COLUMBIA - A Charleston-area man is facing federal charges after authorities say he defaced a structure at the South Carolina fort where the Civil War began.

U.S. Attorney Beth Drake says 21-year-old Noah Sigalas of Sullivan's Island was indicted Tuesday on charges of defacing an archaeological resource and government property. In March, authorities say Sigalas was visiting Fort Sumter, in the Charleston harbor, when he pulled on a support pole that was stabilizing a casement, causing more than $1,000 in damage.

If convicted, Sigalas faces possible penalties of more than a decade in prison and nearly $300,000 in fines. Court papers listed no attorney for Sigalas, who is scheduled to appear in court later this month.

The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in 1861.