CONFEDERATE STATES 229 snrances of assistance from them in case the government attempted to assert its authority by force of arms. On this point Horace Greeley in his " American Conflict " says: " The great mails, during the last few weeks of 1860, sped southward, burdened with letters of sympathy and encouragement to the engi- neers of secession, stimulating if not counsel- ling them to go forward in their predetermined course." In the south, on the contrary, all party lines were obliterated as soon as the states seceded. So confident were the people of their own prowess, and so little acquainted with the spirit and resources of the free states, that there was an almost universal conviction among them that the confederacy was already an accomplished fact, and that the union with the north was for ever ended. A strong party in the south had adhered to the Union until their states seceded, and then, considering the matter practically settled, had transferred their allegiance to the new government. Meantime a crisis was rapidly approaching. The key of the situation was Fort Sumter. The south regarded its continued occupation by a national garrison as an encroachment upon their sover- eignty, and demanded that the intruders should be expelled. The north regarded it as the symbol of the Union on an otherwise rebellious and hostile shore, and were ready to spring to arms to resent an attack upon it. It was known to both sides that the garrison was very small, consisting of less than a company of soldiers, and a few laborers and musicians, and that they were very short of provisions and of ammunition. It was known also that the South Carolinians had been for several months erecting batteries of heavy guns in the most favorable positions for bombarding the fort, and that they had stationed in these bat- teries some 7,000 troops commanded by Gen. Beauregard, an experienced engineer, who had been an officer of the United States army. About a week after President Lincoln's in- auguration a letter was sent to Mr. Seward, secretary of state, signed by John Forsyth and Martin J. Crawford, who claimed to be com- missioners from the confederate government, authorized to make overtures to the govern- ment of the United States for the opening of negotiations. Mr. Seward replied, by a memo- randum dated March 15, that he could not in any way admit that "the so-called Confederate States constitute a foreign power, with whom diplomatic relations ought to be established ;" and both he and the president declined official intercourse with the commissioners, who re- mained for some weeks in Washington, and made other attempts at negotiation, with espe- cial reference to Fort Sumter, of which they demanded the peaceful evacuation, or at least a pledge that it should not be relieved or re- enforced. The president declined to give any such pledge, and at a cabinet meeting held March 21 it was determined that a fleet should be sent to the rescue of Major Anderson. A squadron, hastily equipped, and carrying sup- plies and a body of soldiers, was despatched from New York and other northern ports on April 6 and 7, and on the 8th formal notice was given to the governor of South Carolina that the fleet was on its way to relieve the fort. Gen. Beauregard immediately telegraphed this information to Montgomery, and on the 10th received orders from the confederate secretary of war to demand the immediate surrender of the fort,- and in case of refusal to reduce it. The demand was made on the llth, and being refused, a bombardment began on the 12th, which resulted in the surrender of the fort on the 13th, the fleet, which appeared off Charles- ton harbor on the 12th, not finding it prac- ticable to assist the garrison. (See SUMTEE, FOET.) This event, the details of which as they occurred were transmitted by telegraph from Charleston to all parts of the country, created the greatest excitement both at the north and the south. Charleston was wild with exultation. The bells were rung, guns were fired, great crowds assembled, and the governor made a speech in which he said: "We have humbled the flag of the United States. We have defeated their twenty mil- lions ; we have brought down in humility the flag that has triumphed for 70 years ; to-day, on this 13th day of April, it has been humbled, and humbled before the glorious little state of South Carolina." At Montgomery there was equal exultation. An immense crowd as- sembled on the evening of April 12, and was addressed by Mr. Walker, the confederate sec- retary of war, who said : "No man can tell where the war this day commenced will end, but I will prophesy that the flag which now flaunts the breeze here will float over the dome of the capitol at Washington before the first of May. Let them try southern chivalry and test the extent of southern resources, and it may float eventually over Faneuil hall itself." At Washington the effect of the news was to call forth the following proclamation from President Lincoln : "Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and are now opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by com- binations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law : Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, presi- dent of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vest- ed by the constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several states of the Union, to the aggregate number of 75.000, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediatelv com- municated to the state authorities through the war depart- ment I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the exist- ence of our national union, and the perpetuity of popular gov- ernment, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union ; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consis- tently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any dis- turbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective
