South Carolina senators withdrew from Washington, received from John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, instructions "to hold the forts in the harbor, and, if attacked, to defend himself to the last extremity." Moultrie was difficult to strengthen, and the bearing of the authorities of Charleston became daily more threatening. They had secured a pledge from Floyd, that while negotiations were pending between the South Carolina commissioners and the Washington authorities, there should be no movement on either side, and that Major Anderson should not change his position. It does not appear that the latter was aware of this pledge; but on the 26th of December, while the commissioners were on their way to Washington, he, on his own responsibility, removed his command to Fort Sumter, where the whole force disembarked, at ten o'clock P. M., from row-boats. A few men were left at Moultrie, under Captain Foster, to cut down the flagstaff, spike the guns, burn the carriages, and dismantle the place. The flames notified the people of Charleston of what had happened, and the news, as it spread through the country, caused great excitement. At the North the name of Major Anderson was every where honored, as that of a bold, decided, and loyal leader. At the South his action was denounced as a breach of faith, whigh impaired all confidence in the Government; and it stimulated the war preparations.

Four days later Floyd resigned, and was succeeded in office by Postmaster-General Holt.

Major Anderson's position was not much improved by the change. Ile, indeed, could not be captured by surprise, but neither could he be succored, all communications being cut off; and, unless relief should be sent, he would be soon starved out.

Meanwhile preparations for repelling any attempt of the Federal Government to reinforce Fort Sumter went on in Charleston. Fort Moultrie was repaired and garrisoned, and new batteries were erected on Sullivan's and Morris Islands. The revenue-cutter William Aiken was surrendered by its commander, N. L. Costa, and the crew volunteered to remain under the State authorities. At the same time troops were tendered to the Governor by the States of Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina. The palmetto or South Carolina flag was raised over the post-office and custom-house at Charleston, and the Collector notified that all vessels from and for ports outside of South Carolina must enter and clear at Charleston. While these movements were being made, the streets of Charleston were patrolled by the military, and a censorship was established over the telegraph. The attention of the authorities was earnestly directed to the getting possession of Fort Sumter, occupied by the gallant Anderson and his small but dauntless band, who steadily employed themselves in strengthening the defences of the place, although they saw the batteries of their assailants rapidly rising around them, closing the hope of succor; while their little stock of supplies

John Buchanan Floyd, son of Governor John Floyd, of Virginia. He was born in Virginia, in Isis, and succeeded, in 1850, to the governorship of the State, like his father and grandfather. From 1556 to 1961, he was Secretary of War under Buchanan; resigned December 29th, 1960; be

came a brigadier-general in the Confederate army; suffered reverses in Western Virginia, and escaped from Fort Donelson, Tennessee, when it was surrendered. He saw but little active service after this, and died in 1863.

dwindled rapidly away, notwithstanding the utmost economy and diminishing allowances. As previously related, on the 5th of January, the steamship Star of the West cleared for Havana, and left New York, with stores, for Fort Sumter. In the lower bay she took on board two hundred men with their arms and munitions, and arrived off Charleston Bar at half-past one o'clock a. M. of the 9th. The lights on shore had been removed, and those of the steamer were extinguished, to avoid being seen. A steamboat was on the watch, however, and as the Star of the West passed over the bar, she made signals in shore. The buoys having been removed, the Star of the West made her way with great difficulty. She had the Stars and Stripes floating from her staff; but, when within half a mile of Morris Island, a shore battery opened upon her. She then hoisted a large United States flag at the fore, and continued on, the shot flying over her, until the range seemed to have been got, and one took effect forward, and one amid-ships. It is necessary, in entering Charleston Harbor, to run close to Fort Moultrie, before making Fort Sumter. As the Star of the West proceeded, two steamers near Fort Moultrie got under way, towing an armed schooner, with the evident intention of cutting her off. To reach Sumter, whose guns kept silent, it was necessary to encounter that force, and capture or destruction seemed inevitable. The Star of the West therefore put about and returned to New York.

During this attempt of the Star of the West to run in, her course had been watched by Major Anderson from Fort Sumter. He did not open his guns upon the batteries, because he could not believe the act authorized by the South Carolina authorities, and he was not aware that the vessel fired upon was coming to his relief. He immediately, January 9th, dispatched a message to Governor Pickens, denouncing the act as one of war, and threatening that, unless it was disavowed, he would not permit any vessel to pass within range of the gun of his fort. Governor Pickens, in reply, stated that an attempt, on the part of the United States, to send troops into Charleston Harbor was an act of war, and that special agents had been sent to warn off vessels.

Major Anderson referred the matter to his Government, and requested that Lieutenant T. Talbot, bearer of dispatches, might have facilities extended to him for his departure.

Subsequent to the firing upon the Star of the West, many military events occurred in each of the seceded States. In Florida, Fort Pickens, which had long been unoccupied, was garrisoned by Federal troops, and the garrison, as well as the fleet off that place, supplied with food from time to time by citizens of Pensacola, near which the fort is situated, on Santa Rosa Island. General Bragg, formerly of the United States army, and conspicuous at Buena Vista, but now in command of the Confederate forces at that point, therefore forbade all further communication with the fort or fleet. In Louisiana, the cutter M'Clelland and the cutter Lewiston were both seized. General Dix, on succeeding to the Treasury Department, January 15th, dispatched Mr. Jones, a clerk in the department, to New Orleans to save the cutters if possible. On his arrival, Mr. Jones telegraphed to the department that Captain Breshwood refused to obey any instructions of the

