The Civil War.
Incidents of the surrender of Fort Sumter-- the feeling in North Carolina--Henry Ward Beecher — Lincoln's call for troops — the excitement in Baltimore — How the news was received, etc.Incidents of the surrender of Sumter.
A Charleston dispatch relates the following incidents: Major Anderson stated that he surrendered his sword to General Beauregard, as the representative of the Confederate Government. General Beauregard said he would not receive it from so brave a man. He says Major Anderson made a staunch fight, and elevated himself in the estimation of every true Carolinian. During the fire, when Major Anderson's flag-staff was shot away, a boat put off from Morris' Island, carrying another American flag for him to fight under — a noteworthy instance of the honor and chivalry of the South Carolina seceders and their admiration for a brave man. During the raging of the flames in Fort Sumter, the officers and soldiers were obliged to lay on their faces in the casemates to prevent suffocation. Major Anderson expressed himself much pleased that no lives had been sacrificed, and says that to Providence alone is to be attributed the bloodless victory. He compliments the firing of the Carolinian, and the large number of exploded shells lying around attest their effectiveness. The number of soldiers in the fort was about seventy, besides twenty-five workmen, who assisted at the guns. His stock of provisions was almost exhausted, however. He would have been starved out in two more days. The entrance to the fort is mined, and the South Carolina officers who visited it after the surrender were told to be careful on account of the heat, lest it should explode. The scene in the city after the raising of the flag of truce and the surrender is indescribable; the people were perfectly wild. Men on horseback rode through the streets proclaiming the news, amid the greatest enthusiasm. The forces of Major Anderson were entirely inadequate to effectually work the guns and attend to the incidental requirements. It is not to be wondered at, under the circumstances, that Fort Sumter surrendered. The men were on duty thirty-six hours, with balls or shells striking the casemates and guns of the fort constantly. Competent military men state that the intense vibration or shock produced on the brain and nervous system of those in the vicinity is terribly exhausting. At the siege of Sebastopol the men who worked the guns were relieved every twenty minutes, and groomed with whiskey and flannel to enable them to endure the concussion produced by the firing of their own guns and the shock of the enemy's balls and shells striking the fortification. The concussion attending the firing of a columbiad in the enclosed casemate of a fort is said to be terrible. In contrast with the conduct of the inaction of the war fleet, it is stated that an old slave passed through the hottest fire, with a sloop load of wool, on Friday evening, and came safely to the city. Somebody told him he would be killed in the attempt. ‘"Can't help dat, "’ said he, ‘"must go to de town to night. If anybody hurts dis chile or dis boat, massa see him about it shuah."’ His sloop received four shots. It is reported that Major Anderson sent in his resignation, to take effect on the inauguration of the Lincoln Government, but no notice was taken of it. The fort is burned into a mere shell; not a particle of wood-work can be found, The guns on one side of the parapet are entirely dismounted, others split, while the gun carriages are knocked into splinters. Major Anderson says the accuracy of the firing surprised him, and that if he had had two hundred more men, one-half would have been killed for want of suitable protection. Major Anderson says it is preposterous to fight such a people. One of the officers in the fort remarked that they had endeavored not to fire on exposed individuals. ‘"Yes,"’ said Major Anderson, ‘"I gave orders not to sight men, but to silence batteries."’ Both men and officers were begrimed with smoke and powder. The batteries which have done the most mischief are the Dahigrea battery, Stevens' battery, and the rifle can non. As regards harbor defence, the fort is just as good as ever. The casemates are perfect, the guns there in prime condition, and bear on both sides. Major Anderson was obliged to throw overboard a large quantity of powder to prevent explosion, and it was floating around the fort to-day. One of the aids carried brandy to Major Anderson in a boat, after the fire, and the latter said it was very acceptable, as the men were completely exhausted by their labors. I mention this to show the kind and chivalrous relations between the officers. Before going into action, Major Anderson sent word by an aid of General Beauregard to the Governor, thanking him for kind attentions during the past two months, and very solemnly said, ‘"Farewell, gentlemen. If we do not meet again here, I hope we shall meet in a better world."’ The fort has been garrisoned by the Palmetto Guards and put under command of Lieutenant Colonel Ripley, who commanded Fort Moultrie after the departure of Major Anderson. The city is resuming its usual quiet. Everybody is exchanging congratulations over the successful termination of the fight; but soldiers are itching for a hand-to-hand brush.-- The Confederate flag and the Palmetto flag were hoisted on separate spars simultaneously. Dr. S. Wylie Crawford, the surgeon at Fort Sumter, who was slightly wounded, is a son of the Rev. Dr. Crawford, of Philadelphia. W. Porcher Miles, of Charleston, telegraphs to Mrs. Doubleday, at Washington, that a report of her husband's insanity is without foundation. It is believed that Capt. Doubleday, who is a strong Republican, refused to obey Major Anderson's command to surrender, and was consequently placed in irons.Will North Carolina respond?
