A form of apparatus often used for testing specimens of steel consists of a small electric furnace in which to heat the specimen, and a special thermo-couple pyrometer (see  Pyrometers ) for indicating the range of temperatures through which the steel passes.
Where the American Civil War Began. Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.
The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, with a battle at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The war ended when General Robert E. Lee, of the Army of the Confederacy, surrendered on May 9, 1865. The last shot was fired in Texas in June of 1865.