Fort Sumter was the location of the first shot of the Civil War. Did the first shot ALMOST happen elsewhere?

Question

If yes, what were the circumstances of this or these close-calls and how did cooler heads prevail?

Answer 1

The Civil War actually began about 10 years earlier in Kansas, when pro-slavery and pro-abolition forces moved into the newly acquired territory to vote whether the state would be free or slave.

This little part of history is termed "Bleeding Kansas", and it, in my mind, was the opening of the Civil War.

Answer 2

according to my family, it was my great great great great uncle who actually shot the first shot in P.A.