150 years ago today shots rang out at Fort Sumter South Carolina, marking the beginning of the Civil War. In Charleston, Re-enactors will play out the day's events. Here in North Carolina, the state office of historical records will re-release documents that tell the story of the state's older confederate soldiers. The "Senior Reserves" were men between 45 and 50 years old who were drafted in the last year of the war. Also, UNC Chapel Hill is launching a website, Civil War Day-to-Day. Biff Hollingsworth is an archivist in the Southern Historical Collection and one of the site's creators.
"We're hoping really to push the home front issues, some of the shortages people experienced. The experience of sending supplies off to loved ones and not hearing news about loved ones for a period of weeks or months."
UNC Chapel Hill will also host a series of Civil war events over the course of the sesquicentennial.