HEAD-QUARTERS, FORT SUMTER, 8. C., 2.30 A. M., April 12, 1861. GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your second communication of the 11th inst., by Col. Chesnut, and to state, in reply, that cordially uniting with you in the desire to avoid the useless effusion of blood, I will, if provided with the proper and necessary means of transportation, evacuate Fort Sumter by noon on the 15th instant, should I not receive, prior to that time, controlling instructions from my Government, or additional supplies; and that I will not, in the mean time, open my fire upon your forces, unless compelled to do so by some hostile act against this fort, or the flag of my Government, by the forces under your command, or by some portion of them, or by the perpetration of some act showing a hostile intention on your part against this fort, or the flag it bears.

I have the honor to be, General,

Your obedient servant, ROBERT ANDERSON, Major U. S. Army Commanding. To Brig. Gen. G. T. BEAUREGARD, Commanding Provisional Army C. S. A.

At thirty minutes past 4 o'clock on the morning of Friday, April 12, the first gun of civil war was fired, discharging a shell from the howitzer battery on James' Island. The sending of this deadly messenger to Major Anderson was followed by a deafening explosion, caused by the blowing up of a building that stood in front of the battery.

While the white smoke was melting away into the air another shell pursued its swift way towards the silent fortification. The missive described its beautiful curve through the balmy air, and falling within the hostile fortress, scattered its deadly contents in all directions.

Fort Moultrie then took up the assault, and in a moment the guns from the Gun Battery on Cummings' Point, from Captain McCready's Battery, from Captain James Hamilton's Floating Battery, the Enfilade Battery, and other fortifications, sent forth their wrath at the grim fortress rising so defiantly out of the sea.

Major Anderson received the shot and shell in silence. But the deepening twilight revealed the stars and stripes floating proudly in the breeze. The batteries continued at regular intervals to belch forth iron shells, and still no answer was returned by the besieged. About an hour after the firing began, two balls rushed hissing through the air and glanced harmless from the stuccoed bricks of Fort Moultrie. The embrasures of the besieged fortress gave forth no sound again till between six and seven o'clock, when, as if wrathful from enforced delay, from casemate and parapet there poured a Iron Battery, and the Floating Battery. The storm of iron hail upon Fort Moultrie, Stevens' broadside was returned with spirit by the gunners at those posts.

The firing now began in good earnest. The curling white smoke hung above the angry pieces of hostile brothers, and the jarring boom rolled at regular intervals on the anxious ear. The atmosphere was charged with the smell of foul saltpetre, and, as if in sympathy with the melancholy scene, the sky was covered with heavy clouds, and every thing wore a sombre aspect.

A brisk fire was kept up by all the batteries until about 7 o'clock in the evening, after which hour the guns fired at regular intervals.

The effect during the night was grand and terrific. The firing reached its climax at about ten o'clock. The heavens were obscured by rain-clouds, and the horizon was as dark as Erebus. The guns were worked with vigor, and their booming was heard with astonishing distinctness, because the wind was blowing in-shore. At each discharge a lurid sheet of flame was belched forth, and then another and another was seen before the report reached the ears. Sometimes a shell would burst in midair, directly over the doomed fortress, and at all times the missiles of this character could be distinguished in their course by the trail of fire left momentarily behind them.

The fire from all the forts, Sumter included, and from the batteries of the Confederate States, was kept up with vigor till early dawn. Then the rapidity of the discharges gradually diminished.

Such was the appearance of the contest during the first day and night.

The batteries firing upon Sumter were, as nearly as could be ascertained, armed as follows:

42-pounders; 1 12-pounder, Blakely rifled gun. On Morris' Island.-Breaching battery No. 1, 2 Mortar battery, (next to No. 1,) 4 10-inch mortars. Breaching battery No. 2, (iron-clad battery,) 3 8-inch columbiads.

Mortar battery, (next to No. 2,) 3 10-inch mortars. On James' Island.-Battery at Fort Johnson, 3 24pounders, (only one of them bearing on Fort Sumter.) Mortar battery, south of Fort Johnson, 4 10-inch mortars.

Sullivan's Island.-Iron-clad (floating) battery, 4 42-pounders.

