Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1861 Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1861 The following is a list of engagements that took place in 1861 during the American Civil War. The war started on April 12 when Confederate forces commanded by General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on the Union garrison of Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; after a thirty-four-hour bombardment, the Union garrison surrendered. There had been no casualties during the bombardment; but the following day while the Union garrison commander, Major Robert Anderson, was firing a fifty-gun salute, there was an explosion that resulted in one man being
Prussia and the American Civil War Prussia and the American Civil War While trying to unify the various German states under its banner, Prussia was not participating in the American Civil War. However, there were several members of the Prussian military that served as both officers and enlisted men in both armies, as were numerous men who previously immigrated to the United States. There also were official military observers sent to North America to observe the tactics of both armies, which were later studied by future military leaders of Prussia and unified Germany. Among the effects Prussia had on the war was the new saddle used