Til \\" (PAGE W) The upper photograph shows < Confederates on Monday the fifteenth of April, 1861 one day after the i lentous event which Holmes dimly prophesied in " Brother Jonathan " (page 14). The picture below, with the two following, were made on the llith As April wore on, North and South alike had been reluctant to strike first. When Major Robert Anderson, on December 26, 1860, removed to Fort Sumter, on an island al the entrance to Charleston L'KIUIK fl.l :i N up Till, (10RUK Harbor, he placed himself in a position to withstand long attack. But he needed supplies. The Confederates would allow none to be landed When at length rumors of a powerful naval force to relieve the fort reached < Charleston, the ( Confederates demanded the surrender of the garrison. Anderson promised to evacuate by April 15th if he received no additional supplies. His terms were rejected. At half-past four on the morning of April 12th a shell from Fort Johnson "rose high in air. and curving in its course, burst almost directly over the fort." The mighty war had begun.
CONFEDERATES IN SUMTER THE DAY AFTER ANDERSON LEFT
A GUN TRAINED ON CHARLESTON BY ANDERSON
TWO DAYS AFTER THE BOMBARDMENT OF SUMTER, APRIL 16, 1861 Wade Hampton (the tallest figure) and other leading South Carolinians inspecting the effects of the cannonading that had forced Major Anderson to evacuate, and had precipitated the mightiest conflict of modern times — two days In-fore.
IVIitu are some "I the i onfcderate guns in the battery near Fort Mouli r ir I li.il bore upon the fort pictured above II was the hoi shot from Fort Moultrie itself that set fire to the barracks in Fori Sumter about eight o'clock on the morning of April 13th When the < Confederate commanders saw the black smoke rise from the fort, they doubled the fire of the batteries to keep the flames from being extinguished. Sumter did not cease replying, although the intervals between shots became longer as the garrison dashed from spot to spot checking the Barnes.
THE STARS AND BARS WAVING OVER THE CAPTURED FORT
CONFEDERATE GUNS THAT FIRED ON SUMTER
The South Carolinians showed their admiration for their dauntless antagonists by cheering at every shot that replied to them. About half-past twelve of that day the flagstaff on Snnitir was shot away. General Beauregard, who was in charge of the operations of Charleston, at once sent three of his aides to inquire if Major Anderson would accept assistance in subduing the flames and to offer terms of surrender. The terms. which allowed the gallant garrison to march out with the honors of war. were at length accepted. The first step in the war had been irrevocably taken.
The damage done by those first guns of the war, "the shots heard around the world," is shown in these faded photographs of April 16, 1861 By five a.m. of April 12th the Confederate batteries « e re directing a converging fire on Sumter The garrison did not immediately reply; il had been subsisting on half rations and on this particular morning made a breakfast off pork and damaged rice, At seven it began to return the lire. During the day the duel was unremitting. The whole city poured out to witness the spectacle. The Mattery, the fashionable promenade of Charleston, was thronging with ladies in holiday attire. Early on the next day the officers' quarters in Sunder caught fire from some shells or hot shot. Elames soon spread to the barraeks. So fierce was the conflagration that the magazine had to be closed. The men threw themselves on the ground to avoid suffocation. Then Beauregard's terms of evacuation were accepted. < >u Sunday, April 14th, with colors flying and drums heating. Major Anderson and his little company marched out with a salute to the Hag of fifty guns. That day the whole North was steeled to live up to the spirit of Holmes' poem.
INTERIOR FACE 01- GORGE
THE OFFICERS' QUARTERS WHERE THE FIRE STARTED
THE SHATTERED FLAGSTAFF (TO THE RIGHT)
SEPARATION AND REUNION
BROTHER JONATHAN'S LAMENT FOR SISTER
Until a record and a prophecy are contained in these lines by the New England poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes. A state convention meeting in Charleston had on December '20, lSiid. unanimously passed an ordinance of secession, and during January and February sis other states had followed. Early in February the Confederate Government had been organized at Montgomery, Alabama, with Jefferson l)a\is as President. Holmes dated this poem March l.'."), 1861. Four days later the new President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, ordered relief to be sent to Fort Sumter In Charleston Harbor. On April Pith the attack on Sumter was made, and the war begun. How fully the sentiment of brotherhood here expressed by Holmes has been realized among the American people it has been the purpose of the Introduction to this volume and of the following selections to show.
She has gone, — she has left us in passion and pride, — Our stormy-browed sister, so long at our side! She has turn her own star from our firmament's glow, And turned on her brother the face of a foe!
() Caroline, Caroline, child of the sun. We can never forget that our hearts have been one, — Our foreheads both sprinkled in Liberty's name. From the fountain of blood with the finger of flame!
Vnii were always too ready to fire at a touch; lint we said: " She is hasty,- she does not mean much." We have scowled when you uttered some turbulent threat: But Friendship still whispered: " Forgive and forget!"
Has our love all died out? Have its altars grown cold? Has the curse come at last which the fathers foretold? Then Nature must teach us the strength of the chain That her petulant children would sever in vain.
THE RUINS OF SECESSION HALL, CHARLESTON— 1805
three months before Holmes' poem, South ( 'arolinians had cast tin- die of separation in Secession Hall. It appears to the right of the < Circular Church, across the narrow graveyard, its walls blasted l>y the fire of December, 1861. Here the vote w:is taken mi I (ecembei 20, 1800, declaim;.' thai "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other States under the name of the ' United States of America' is hereby dissolved." The secession convention was composed of the most experienced men in the State men who had represented it in the national Congress, judges in the highest courts, eminent divines, and wealthy planters On the fourth day of its session, at twelve o'clock, the ordinance quoted from above was read with flashing eyes by the venerable judge of chancery, Chancellor Iiifjlis, At a quarter past otic it was passed unanimously. The doorkeeper passed the word to the policeman without. he called to another, and so on until the sentinel at the massive iron gate proclaimed it to the impatient populace. The bells in every rocking steeple mingled their notes with the shouts of the excited throngs that filled the streets There was no dissent in the secession sentiments lure.
"THOUGH DARKENED WITH SULPHUR"
THE CHARLESTON RAILROAD DEPOT. DESTROYED BY EXPLOSION IN 1805
These ruins form an impressive fulfilment of tin- prophecy in Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem. But it was not till near the end thai the scene here preserved could meet the eye. It resulted from the evacuation of the city by the Confederate forces on February 17. lSli.) This step had been taken with great reluctance. The movement of secession had begun at Charleston. The city was dear to every Southern heart. Yet military policy clearly dictated that the scattered troops in the Carolinas he concentrated against Sherman. Indeed, it would have been better policy to evacuate earlier. But sentiment is always powerful. Even Jefferson Davis said, "Such full preparation had been made that I had hoped for other and better results, and the disappointment to me is extremely bitter." When the Union troops from Morris Island arrived in Charleston the next morning, they found that the commissary depot hail been blown up with the loss of two hundred lives, mostly of women and children. An officer reported "Public buildings, stores, warehouses, private dwellings, shipping, etc.. were burning and being burned by armed ( Confederates. " All the Negroes in the city were impressed by the Union officers to work the fire apparatus until all the fires were extinguished. But some of the fairest sections of Charleston were already in ruins.
"IN VAIN IS THE STRIFE"
,„, SOMA* CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN AN- ST. FINBAR, DESTROYED ,,Y THE FIRE OF DECEMBER, 1861 -MOST OF THE «LE BODIED CITIZENS WERE SERVING AS SOLDIERS, AND THE FLAMES RAGED UNCHECKED.