oon as notice of this intention was sent to Governor
Pickens of South Carolina, the Confederate commander at Charleston,
General Beauregard (bo-ruh-gar'), demanded the surrender of the fort.
Major Anderson stoutly refused to comply with the demand, and at dawn on
the morning of April 12, 1861, the Confederates fired the first gun at
Sumter. During the next thirty-four hours, nineteen batteries poured
shot and shell into the fort, which steadily returned the fire. Then
both food and powder were nearly exhausted, and part of the fort being
on fire, Anderson surrendered; and on Sunday, April 14, 1861, he marched
out, taking with him the tattered flag under which he made so gallant a
fight.[1] The fleet sent to his aid arrived in time to see the battle,
but did not give him any help. After the surrender, one of the ships
carried Anderson and the garrison to New York.[2]

[Footnote 1: "Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until
the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the
gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and
its door closed from the effect of heat, four barrels and three
cartridges of powder being available, and no provisions remaining but
pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard . . .
and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with
colors flying and drums beating . . . and saluting my flag with fifty
guns."--_Major Anderson to the Secretary of War._]

[Footnote 2: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol. I., pp.
60-73.]

%426. The Life of the Republic at Stake%.--Thus was begun the
greatest war in modern history. It was no vulgar struggle for territory,
or for maritime or military supremacy. The life of the Union was at
stake. The questions to be decided were: Shall there be one or two
republics on the soil of the United States? Shall the great principle of
all democratic-republican government, the principle that the will of the
majority shall rule, be maintained or abandoned? Shall state sovereignty
be recognized? Shall states be suffered to leave the Union at will, or
shall the United States continue to exist as "an indestructible Union of
indestructible States"? As Mr. Lincoln said, "Both parties deprecated
war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive;
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish."

%427. The South better prepared%.--For the struggle whi