Columbiad battery No. 1, 1 9-inch Dahlgren gun.
Columbiad battery No. 2, 4 8-inch columbiads.

Mortar battery, west of Fort Moultrie, 3 10-inch mortars.

Mortar battery, on parade, in rear of Fort Moultrie, 210-inch mortars.

Fort Moultrie.-8 8-inch columbiads; 2 8-inch S. C. howitzers; 5 32-pounders; 4 24-pounders.

At Mount Pleasant.-1 10-inch mortar. Total, firing on Fort Sumter, 30 guns, 17 mortars. Of the 43 workmen constituting the engineer force in Fort Sumter, nearly all volunteered to serve as cannoniers, or to carry shot and cartridges to the guns.

The armament of the fort was as follows:

Barbette Tier-Right flank-1 10-inch columbiad; 4 8-inch columbiads; 4 42-pounders. Right face.-None.

Left face.-8 8-inch sea-coast howitzers; 1 32pounder.

Left flank.-1 10-inch columbiad; 2 8-inch columbiads; 2 42-pounders.

Gorge.-18-inch sea-coast howitzer; 232-pounders;

6 24-pounders.

Total in barbette, 27 guns.

men-of-war were seen off the bar, and soon after, a third appeared.

The effect of the fire was not very good, owing to the insufficient calibre of the guns for the long range, and not much damage appeared to be done to any of the batteries except those of Fort Moultrie, where the two 42-pounders appeared to have silenced the gun for a time, to have injured the embrasures considerably, riddled the barracks and quarters, and torn three holes through the flag. The so-called "floating battery " was struck very frequently between the front and roof, entirely through by shot, one of them penetrating at the angle the iron covering and wood work beneath, and wounding one man. The rest of the 32-pounder balls failed to penetrate the front or the roof, but were deflected from their surfaces, which were arranged at a suitable angle for this purpose.

The columbiad battery and Dahlgren bat

pounders.

Right face.-3 49-pounders.
Left face.-10 32-pounders.
Left flank.-5 32-pounders.
Gorge.-2 32-pounders.

Total in casemate, 21 guns. Total available in both tiers, 48 guns.

Besides the above, there were arranged on the parade, to serve as mortars, 1 10-inch columbiad to throw shells into Charleston, and 4 8-inch columbiads to throw shells into the batteries on Cummings' Point. The casemate guns were the only ones used. Of these, those that bore on Cummings' Point were the 42-pounder in the pan-coupé of the right gorge angle; the 32-pounder next to it on the gorge, which, by cutting into the brick wall, had been made to traverse sufficiently; and the 32-pounder next the angle on the right flank, which, by cutting away the side of the embrasure, had been made to bear on a portion of the point, although not on the breaching batteries.

The guns of the first tier, that bore on Fort Johnson, were 4 32-pounders, on the left flank; of these one embrasure had been, by order, bricked up.

The guns that bore on the three batteries on the west end of "Sullivan's Island" were 10 32-pounders, situated on the left face, and one at the pan-coupé of the salient angle, (four embrasures being bricked up.)

The guns bearing on Fort Moultrie were 2 42-pounders, situated on the right face, and one at the pan-coupé of the right shoulder angle.

The supply of cartridges, seven hundred in number, with which the engagement commenced, became so much reduced by the middle of the day, although the six needles in the fort were kept steadily employed, that the firing was forced to slacken, and to be confined to six guns, two firing towards Morris' Island, two towards Fort Moultrie, and two towards the

batteries on the west end of Sullivan's Island.

At 1 o'clock on the 12th, two United States

to be much injured by the few shots that were fired at them. Only one or two shots were fired at Fort Johnson, and none at Castle Pinckney or the city.

The fire towards Morris' Island was mainly directed at the iron-clad battery, but the small calibre of the shot failed to penetrate the covering when struck fairly. The aim was therefore taken at the embrasures, which were struck at least twice, disabling the guns for a time. One or two shots were thrown at the reverse of batteries "3" and "4," scattering some groups of officers and men on the lookout, and cutting down a small flagstaff on one of the batteries.

