316

SEDITIOUS SPEECH OF A VIRGINIAN.

Charleston was full of demagogues at that time, busily engaged in inflaming the populace and the soldiers; and that city became, in miniature, what Paris was just before the attack on the Bastile.

Among the demagogues in Charleston was Roger A. Pryor, lately a member of the National House of Representatives; and also Edmund Ruffin,' both from Virginia. Their State Convention was then in session at Richmond. The Union sentiment in that body seemed likely to defeat the secessionists. Something was needed to neutralize its power, by elevating passion into the throne of judgment. It was believed by many that this could be done only by shedding blood. Pryor and Ruffin were self-constituted preachers of the sanguinary doctrine. They were earnest missionaries; and on the evening of the 10th, while the city was rocked with excitement, a rare opportunity was offered to Pryor for the utterance of his incendiary sentiments. He was serenaded, and made a fiery speech to the populace, in response to the compliment. "Gentlemen," he said, "I thank you, especially, that you have at last annihilated this cursed Union, reeking with corruption, and insolent with excess of tyranny. Thank God! it is at last blasted and riven by the lightning wrath of an outraged and indignant people. Not only is it gone, but gone forever. In the expressive language of Scripture, it is water spilt upon the ground, and cannot be gathered up. Like Lucifer, son of the morning, it has fallen, never to rise again. For my part, gentlemen, if Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin, to morrow, were to abdicate their office, and were to give me a blank sheet of paper to write the conditions of reannexation to the defunct Union, I would scornfully spurn the overture. . . . I invoke you, and I make it in some sort a personal appeal— personal so far as it tends to our assistance in Virginia-I do invoke you, in your demonstrations of popular opinion, in your exhibitions of official interest, to give no countenance to the idea of reconstruction. In Virginia, they all say, if reduced to the dread dilemma of this alternative, they will espouse the cause of the South as against the interests of the Northern Confederacy; but they whisper of reconstruction, and they say Virginia must abide in the Union, with the idea of reconstructing the Union which you have annihilated. I pray you, gentlemen, rob them of that idea. Proclaim to the world that upon no condition and under no circumstance will South Carolina ever again enter into political association with the Abolitionists of New England. Do not distrust Virginia. As sure as to-morrow's sun will rise upon us, just so sure will Virginia be a member of the Southern Confederation. And I will tell you, gentlemen," said the speaker, with great vehemence, "what will put her in the Southern Confederacy in less than an hour by Shrewsbury clock-STRIKE A BLOW! The very moment that blood is shed, old Virginia will make common cause with her sisters of the South. It is impossible she should do otherwise."

This speech was vehemently applauded. It was in consonance with the diabolical spirit of the more zealous conspirators and insurgents everywhere The cry of Pryor for blood was sent to Montgomery by telegraph the next morning, and Mr. Gilchrist, a member of the Alabama Legislature, said to Davis and a portion of his "Cabinet" (Walker, Benjamin, and Memminger):

1 See page 48.

2 Charleston Mercury, April 11, 1961.

DEMAND FOR THE SURRENDER OF FORT SUMTER.

991

317

"Gentlemen, unless you sprinkle blood in the face of the people of Alabama, they will be back in the old Union in less than ten days.' The "sober second thought" of the people was dreaded. The conspirators knew that there was solemn truth in the assertion, that "the big heart of the people is still in the Union. It is now subjugated temporarily to the will of the politicians. Less than a hundred thousand politicians are endeavoring to destroy the liberties and usurp the rights of more than thirty millions of people."

At two o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday, the 11th of April, Beauregard sent Colonel James Chesnut, Jr., Colonel Chisholm, and Captain Stephen D. Lee, of his staff, with a letter to Major Anderson, in which he conveyed a demand for the evacuation of Fort Sumter. This reached the fort at four o'clock. Major Anderson, who was in expectation of such demand, at once replied, that his sense of honor and obligations to his Government would not allow him to comply. At the same time he informed Beauregard's aids, verbally, that the condition of his supplies was such that he would be compelled, by menaces of starvation, to leave the fort in a few days. They returned to Beauregard under a red flag, thereby indicating to the commanders of the forts and batteries that no peaceful arrangement had yet been made. That officer instantly communicated Anderson's remark to Walker, the "Confederate Secretary of War," at Montgo:nery, giving as his words:—“I will await the first shot, and if you do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in a few days." Walker telegraphed back, that if Major Anderson would state the time when he would evacuate, and agree that, meanwhile, he would not use his guns against them, unless theirs should be employed against Fort Sumter, Beauregard was authorized thus to avoid

1 Speech of Jeremiah Clemens, formerly United States Senator from Alabama, at Huntsville, in that State, on the 13th of March, 1864.

* Raleigh (North Carolina) Banner.

* The original of Beauregard's letter is before me while I write. It is as follows:

"HEAD-QUARTERS PROVISIONAL ARMY, C. S. A., ) "CHARLESTON, S. C., April 11, 1861.

"SIR:-The Government of the Confederate States has hitherto forborne any hostile demonstrations against Fort Sumter, in the hope that the Government of the United States, with a view to the amicable adjustment of all questions between the two governments, and to avoid the calamity of war, would voluntarily evacuate it. There was reason at one time to believe that such would be the course pursued by the Government of the United States, and, under that impression, my government has refrained from making any demand for the surrender of the fort. But the Confederate States can no longer delay assuming actual possession of a fortification commanding the entrance of one of their harbors, and necessary to it.

"I am ordered by the Government of the Confederate States to demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter. My aids, Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lec, are authorized to make such demand of you. All proper facilities will be afforded for the removal of yourself and command, together with company arms and property, and all private property, to any post in the United States which you may elect. The flag which you have upheld so long, and with so much fortitude, under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down.

