USS Yankee (1861) USS Yankee (1861) USS "Yankee" (1861) was a steam-powered side-wheel tugboat acquired by the Union Navy just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War. The "Yankee"—a side-wheel steamer built in 1860 at New York City—was one of three steam tugs chartered early in April 1861 at New York City for use on the expedition to provision Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the first U.S. state to declare its secession from the Union, which it had done on December 20, 1860. She departed New York on 8 April 1861 and arrived off Charleston Bar on the 15th, a few hours
Fort Sumter National Monument Fort Sumter National Monument Fort Sumter National Monument is a United States National Monument located in Charleston County, in coastal South Carolina. It mainly protects Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, the Charleston Light and Liberty Square, Charleston. The Fort Sumter Visitor Education Center is located 340 Concord Street, Liberty Square, Charleston, South Carolina, on the banks of the Cooper River. The center features museum exhibits about the disagreements between the North and South that led to the incidents at Fort Sumter, particularly in South Carolina and Charleston. Displays include slavery and the plantation culture, major figures, politics, and how the Confederate