The barracks caught fire three times during the day, from shells apparently, but each time the flames, being in the first or second stories, were extinguished by a pump and application of the means at hand.

The effect of the Confederate fire upon Fort Sumter during the day was very marked in respect to the vertical fire. This was so well directed and so well sustained, that from the seventeen mortars engaged in firing 10-inch shells, one-half the shells came within or exploded above the parapet of the fort, and only about ten buried themselves in the soft earth of the parade, without exploding. In consequence of this precision of vertical fire, Major Anderson decided not to man the upper tier of guns.

Saturday dawned a bright and lovely day, but the flags of each of the combatants were still flying in stately defiance, and the cannon continued to send forth their fiery thunder. Within Fort Sumter, the last of the rice was cooked that morning, and served with the pork, the only other article of food left in the messroom. After this the fire was reopened, and continued very briskly as long as the increased supply of cartridges lasted. The surrounding batteries had reopened fire at daylight, and continued it with rapidity. The aim of their guns was better than on the previous day.

It soon became evident that they were firing

hot shot from a large number of their guns, especially from those in Fort Moultrie; and at nine o'clock volumes of smoke issued from the roof of the officers' quarters, where a shot had just penetrated. From the exposed position, it was utterly impossible to extinguish the flames, and permission was given to remove as much powder from the magazine as was possible, before the flames, which were only one set of quarters distant, should encircle the magazine and make it necessary to close it. All the men and officers not engaged at the guns worked rapidly and zealously at this; but so rapid was the spread of the flames that only fifty barrels of powder could be taken out and distributed around in the casemates before the fire and heat made it necessary to close the magazine doors and pack earth against them. The men then withdrew to the casemates on the faces of the fort. As soon as the flames and smoke burst from the roof of the quarters, the surrounding batteries redoubled the rapidity of their fire, firing red-hot shot from most of their guns. The whole range of officers' quarters was soon in flames. The wind, being from the southward, communicated fire to the roof of the barracks, and this, being aided by the hot shot constantly lodging there, spread to the entire roofs of both barracks, so that by twelve o'clock all the wood work of quarters and of upper story of barracks was in flames. Although the floors of the barracks were fire-proof, the utmost exertions of the officers and men were often required to prevent the fire communicating down the stairways, and from the exterior to the doors, window-frames, and other wood work of the east barrack, in which the officers and men had taken their quarters.

The clouds of smoke and cinders which were sent into the casemates by the wind, set on fire many boxes, beds, and other articles belonging to the men, and made it dangerous to retain the powder which had been saved from the magazine. Orders were accordingly given that all but five barrels should be thrown out of the embrasures into the water, which was done.

The small stock of cartridges now only allowed a gun to be fired at intervals of ten minutes.

As the fire reached the magazines of grenades that were arranged in the stair towers and implement rooms on the gorge, they exploded, completely destroying the stair towers at the west gorge angle.

About this time information was brought to the commanding officer that Mr. Wigfall, bearing a white flag, was on the outside and wished to see him. He accordingly went out to meet Mr. Wigfall, passing through the blazing gateway, accompanied by Lieutenant Snyder. In the mean time, however, Mr. Wigfall had passed to an embrasure on the left flank, where, upon showing the white flag upon his sword, he was permitted to enter; and Lieutenant Snyder, entering immediately after, accompanied him down the batteries to where some other officers

were posted, to whom Mr. Wigfall commenced to address himself to the effect that he came from General Beauregard to desire that, inasmuch as the flag of the fort was shot down, a fire raging in the quarters, and the garrison in a great strait, hostilities be suspended, and the white flag raised for this object. He was replied to that the flag was again hoisted on the parapet; that the white flag would not be hoisted, except by order of the commanding officer; and that his own batteries should set the example of suspending fire. He then referred to the fact of the batteries on Cummings' Point, from which he came, having stopped firing, and asked that his own white flag might be waved to indicate to the batteries on Sullivan's Island to cease also. This was refused; but he was permitted to wave the white flag himself, getting into an embrasure for this purpose. Having done this for a few moments, Lieutenant Davis, First Artillery, permitted a corporal to relieve him. Very soon, however, a shot striking very near to the embrasure, the corporal jumped inside and declared to Mr. Wigfall that "he would not hold his flag, for it was not respected."

