[FORT SUMTER]. BEAUREGARD, Pierre Gustave Toutant (1818-1893). Autograph telegram signed on Beauregard’s behalf by a clerk (“G.T. Beauregard”) to the Confederate States Secretary of War L.P. Walker, announcing the beginning of the Civil War and the firing on Fort Sumter, Charleston, 13 April 1861. Oblong 12mo (121 x 191 mm), on lined paper, small hole at center, old folds, two small tape repairs on verso, some smudging. GENERAL BEAUREGARD REPORTS ON THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER. It reads in full: “Officers quarters in Sumter burning. Part of roof supposed to have fallen in. Sumter firing at long intervals. Ours regular and effective. Six vessels outside, in signals with Sumter”. On 12 April 1861, the first shots of the American Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter near Charleston by the first general officer of the newly formed Confederate States Army, P.G.T. Beauregard, and the South Carolina militia. Following a siege lasting 34 hours, the Union troops surrendered, marking the first military victory for the Confederacy.