Originally published Monday, April 11, 2011 at 5:29 AM

Nation begins 150th anniversary of Civil War

Cannons will boom in the wee hours around Charleston Harbor, recreating the bombardment of Fort Sumter that plunged the nation into the Civil War on April 12, 1861.

By BRUCE SMITH

Associated Press

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PRENTISS FINDLAY / AP

Mark Silas Tackitt, of Seattle, strolls the grounds at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, S.C., on Friday. Tackitt is a Union re-enactor who as Maj. Robert Anderson will command about 50 soldiers at Fort Sumter on Tuesday in an event marking the 150th anniversary of the shelling of the fort at the start of the Civil War.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. —

Cannons will boom in the wee hours around Charleston Harbor, recreating the bombardment of Fort Sumter that plunged the nation into the Civil War on April 12, 1861.

The South Carolina ceremony Tuesday begins the four-year national commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the nation's bloodiest war.

Around 4 a.m. Tuesday, a single beam of light was aimed skyward from Fort Sumter. Then about half-hour later - around the time of the first shots of the war - the beam split into two beams, signifying a nation torn in two.

The war resulted in more than 600,000 deaths, although during the bombardment of Sumter only a Confederate officer's horse was killed.

Union troops in the fort surrendered after absorbing 36 hours of Confederate shells.

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