At this moment, the commanding officer, having reentered through an embrasure, came up. To him Mr. Wigfall addressed nearly the same remarks that he had used on entering, adding some complimentary things about the manner in which the defence had been made, and ending by renewing the request to suspend hostilities in order to arrange terms of evacuation. The commanding officer desiring to know what terms he came to offer, Mr. Wigfall replied: "Any terms that you may desire; your own terms-the precise nature of which General Beauregard will arrange with you."

The commanding officer then accepted the conditions, saying that the terms he accepted were those proposed by General Beauregard on the 11th; namely, to evacuate the fort with his command, taking arms and all private and company property, saluting the United States flag as it was lowered, and being conveyed, if he desired it, to any Northern port.

With this understanding Mr. Wigfall left, and the white flag was raised and the United States flag lowered by order of the commanding officer.

Very soon after, a boat arrived from the city, containing three aides of General Beauregard, with a message to the effect that, observing the white flag hoisted, General Beauregard sent to inquire what aid he could lend in extinguishing the flames, &c. Being made acquainted with the condition of affairs and Mr. Wigfall's visit, they stated that the latter, although an aide of General Beauregard, had not seen him for two days.

The commanding officer then stated that the United States flag would be raised again; but yielded to the request of the aides for time to report to their chief and obtain his instructions.

They soon returned with the approval of all the conditions desired, except the saluting the flag as it was lowered; and this exception was subsequently removed after correspondence. The evacuation was completed after saluting the flag; in doing which, one man was instantly killed, one mortally and four severely wounded, by the premature discharge of a gun and explosion of a pile of cartridges.

After the cessation of fire, about 600 shot marks on the face of the scarp wall were counted, but they were so scattered that no breached effect could have been expected from such fire, and probably none was attempted except at the right gorge angle. The only effect of the direct fire during the two days was to disable three barbette guns, knock off large portions of the chimneys and brick walls projecting above the parapet, and to set the quarters on fire with hot shot. The vertical fire produced more effect, as it prevented the working of the upper tier of guns, which were the only really effective guns in the fort, being columbiads, 8-inch sea-coast howitzers, and 42-pounders principally, and also prevented the use of the columbiads arranged in the parade to be used as mortars against Cummings' Point.

The weakness of the defence principally lay in the lack of cartridge bags, and of the materials to make them, by which the fire of the fort was all the time rendered slow, and toward the last was nearly suspended.

The contest continued thirty-two hours, and the weapons used were of the most destructive character, and in skilful hands, but no life appears to have been lost on either side.

The garrison was taken by the steamer Isabel to the Baltic, which lay off the harbor, and thence transported to New York. The naval force and supplies which had been sent to the relief of the fort by the Government, arrived

off Charleston harbor previous to the commencement of the assault, but were prevented from entering the harbor by a gale of wind, until after the attack began. The vessels, however, continued outside, and there was no communication between them and the fort.

The force and supplies thus sent by the Gov ernment were composed as follows:

Vessels.

Sloop-of-war Pawnee,
Sloop-of-war Powhatan,
Cutter Harriet Lane,
Steam transport Atlantic,
Steam transport Baltic,

steam transport Illinois,

Steamtug Yankee,
Steamtug Uncle Ben,

Total number of vessels,

Total number of guns (for marine service), Total number of men and troops,

Nearly thirty launches, whose services are useful in effecting a landing of troops over shoal water, and for attacking a discharging battery when covered with sand and gunny bags, were taken out by the Powhatan, and by the steam transports Atlantic, Baltic, and Illinois. The official notification of the surrender of the fort, sent by Major Anderson to the War Department, was as follows:

STEAMSHIP BALTIC, off Sandy Hook, April 18, 1861-10:30 A. M., via New York. Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, until the quarters were entirely burnt, the main gates the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door

closed from the effects of heat; four barrels and three cartridges of powder only being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of the same offered by him on the 11th instant, prior to evacuation offered by General Beauregard-being the commencement of hostilities-and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating, bringing away company and private property, and saluting my flag with fifty guns. ROBERT ANDERSON, Major First Artillery Commanding. Hon. SIMON CAMERON, Sec'y of War, Washington.

