Jefferson Davis: Leader of the Confederacy Just before daybreak on April 12, 1861, the first shot of the Civil war was aimed at fort Sumter. The people of Charleston came out to watch as the war began. Lincoln immediately declared that the Confederate states were in a state of legal rebellion of the U.S. government. Little did Charleston know that this happy little war that they would all come out to watch would claim the lives of 360,000 Union members and 260,000 Confederate members and the total over 20 billion dollars. The Civil War was the greatest struggle in the United States for people's rights and state's rights. Jefferson Davis was elected