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"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the mo mentous issue of civil war. The government 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 shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend' it.

"I am loth to close. We are not eremies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

"The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

He had come into power at a dark and stormy hour. Several States had seceded, and others were consummating their arrangements to do so. There was treason in army and navy. He was almost without means of offence or defence.

The President's first act was to construct his Cabinet, which was done by the appointment of William H. Seward, of New York, Secretary of State; Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury; Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of War; Gideon Welles, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, Secretary of the Interior; Montgomery Blair, of Maryland, Postmaster General; and Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney General. These nominations were all confirmed by the Senate, and these gentlemen entered upon the discharge of the duties of their several offices. Hereafter Mr. Lincoln's administration will only come incidentally under review.

Meanwhile the works upon which Major Anderson might not open fire were progressing and were finally completed, and were soon to hurl shot and shell upon its doomed defences. On the 11th of April came the demand for surrender which Major Anderson declined, but admitted that unless supplies reached him before the 15th, hunger would compel surrender. On the morning of the 12th, at four o'clock, fire was opened upon some threescore men from about three thousand, though they knew the threescore were cooped for hopeless starvation. The story has been often told. The garrison did what it could, and then surrendered, and the national flag was struck before the assaulting hands of men born and reared under its protecting folds. It was the first act in the drama of stern, terrible war, and the awe-struck nation stood for a moment and confronted it-only a moment.

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CHAPTER III.

THE GREAT UPRISING.

SABBATH AND SUMTER-PULPITS-EXCITEMENT-HOW COULD IT BE?-REASONS FOR SUBRENDER- -WATCHWORDS OF LOYALTY-THE FLAG-THE CHURCHES-THE PRESS-ORATORY-THE CHILDREN-WOMAN-VOICE OF PROVIDENCE-PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION-BLOCKADING PROCLAMATION-SPRINGFIELD-GOVERNOR YATES'S PROCLAMATION-SIX REGIMENTS-SENATOR DOUGLAS'S SPRINGFIELD SPEECH-INTERVIEW WITH GOVERNOR YATES-WIGWAM SPEECH-ITS INFLUENCE-HIS DEATH-SPEECH QUOTED-BALTIMORE RIOT-A MINISTER'S EXPRESSION-POPULAR DEMAND TO TAKE TROOPS THROUGH BALTIMORE-OBJECT OF MOB DEFEATED-MEN AND MONEY TENDERED-PEOPLE DEMAND SHORT, EARNEST WAR-INFLUENCE OF THE "GREAT UPRISING" ON THE SECESSIONISTS.

T

HE

"Throughout the land there goes a cry;

A sudden splendor fills the sky;
From every hill the banners burst,
Like buds by April breezes nurst;
In every hamlet, home and mart,
The firebeat of a single heart
Keeps time to strains whose pulses mix
Our blood with that of Seventy-Six!

"The shot whereby the old flag fell
From Sumter's battered citadel,
Struck down the lines of party creed,
And made ye One in soul and deed,-
One mighty people, stern and strong,
To crush the consummated wrong;
Indignant with the wrath whose rod
Smites as the awful sword of God!"

[BAYARD TAYLOR, April 30, 1861.

morning of Sabbath, April 14th, brought to the principal cities of the Union the announcement that the flag had been struck, and that, overborne by superior strength, Major Anderson had capitulated. That was all, but that was enough! Pulpits rang that Sabbath with extemporized sermons, yet none more eloquent were ever preached. Strong men bowed their heads and wept as

children. Along the streets trod hosts of excited men; martial music was heard on every side, and active measures were taken to organize military companies.

The next day brought more definite intelligence, and the whole land rocked with excitement. At first there was surprise bordering on incredulity. How could it be so? How could the strong walls of Sumter give way? They forgot, in the hurry of the moment, that the most elaborate and extensive preparations had been made, and that Major Anderson had been compelled to see them completed before his eyes, while he knew that, if permitted to do so, he could easily prevent the finishing of a single battery. They forgot, for the moment, that a handful of men was no match for eager thousands, and that sheer exhaustion would soon cause them to succumb. They did not think, for the moment, of the "hell of fire" to which they were subjected.

But they soon remembered it all, and did full justice to the heroic commandant and his garrison. And then came the terrible consciousness that war was upon them. The Union was assailed; the right of the constitutional majority to rule was denied; and war had begun! Perhaps no single thought proved more intensely exciting than the dishonor of the flag. It was the representative of Government; it was the symbol of national majesty; it was the emblem of authority and protection. It had been honored on all seas, had afforded sanctuary in all lands, and now it was insulted and hauled down before home conspirators! "For the Flag!" "Defend the Flag!" "Rally to the Flag!" "Avenge the Stars and Stripes!"

were mottoes seen in all places! The Flag was displayed everywhere, from stores, shops, and printing offices. It floated from church spires, and draped alike orthodox and heteorodox pulpits. It flaunted from private residences and school-rooms, and miniature ones were placed upon the cradles of little ones soon to be left fatherless by "the fortunes of war.” It was mounted on almost every locomotive. Copies of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "The Red, White and Blue," were called for until the supply was exhausted, and new editions were demanded. In a day old party lines went down, and for a season we were again one people, united in the determined purpose of National Salvation. Nineteen millions of

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