FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR-1861

505. The Capture of Fort Sumter by the South. On the morning following his inauguration, Lincoln received word from Robert Anderson, who was in command of Fort Sumter, that without re-enforcements he could not hold the fort much longer. The Confederate forces, commanded by Beauregard, a distinguished soldier of the Mexican War, anticipating the re-enforcement of Fort Sumter, bombarded the garrison. Anderson, after a brave stand of thirty-four hours, made an honorable surrender (April 14, 1861) and embarked for New York, carrying with him the tattered flag under which he and his men had fought.

The news of the capture of Fort Sumter electrified the whole country and served to consolidate the North and the Scuth against each other. The remaining slave states-Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, now speedily joined the Confederacy. Maryland and Delaware showed little disposition to link their fortunes with the southern cause, and Kentucky and Missouri wished to remain neutral. The loss of Virginia, owing to its rank, population, wealth, and geographical position was a serious blow to the North. This state took with her two great military leadersRobert E. Lee and Thomas Jackson-as well as the arsenals at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard. This loss, however, was partly repaired by the fact that the counties of Virginia west of the mountains, not finding slavery profitable and being closely united in interest with Pennsylvania refused to join the Confederacy. These counties banded together and formed a state

FORT SUMTER

which was later admitted to the Union as West Virginia. With the support of Generals McClellan and Rosecrans, who defeated the Confederate troops and drove them from the region, the new state maintained her independence from Virginia.

After the surrender of Fort Sumter the "Star Spangled Banner" was loyally flung to the breeze everywhere through the North, while the Confederacy displayed as freely its new standard, the Stars and Bars.

506. First Call for Volunteers. Most of the United States arsenals and forts had been seized by the seceding states; national authority had been defied at Fort Sumter; and Washington, being so near the Confederate states, was speedily becoming an unsafe place for the government. The Confederate Secretary of War declared that before the first of May the Confederate flag would float over the dome of the capitol. On the day following the evacuation of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve for three months. Four times that number offered their services. The Sixth Massachusetts volunteer regiment began its march to the capital the same day. While passing through Baltimore (April 19) it was attacked by a mob and several soldiers were killed. This was the first bloodshed of the war. It occurred on the eighty-sixth anniversary of the skirmish at Lexington.

507. Financial Measures of Congress. After Lincoln's first call for volunteers, Congress met in extra session and authorized the President to call for additional volunteers and to increase the navy and regular army. It also greatly raised the tariff (1861) for the purpose of adding to the revenue; levied heavy internal taxes for the support of the war; adopted a Homestead Bill, which offered portions of public domain to heads of families, on condition of their living upon it and cultivating it for five years; and voted the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, for which purpose money and large tracts of land were granted by the Federal government. Further

more, at the suggestion of Secretary Chase, Congress voted that money be borrowed and that the government issue paper money or "greenbacks." As the war continued, gold was soon at a premium and "greenbacks" so decreased in value that in 1864 a dollar note was worth only thirty-five cents in gold. 508. Organization of the Contending Armies. Lincoln, early in May, made a second call for forty-two thousand volunteers to serve for three years, and for forty thousand men for the regular army and navy. Thus the strength of the Union force was raised to one hundred and eighty-three thousand men.

This army was placed under the command of General Winfield Scott and distributed on a line of two thousand miles, passing along the Potomac, across northern Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Indian Territory, to New Mexico. Washington was the fortified center.

President Davis of the Confederacy also called for volunteers, and his call was obeyed as eagerly as President Lincoln's. The Confederate army numbered about one hundred and fifty