Today In History For April 12th

Today is Tuesday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2011. There are 263 days left in the year.

On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Union troops holding the fort surrendered the following day.

In 1877, the catcher's mask was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks.

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.