Nothing. There was no declaration of war.
The South were able to claim that they didn't want a war, unless Lincoln chose to declare one.
Lincoln could not declare war on the Confederacy, because this would have meant recognising them as a sovereign nation.
After the Confederate artillery attack on the US Army garrison at Fort Sumter, all he could do was to appeal for volunteer troops to put down a rebellion of certain states.
But this was taken as the equivalent of a declaration of war, and the two sides were firmly lined-up from that moment.
Battle of Fort Sumter, in April 1861 near Charleston, SC.
the bombarding of fort sumter
It began in 1861
It began in 1918.
The Civil War began in 1861 and lasted to 1865
The Civil War .
Abraham Lincoln took office on March 4, 1861, and the Civil War began on April 12, 1861.
The American Revolutionary War began in 1775. The US Civil War began in 1861. Therefore the Revolutionary War was before the Civil War.
The American Civil War began in 1861 and ended in 1865.
The Civil War began on April 12 1861 at 4:30 p.m.
The Civil War began in 1861.
Slavery began the civil war
Teddy was 4 years old when the Civil War began.
The American Civil War began with an attack on Fort Sumter, SC.
It began in 1861
It began in 1918.
The US Civil War began in 1861.
The Civil War began in 1861 and lasted to 1865
Andrew Jackson died in 1845, some 15 years before the Civil War began. He obviously did not fight in the Civil War.