: his family's home sits on the Battery overlooking Charleston Harbor, where Fort Sumter still hunkers on the horizon. Supplemented with more than a hundred historical photos and illustrations, captivating contemporary photography, and detailed maps, Thunder in the Harbor gives readers a behind-the-scenes look inside one of America's most iconic places.