"Colonel Chesnut and Captain Lee will, for a reasonable time, await your answer. "I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Major ROBERT ANDERSON,

"G. T. BEAUREGARD,

“Brigadier-General Commanding.

· Commanding at Fort Sumter, S. C."

It is a noteworthy fact, that the paper on which was written this demand from the conspirators for a recognition of their right and power to destroy the Union, bore, in its water-mark, the emblem of Union, namely, the Union shield, with its full complement of stars on and around it, and in the segment of a circle over it the words, E PLURIBUS UNUM. In a corner, surrounded in an ellipse formed by the words Erans and Cogswell, Charleston, was a picture of the National Capitol at Washington.

A MEMORABLE NIGHT IN CHARLESTON.

319

the effusion of blood." "If this or its equivalent be refused," he said, "reduce the fort, as your judgment decides to be the most practicable."

At eleven o'clock the same night, Beauregard sent Colonels Chesnut, Chisholm, Pryor (Roger A.), and Captain Lee, with the proposition of Walker, to Major Anderson, when the latter replied that he cordially united with them in a desire to prevent bloodshed, and would therefore agree, in accordance with the proposed stipulations, to leave the fort by noon on the 15th, should he not, previous to that time, "receive controlling instructions" from his Government, or additional supplies. The messenger had arrived at one o'clock on the morn ing of the 12th, and the answer was written at half-past two. At the request of Chesnut and his companions, it was handed to them unsealed.

Anderson was ignorant of what his Government had been doing for his relief during the last few days. He had notice of its intentions, but his special messenger, Lieutenant Talbot, who had been sent to Washington after the notice was given, had not been allowed by the authorities at Charleston to return to the fort.' These authorities had better information than Anderson. Scouts had discovered, during the previous evening, the Pawnee and the Harriet Lane outside the bar, and had reported the fact to Beauregard. That there might be no delay, that officer had directed his aids, sent to Anderson, to receive an open reply from him, and if it should not be satisfactory, to exercise discretionary powers given them. They consulted a few minutes in the room of the officer of the guard, and, deciding that it was not satisfactory, at twenty minutes past three o'clock in the morning, they addressed a note to Anderson, saying:By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, commanding the provisional forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time." They immediately left the fort, when the flag was raised, the postern was closed, the sentinels were withdrawn from the parapet, and orders were given by the commander, that the men should not leave the bomb-proofs without special orders.

846

a

.. April 12, 1861.

The night of the 11th of April, 1861, will be long remembered by the then dwellers in Charleston. It became known early in the evening that a demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter would be made. Orders had been issued for all the military in the city, and surgeons, to hasten to their respective posts. The telegraph called four full regiments of a thousand men each from the country. Conveyances for wounded men were prepared, and every

1 Governor Pickens professed to give his permission with great cheerfulness for Talbot to go to Washington. A perfidious trick was practiced. At Florence, the car in which Talbot was seated was detached. by order. it is said, of the authorities at Charleston, and the train went on, thus detaining Anderson's messenger while they were preparing to attack Fort Sumter.

320

ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER.

thing necessary to meet the demands of suffering caused by battle was made ready. At midnight, seven discharges from heavy cannon aroused all sleepers. They were signals for the assembling of all the reserves immediately. The people rushed to the streets in alarm. The roll of the drum, the tramp of horses, and the rumbling of wagons were heard in every direction, while from the south western horizon a heavy thunder-storm was approaching. The streets were soon crowded with people, who hurried to East Bay Battery and other places, and watched eagerly for an attack on Fort Sumter.

"In the town-through every street,

Tramp, tramp, went the feet,
For they said the Federal fleet
Hove in sight;

And down the wharves they ran,
Every woman, child, and man,
To the fight."

Hours passed on, and all was quiet. The disappointed inhabitants made their way slowly back toward their homes, and very soon the gathering thunder-storm burst over the city.

Patiently, firmly, almost silently, the little band in Fort Sumter awaited the passage of that pregnant hour. Each man could hear his own heart beat as the expiring moments brought him nearer to inevitable but unknown perils. Suddenly the dull booming of a gun at a signal-battery on James Island, near Fort Johnson, was heard,' and a fiery shell, sent from its broad throat, went flying through the black night and exploded immediately over Fort Sumter. It was a malignant "shooting star," coursing through the heavens like those, in appearance, which in the olden time affrighted the nations. It was one of fearful portent, and was the "forerunner" of terrible calamities. Then, no man was wise enough to interpret its full augury.

It

The sound of that mortar on James Island was the signal for battle. awakened the slumberers in Charleston. The streets of the city were again thronged with an excited populace. After a brief pause, the heavy cannon on Cummings's Point, comprising Battery Stevens (so named in honor of the inventor), opened fire upon Fort Sumter. To the late Edmund Ruffin, of Virginia, belongs the infamy of firing its first shot, and the first hurled against that fort, the mute representative of the nationality under whose benign overshadowing he had reposed in peace and security for more than seventy years. He had hastened to Morris Island when hostilities seemed near, and when asked there to what company he belonged, he replied, "To that in which there is a vacancy." He was assigned to duty in the Palmetto Guard, and implored the privilege of firing the first gun on Fort Sumter. It was granted, and he at once acquired Ephesian fame. That wretched old man appears in history only as a traitor and a suicide a victim to the wicked teachings of stronger and wiser men.

That first shot from Cummings's Point was followed quickly by others from the Floating Battery, which lay beached on Sullivan's Island, under the

1 That signal-gun was fired by Lieutenant H. S. Farley.

3 Charleston Mercury, April 13, 1861.

2 See page 48.

4 See note 1, page 45.