department. The famous order of General Dix* in reply, "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot," thrilled every loyal breast, and gave a stamp of energy to the feeble Government, which had apparently been falling to pieces. In Texas, where General David E. Twiggs held command, the entire military force, comprising about half the army of the United States, all the military posts, and public property to the amount of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, were, February 18th, surrendered to the State authorities. For this shameful act of treason, he was, March 1st, by order of the Secretary of War, dismissed from the service. The revenue-cutter Dodge also surrendered to the State authorities. In Georgia, the arsenal at Augusta, with its contents, was seized; and a quantity of arms on the way from the North for the State having been detained by the New York police, the Government of Georgia, in retaliation, seized a number of New York vessels, which were subsequently released. In addition to these treasonable acts, the following forts were seized by the authorities of the several States in which they were situated: Fort Macon, Beaufort, N. C.; Fort Pulaski, Savannah; Fort Morgan, Mobile Bay; Fort M'Rae, Pensacola; and Forts Jackson, St. Philip, and Pike, near New Orleans; also the arsenals at Fayetteville, N. C., Mobile, Mount Vernon, Ala., and Little Rock, Ark., besides the Navy-Yard at Pensacola. The general attention was, however, fixed upon Charleston, where General Beauregard had been placed by President Davis in command, and where the troops and batteries that surrounded the devoted Anderson continued to multiply. Rumors of the most contradictory character in regard to Fort Sumter continued to circulate; at one time it was asserted that it would be supplied, at another that the order for evacuation was actually signed. The crisis was evidently at hand.

An expedition had meanwhile been fitting out at New York, composed of the steamer Powhattan, eleven guns, several steam-transports and steam-tugs, with about thirty launches; also, the Pawnee, eleven guns, left Washington April 6th, and the Harriet Lane, five guns. These vessels, carrying thirteen hundred and eighty men, under the command of Colonel Harvey Brown, Second Artillery, sailed with sealed orders April 7th. On the following day General Beauregardt telegraphed the Confederate Secretary of War

John Adams Dix, born in New Hampshire. 1798; ensign in the war of 1812; aide to General Brown in 1828, and a lawyer in Cooperstown, New York; 1880, adjutant-general of New York; January, 18, Secretary of State of New York; 1842, member of Assembly; 1945, United States senator; introduced a bill for reciprocal trade with the British Provinces: 1853, assistant United States Treasurer New York City; 1559, postmaster of New York; January, 1961, Secretary of the Treasury; 1861, major general cf volunteers; June. 1961, commander of the military department of Maryland; 1662-63, commander of the Department of Virginia; and 1863-65 of the North, with headquarters in New York.

P. G. Toutant Beuregard was born on his father's plantation near New Orleans, Louisiana. He graduated at West Point in 1838, second-lieutenant

First Artillery, was transferred to the Corps of En-
gincers, and made first-lieutenant in 1839. He
was brevetted captain in August, 1847. for gallant
conduct at Contreras and Churubusco, and major
in September the same year for services at Cha-
pultepec. At the assault on the city of Mexico,
Major Beauregard was wounded. Subsequently
he was placed in charge of the construction of the
mint and custom-house at New Orleans, and of
the fortifications at the mouth of the Mississippi.
At the breaking out of the present war he was
about to be appointed superintendent of the West
Beaure-
Point Academy by President Buchanan.
gard is in the prime of life, being about forty-three
years of age. He was in command of Charleston
Harbor, brigadier-general commanding at the bat-
tle of Bull Run, and commanded at the battle of
Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh. He subsequently

that a messenger from President Lincoln had notified him that Fort Sumter was to be provisioned peaceably or by force. In reply, General Beauregard was ordered to demand the immediate evacuation of the place. On the 10th the fleet appeared off Charleston Harbor. At two o'clock, April 11th, General Beauregard made the demand on Major Anderson to evacuate with arms and personal property. This Major Anderson promptly refused. On the same day, by order of the Confederate Secretary of War, General Beauregard demanded on what day Major Anderson would leave, if unmolested. He replied that he would do so on the 15th, unless he should receive, prior to that time, positive instructions from Government or additional supplies. While it remained uncertain whether the fort would be defended by its garrison in case of an attack, a limited supply of fresh food had been sent to it daily from Charleston; but in the beginning of April this was cut off, and unless speedy relief could be sent, evacuation became only a question of time. General Beauregard replied, April 12th, at half-past three o'clock, A. M., that he should open his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour. Accordingly, on Friday, April 12th, at half-past four o'clock, A. M., a day and hour ever to be remembered in the history of the American Continent, a battery of heavy Columbiads on Sullivan's Island opened upon the fort, from which floated the Stars and Stripes of the Union, and was quickly followed by all the surrounding forts and batteries. The force in the fort comprised the following officers, and men:

When Major Anderson, at half-past three o'clock, received notice that the fire would be opened upon him in an hour, he removed the sentinels from the parapets, closed the posterns, ran up the National ensign, and ordered the troops not to leave the bomb-proofs until summoned by the drums. At half-past four, a bomb from Sullivan's Island burst over the fort, and in a few moments a circle of fire opened upon the devoted band from four large batteries and many smaller ones. One, on Cummings's Point, one thousand six hundred yards distant, on the south, commanded the gorge or rear of the fort. On Sullivan's Island were Fort Moultrie and a new battery of heavy Columbiads and ten-inch mortars, and an iron floating battery of immense strength was anchored between Sumter and Charleston, at a distance of one thousand eight hundred yards. From all these the fire converged upon the fort

held command in South Carolina and Georgia, and year to oppose Sherman in the Southwest. At in the campaigi of 1864 was stationed at Peters- the close of the rebellion he commanded in North burg, whence he went in the latter part of the same | Carolina.