WHAT was the posture of affairs at the time of President Lincoln's inauguration, especially as compared with their situation on the day of election in November? Seven Southern States had voted themselves out of the Union, the officers of the Federal Government had resigned, and there were no persons to represent its powers or execute its duties within their limits, excepting in the Post-Office Department. Within these States, also, all the forts, arsenals, dockyards, custom-houses, revenue cutters, etc., embracing all the movable and stationary articles connected therewith, had been taken possession of by the authority of

these States individually, and were held by persons and officers denying any allegiance to the Federal Government, and avowing it to be due by them only to a Government created by the united action of these seven States. Only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, near the Florida coast, and Sumter, in Charleston harbor, continued under the flag of the Union.

The other forts thus seized were put in an improved condition, new ones built, and armed forces had been organized, and were organizing, avowedly to protect this property from recapture, and to capture those not yet seized. Around Fort Sumter batteries had been erected,

with guns equal or heavier in calibre than hers, and in far greater number. Officers of the army and navy of the Union from these States, had chiefly resigned, and had been reappointed in the service of the latter. A complete Government for a nation was in operation in these States, and the property thus seized was held, as the new Government avowed, to be accounted for in a peaceful settlement with the Federal Union, or to be used for the defence of those States, if assaulted by the same Union. They asked for peace, and to be "let alone," but were determined to hazard a war sooner than return to their former allegiance.

Among the other States, Kentucky made an application to Congress to call a National Convention to amend the Constitution of the United States, and requested the Legislatures of all the other States to make similar applications, and appointed commissioners to a conference of the Border States to consider and, if practicable, agree upon some suitable adjustment of the present unhappy controversies. Some of the States of the North appointed commissioners to this conference, which agreed upon terms for an adjustment, but no State action followed. Not a single slaveholding State complied with the request of Kentucky to apply to Congress to call a National Convention, whilst three nonslaveholding States so complied, and several others prepared to follow.

A Peace Conference was called by Virginia, in which twenty States were represented. Such measures would have been recommended as were desired by the seceding States if they had been present by their votes to secure their adoption. Three territorial bills were passed by Congress, in no one of which was inserted the prohibition of slavery as insisted upon hitherto by the Republicans. The North condemned the personal liberty bills of the States, declared in favor of a faithful execution of the fugitive slave law, and concurred in proposing, by the requisite constitutional majority, an amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing positively and forever the exemption of slavery in the States from the interference of Congress. This was one of the guarantees embraced in the scheme of Mr. Crittenden, and also in the scheme of the Peace Conference.

Rhode Island repealed its personal liberty law outright, whilst Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin had under consideration the repeal or essential modification of their respective laws of this description. Not less than a quarter of a million of the people of the North, besides societies and representative bodies without number, petitioned Congress for the adoption of any adjustment satisfactory to the States of the Southern border.

The attack on Fort Sumter began on the 12th. The fort surrendered on the afternoon

of the 13th, and was evacuated on Sunday, the 14th. As the news flashed over the country by the telegraph it was instantly followed by

the summons of the President, "to arms; to arms." His proclamation, ordering seventy-five thousand men into the field, was issued on the night of the 14th, as follows:

By the President of the United States.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to several States of the Union, to the aggregate number call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed.

municated to the State authorities through the War The details for this object will be immediately comDepartment.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular Government, and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the

country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse and retire peacea bly to their respective abodes within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress.

Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective Chambers, at 12 o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine and interest may seem to demand. such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand [L. S.] eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

A call for troops was issued by the Secretary of War, Mr. Cameron, in accordance with this proclamation, and sent to the Governors of the respective States, giving the quotas allotted to each, as follows:

DEPARTMENT OR WAR, WASHINGTON, April 15, 1861. To His Excellency the Governor of · -:

SIR: Under the act of Congress for calling for the "Militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress

insurrections, repel invasions," etc., approved Febcellency to cause to be immediately detached from ruary 28, 1795, I have the honor to request your Ex. the militia of your State the quota designated in the