The Wilmington Journal, of Monday, asks and answers the question. Will Governor Ellis respond to Lincoln's demand for troops? We do not pretend to answer for Governor Ellis, unless where we know his position, but in this case we have no hesitation in saying distinctly, No ! Governor Ellis will not do so. Will he agree that troops should pass freely from the North over the soil of North Carolina, to coerce our Southern sisters? Again we say--No ! never. But again. Will the fifteen thousand New Yorkers, the five thousand Massachusetters, the thirteen thousand Pennsylvanians, find aid and comfort in passing over our soil to erect an abolition despotism not only over the seceded States, but over us too! Can we afford to stand idle and see our friends crushed out, knowing that we will be the next victims? We must make common cause with the seceded States. If not, we are all whelmed in a common ruin. We think that the Governor ought immediately to issue his proclamation convening the Legislature at the earliest possible moment, and that our people ought to occupy the Forts also, just as soon as they can feel that they can not only occupy but hold them. The Wilmington Herald displays a similar spirit, in commenting upon Lincoln's proclamation: Sons of North Carolina, does not your blood boil within your veins when you think of being called upon to assist in such a murderous plot? Can we, will we, give him our aid?-- No, never! Although contentions may have arisen in our midst, and ill feeling existed, it is now all banished forever. We are now all one--with one feeling and one destiny. The cause of South Carolina, or any other Southern State, is our cause. Will we prove traitors to the land of our birth? Shall we assist our friends, or shall we aid our enemies? We wait not for an answer. By all that is good, noble and pure, we will defend, with our lives, our property and our sacred honor, the cause of the South. Although the ‘"Old North State"’ has been slow to move, she will be quick to strike a death blow at any that may attempt to cross her soil or use her property in subjugating the South. With opened arms and extended hands we welcome all Yankee hirelings to a hospitable grave, that may enter our midst for that purpose. The matter seems to be settled, so far as North Carolina is concerned, according to the following dispatch, which we find in the Petersburg Express: Raleigh, April 16.--Governor Ellis received a dispatch from Secretary Cameron to-night, saying that a requisition would be made upon him for two regiments. The Governor promptly replied that he regarded the course of the Administration in attempting to subjugate States as unconstitutional, and that he would be no party to this wicked violation of law, and this war upon the liberties, of a free people, Cameron can get no troops from North Carolina.The
In the Episcopal Churches at New York, Sunday last, the preyer was used appointed to be said in time of war and tumults concluding with these words " Almighty God, save and deliver us, we humbly beseech Thee, from the hands of our enemies; that we, being armed with Thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify Thee, who art the only Giver of all victory; through the merits of Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord."Beecher on the War.
In a sermon at Brooklyn. N. Y., last Sunday evening, the political parson, Henry Ward Beecher, thus outraged the sanctity of his profession: The Southern people were sound on the question of the Bible, but Infidels as to its contents. The doctrines of their church were, that all people were not equal. According to the Constitution of the new Confederacy, every State must be opened to slavery. There would no longer be free discussion or free debate. It was on these conditions we could have peace. On those grounds, Mr. Beecher said, he utterly abhorred peace. Give him war, redder than blood. The present was no time for them to hesitate; they must take the country as their fathers gave it to them; there should be but one feeling among them, and that a feeling for liberty, which should sweep like a whirlwind over the country.-- With the North they had the strength, they had the people, and their cause was right.-- They could go to war with a Christian spirit; not with any angry feelings, but with indignation. They now had it in their power to settle this difficulty, and he hoped they would do so and not let it be breaking out for a number of years to come, like the intermittent fever.-- He then spoke of the telegraphic dispatches which had been received from Charleston for the past two days, saying the rumors were indeed depressing. He had been grieved to learn that Major Anderson-- the gallant, noble, and brave Major Anderson--had been compelled to abandon his stronghold. Since coming into the pulpit, moreover, he had received a private communication from a gentleman, which stated that it was Fort Moultrie which had been blown up instead of Fort Sumter. (On this the whole audience burst forth in one wild shout of applause and enthusiasm. People clapped their hands, men waved their hats and handkerchiefs, and some time elapsed before order was again restored.) After again beseeching them to stand up for liberty and equality — that liberty which their forefathers had stood up for — he observed that he had not intended to say so much upon this point. Since he had been their pastor he