P.G.T. Beauregard leaves his Confederate command due to illness, causing controversy over whether he was going absent without leave.

Exploring the most important 55 months in American history
P.G.T. Beauregard leaves his Confederate command due to illness, causing controversy over whether he was going absent without leave.
South Carolinians want to seize Fort Sumter, but they need the new Confederate government to back them up.
A convention opens in Montgomery as delegates from the seceded states start working to form a new nation.
South Carolinians and the Federal garrison in Charleston Harbor settle into an uneasy truce; for how long, nobody knows.
The merchant vessel Star of the West arrives at Charleston Harbor to relieve the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter. But the South Carolinians have other ideas.
South Carolinians complete their seizure of all Federal property in Charleston Harbor except Fort Sumter, while President James Buchanan issues a statement to the South Carolina commissioners and prepares to take action.