Portal:American Civil War/This week in American Civil War history/16

April 12
1861 - Fort Sumter - Just after 4:30 A.M. local time, Edmund Ruffin fired the first shots of the American Civil War at this island coastal fortification in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina

1864 - Fort Pillow - After capturing this Mississippi River outpost, Confederate commander Nathan Bedford Forrest failed to prevent his men from killing many United States Colored Troops after their surrender

April 13
1864 - Prairie D'Ane - Sterling Prices Missouri State Guard fell upon Frederick Steele's rearguard; after a four-hour battle, Price disengaged, and Steele’s column continued to Camden

April 14
1865 - Washington, D.C. - Abraham Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth while William H. Seward and his family were attacked in his home by Lewis Powell

April 15
1862 - Peralta - Tom Green's 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, temporarily cut off by Edward Canby's pursuing Federal brigades, used a dust storm in Valencia County, New Mexico to cover their escape

1863 - Norfleet House - Union artillery opened fire on Confederate batteries at Norfleet House on the Nansemond River, opening part of the river to Union Navy gunboats

April 16
1862 - Yorktown - William T. H. Brooks's 1st Vermont Brigade briefly occupied Confederate rifle pits in Yorktown, Virginia defenses at Dam Number One, but fell back under counter attack led by Georgia brothers Howell Cobb and Thomas Cobb

1862 - Washington, D.C. - A law passed ending the practice of slavery in the District of Columbia

1863 - Vicksburg - Ships led by David Dixon Porter moved through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi

1865 - West Point - James H. Wilson's raid ended, capturing Fort Tyler at West Point, Georgia

April 17
1861 - Richmond - The state of Virginia seceded from the Union

1864 - Plymouth - In a combined operation with the ironclad ram CSS Albemarle, Confederate forces under Robert F. Hoke, attacked the Federal garrison at Plymouth, North Carolina

1865 - Washington, D.C. - Mary Surratt arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln