Fort Sumter is a naval fort built on an artificial island that protects Charleston, South Carolina, from sea invasion. Its origins date back to the War of 1812 AD, when the British invaded Washington by sea, and it was still incomplete in 1861 AD when the Battle of Fort Sumter began the American Civil War. This fort, which includes monuments, a gun monument and a museum that witnessed the first shots of the Civil War, can be reached by boat by sea.