Part 14 (2/2)

Preston S Brooks, of South Carolina, approached froan to beat Suh a powerful man in body, was to a certain extent held down by his desk, and it was only as he wrenched the desk fro had been terrible and Su pains, until the day of his death This ruffian attack was by a large portion of the North looked on as an exhibition of southern chivalry, so called, and not entirely without reason as the sequel showed Congress censured Brooks _by a divided vote_ He resigned but was reelected by his constituents with great enthusiasm Thus his act was by them adopted as representative of their spirit and temper This was his ”vindication”

South Carolina was the first state to secede, and since Fort Sumter commanded Charleston Harbor, it instantly became the focus of national interest The Secretary of War, Floyd, had so dispersed the little army of the United States that it was impossible to coarrison the United States forts As , Major Anderson, as in command of the twin forts, Moultrie and Sumter, decided to abandon the former and do his utmost to defend the latter The reht, and when the fact was discovered it was greeted by the South Carolinians with a howl of baffled wrath Buchanan had endeavored to send provisions The steaone there for that purpose, but had been fired on by the South Carolinians and forced to abandon the atteton, it may well be believed that he found matters in a condition decidedly chaotic His task was ton as he had justly said First, of the fifteen slave states seven had seceded It was his purpose to hold the reht, or as many of them as possible Of this number, Delaware and Maryland could have been held by force

Kentucky and Missouri, though slave states, remained in the Union The Union party in Tennessee, under the lead of Andrew Johnson, ainst secession, but failed to prevent the ordinance

The next task of Lincoln was to unite the North as far as possible The difficulty of doing this has already been set forth On the other hand there was in the North a senti Benjah an ardent democrat, had cautioned his southern brethren that while they e pro-slavery vote in the North, as a different , he said, you unite the North; and if war cooes

Not the least task of the President was in dealing with foreign nations The syland and France, were ardently with the South They would eagerly grasp at the slightest excuse for acknowledging the Southern Confederacy as an independent nation It was a delicate and difficult uide affairs that the desired excuse for this could not be found

The tactics of the southerners were exceedingly exasperating They kept ”envoys” in Washi+ngton to treat with the government Of course these were not officially received Lincoln sent the a sufficient answer to their questions But they stayed on, trying to spy out the secrets of the governe of conciliation from the administration, or, ould equally serve the purpose, to exasperate the aduarded word or act Their attempts were a flat failure

Lincoln held steadily to the two proural First, that he would hold the United States forts, and second, that he would not be the aggressor ”In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in overnment will not assail you You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government; while I have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend' it”

To this plan he adhered It there was to be war it overn which could be tortured into an appearance of 'invading the South' or being an aggressor of any sort

Meanwhile, Major Anderson was beleaguered in Fort Sumter He had a handful of men, 76 combatants and 128 all told He had insufficient ammunition and was nearly out of provisions Lincoln at last concluded to ”send bread to Su to complications which he inherited froiven to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, a promise that he would not atte him notice He now sent him notice that there would be an attempt to provision Sumter peaceably if possible, or otherwise by force

All this while the southerners were busy perfecting their fortifications, which were now overwhelly better, both in number and in completeness of appointhtfully controlled the entire harbor General Beauregard was in command of the military forces He sent to Major Anderson a summons to surrender The latter replied that if he received froton no further direction, and if he was not succored by the 15th of the month, April, he would surrender on honorable tereneral that he intercepted Major Anderson'shim of hostilities It is characteristic of Lincoln that he sent notice to Governor Pickens of the intended provision of the fort

On Friday, April 12th, 1861, at 3:30 P M, General Beauregard gave notice to Major Anderson that he would open fire on Fort Suun was fired and the war had begun Batteries from various points poured shot and shell into Suarrison sat up half the night after the attack, as they had done the preceding night, and with their six needles, all they had, , and whatever else they could lay hands on These one hundred and twenty-eight men made all the defense that could be made under the circumstances

The next day the officer's quarters were set on fire either by an exploding shell or by hot shot The allantly, but the as unfavorable Then the water tanks were destroyed As the flaazine, the powder had to be removed As the flames approached the places where the poas newly stored, it had to be thrown into the sea to prevent explosion In the loriously The flag pole had been struck seven times on Friday It was struck three times the next day

The tenth shot did the work, the pole broke and the flag fell to the ground at one o'clock Saturday afternoon An officer and soed up a jury-ain

But auished, and there was no hope of relief Negotiations were opened and ter The next day, Sunday, April 14th, the garrison saluted the flag as it was lowered, and then marched out, prisoners of war Suard was a ot the fort, the President got nearly everything else The as on and it had been begun by the South The administration had not invaded or threatened invasion, but the South had fired on the flag Dearly they paid for this cri In the South it was hailed with ecstatic delight, especially in Charleston There was a popular deoovernment L P Walker, Confederate Secretary of War, s, said that ”while no man could tell where the ould end, he would prophesy that the flag which now flaunts the breeze here, would float over the doton before the end of May,” and that ”it ht eventually float over Fanueil Hall itself” The Confederate governht millions of dollars and Jefferson Davis issued letters of ht desire to aid the South and at the same time enrich themselves by depredations upon the commerce of the United States

The effect upon the North was different There was a perfect storainst the people who had presu

Butler's prediction proved to be nearly correct This did unite the North in defense of the flag Butler was a conspicuous exae democrat, he promptly offered his services for the defense of the country, and throughout the war he had the distinction of being hated by the South with a eneral

It was recollected throughout the North that Lincoln had been conciliatory to a fault towards the South Conciliation had failed because that was not what the South wanted They wanted war and by them ar made This put an end forever to all talk of concession and colas was one of the many whose voice called in tru

At the date of the fall of Sumter, Lincoln had been in office less than six weeks In addition to routine work, to attending to extraordinary calls in great nus: He had the loyal devotion of a cabinet noted for its ability and diversity He had the enthusiastic confidence of the doubtful minds of the North He had nize the South as a nation So far as our country was concerned, he et what he asked These were nostatesot the fort, but Lincoln got the game In his oords, ”he took _that_ trick”

CHAPTER XXV

THE OUTBURST OF PATRIOTISM