had endeavored to keep them advised of the signs of the times. The opinion seems to be well grounded that Virginia is soon to become the scene of deadly civil strife. With this plainly in view, the Washington Star comments as follows: If the Virginia Convention, influenced by the attack on Sumter, (designed avowedly to induce Virginia to join her fortunes with those of the seceded States,) pass an Ordinance of Secession, Pennsylvania, having her ‘"heart fired"’ too, by the course of Virginia, will in a week be-- as Virginia will be --one vast camp; ready to precipitate herself with fire and a word over the line to defend the Government's right to its property within her (Virginia's) limits. No man capable of drawing rational conclusions, from self-evident premises, can doubt these facts. At this moment the popular mind of Pennsylvania is in intense sympathy with Virginia, and it depends wholly upon the action of the Richmond Convention whether that sympathy shall prove sufficient to enable Virginia to settle the difficulties without the desolation of every Virginia hearth by civil war; or whether it shall be resolved into a whirlwind of mad passion, as dire as that which at this moment actuates the thousands serving in arms under the Oligarchy's authority; and be directed, of course, to the defence of what Pennsylvania regards as the plain right of the Government of the United States upon the soil of Virginia, where the sectional war will inevitably be fought out for the most part, at least for months to come. The Star having become intensely Lincolnized, it is natural enough that it should adopt the phrases of the New York Tribune. The Philadelphia North American is impressed with similar ideas; for it says: Pennsylvania has a great duty to perform. She is a border State. The threatening condition of things in Virginia, right upon her own confines, renders it of the highest importance that she should prepare herself for the worst. The aggressive policy of the Montgomery Government has been boldly announced by the head of the War Department there, who threatens to take Washington city, and even to invade the North. That this is no idle boast may be seen at a glance. There is now at Charleston a victorious army of ten thousand troops, with vast accumulations of artillery and munitions of war, and Fort Sumter being captured there is nothing to engage the attention of General Beauregard. There is a railway connection direct from Charleston to Washington, and in three days the whole of that army, with all its baggage, artillery and stores, could be at the Potomac. With the present state of feeling in Virginia there cannot be a doubt that this force could be immediately doubled by accessions from that State. In truth, we are altogether taken at a disadvantage. We did not expect war with the South, and are totally unprepared for it; while on the other hand, the whole time of the Montgomery Government has been occupied in arming its adherents, gathering men and munitions of war, and preparing the hearts of the people for a struggle. Now that the decision has been made between peace or war, all hesitation ought to end. It is our imperative duty to arm at once, and to do it generally, and to the fullest extent. We want everything; and it seems an enormous task to set about improvising an army without officers and arms or military stores. Nothing, however, is impossible to American energy.Lincoln's call for troops.
The following is the call for troops, issued in accordance with the proclamation of the President, by Secretary Cameron, and giving the quotas allotted to each State to furnish: War Department, April 15, 1861.
to his Excellency the Governor of--: Sir
--under the act of Congress for calling for the ‘ "militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, repel invasions, " ’ &c., approved February 28, 1775, I have the honor to request Your Excellency to cause to be immediately detached from the militia of Your State the quota designated in the table below, to serve as infantry or riflemen for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged.
Your Excellency will please communicate to me the time at or about which Your quota will be expected at its rendezvous, as it will be met as soon as practicable by an officer or officers to muster it into the service and pay of the United States.
to his Excellency the Governor of--: Sir
States. | Regiments. | Total Force. | Rendezvous. |
Maine | 1 | 780 | Portland. |
New Hampshire | 1 | 780 | Portsmouth. |
Vermont | 1 | 750 | Burlington. |
Massachusetts | 2 | 1,560 | Spring field. |
Rhode Island | 1 | 780 | Providence. |
Connecticut | 1 | 780 | New Haven. |
New York | 17 | 13,280 | New York, Albany, Elmira. |
Pennsylvania | 16 | 12,500 | Philadelphia, Harrisburg. |
New Jersey | 4 | 3,123 | Trenton. |
Delaware | 1 | 780 | Wilmington. |
Maryland | 4 | 3,123 | Frederick, Baltimore. |
Virginia | 3 | 2,340 | Sta'nton, Wheeling, Gordonsville. |
North Carolina | 2 | 1,560 | Raleigh. |
Tennessee | 2 | 1,560 | Kn'xville, Nashville. |
Arkansas | 1 | 780 | Little Rock. |
Kentucky | 4 | 7,123 | Lexington. |
Missouri | 4 | 3,123 | St. Louis. |
Illinois | 6 | 4,688 | Spring field, Chicago. |
Indiana | 6 | 4,683 | Indianapolis. |
Ohio | 12 | 10,153 | Col'mbus, Cleveland. |
Michigan | 1 | 780 | Detroit. |
Wisconsin | 1 | 780 | Milwaukee. |
lowa | 1 | 780 | Keokuk. |
Minnesota | 1 | 780 | St. Paul, |
94 | 73,391 |