2267 THE UNITED STATES-THE CIVIL WAR.
Government would reinforce the forts, the authorities of the Confederate States determined to
anticipate the movement by compelling Anderson to surrender. On the 11th of April,
General P. T. Beauregard, commandant of
Charleston, sent a flag to Major Anderson, demanding an evacuation of the fort. The
Major replied that he should hold the fort and
defend his flag. On the following morning,
April 12th, at half-past four o'clock, the first
gun of the great War was discharged from a
Confederate battery. A terrific bombardment,
of thirty-four hours' duration, followed. The
fort was reduced to ruins, set on fire, and
obliged to capitulate. The honors of war were
granted to Anderson and his men, who had
made a brave and obstinate resistance. It appeared, however, in the sequel, that no lives
were lost, either in the fort or on the shore.
The Confederates in their initial movement
thus successfully obtained control of the
harbor of Charleston.
But the effect was against the aggressors.
The news of the capture of Sumter spread
through the country like a flame of fire.
There had been on the part of the people a
vague expectation of violence, but the actual
shock came like a clap of thunder. The
people of the towns poured into the streets,
and the country folk flocked to the villages,
to gather tidings and comment on the outbreak of the war. Gray-haired men talked
gravely of the deed that was done, and
prophesied its consequences. The general
effect of the capture of Sumter was to consolidate opinion in both the North and the
South. On either side the sentiments of the
people were crystallized into a firmly set antagonism, which could only be broken by the
shock of battle.
Three days after the fall of Sumter, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five
thousand volunteers, to serve three months in
the overthrow of the secession movement.
Two days later, Virginia seceded from the
Union. On the 6th of May, Arkansas followed the example, and then North Carolina
on the 20th of the same month. In Tennessee, especially in East Tennessee, there was a
powerful opposition to disunion, and it was
not until the 8th of June that a secession ordinance could be forced upon the people. In
Missouri the movement resulted immediately
in civil war, while in Kentucky the authorities issued a proclamation of neutrality. The
people of Maryland were divided into hostile
parties, the disunion sentiment being largely
prevalent.
Meanwhile, the volunteers from the North
began to make their way to Washington. On
the 19th of April, when the first regiment of
the Massachusetts volunteers was passing
through Baltimore, they were fired upon by
the citizens, and three men were killed. This
was the first bloodshed of the war. On the
day before this event a body of Confederate
soldiers advanced against the armory of the
United States at Harper's Ferry. The officer
in command hastily destroyed a portion of
the vast magazine gathered there, and then
escaped into Pennsylvania. On the 20th of
the month another company of Virginians assailed the great navy yard at Norfolk. The
officers commanding fired the buildings and
ships, spiked the guns, and withdrew. Most
of the cannons and many of the vessels were
afterwards recovered by the Confederates and
turned against the Government. Virginia
was soon filled with volunteers from the South,
and in a short time Washington City was in
imminent danger of capture.
The first duty of the Government was to
secure the Capital. This done, the President,
on the 3rd of May, issued another call for soldiers. The number of the new call was set at
eighty-three thousand, and the term of service
at three years or during the war. A fleet was
equipped and sent out to blockade the
