The makeshift flag soldiers at Fort Sumter used to signal their surrender to the Confederate army, kick-starting the American Civil War will be sold this month at an auction house in Greenville.

Here’s what happened in April 1861, leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, which spurred the launch of the American Civil War.

Settled by the English in 1670, the colony named for King Charles I was split into North and South Carolina in ... adding a palmetto tree to its flag. In April 1861, Confederate troops fired ...

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded. By Febrary 1, 1861, six more states -- Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas -- had split from the Union. The seceded states ...

CHARLESTON, Wednesday, April 3 -- P.M. The South Carolina State Convention, to-day, by a vote of 149 to 29, ratified the Constitution of the Confederate States. A number will change their votes to ...