PRINCE ALBERT DIES, IN AMERICA WAR BEGINS
Prince Albert dies of typhoid at the age of 42. Queen Victoria is so filled with grief that she does not make a public appearance for 10 years and mourns Albert’s death for the rest of her life.
In America, Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina harbor is bombarded for 34 hours by Confederate forces after the U.S. Army commander failed to evacuate, thus starting the four years of conflict and the U.S. Civil War. The Confederate States of America, formed two months earlier had sought to force federal troops from occupation of its territory. Fort Sumter was captured April 14 when Major Robert Anderson turned the fort over to the Confederacy.