of the United States, should be paid
for by the State, and an agent was sent to Washington to arrange for
the purchase.

"Meanwhile, scenting grave trouble, troops were being enlisted and
drilled, and Major Anderson, fearing that if the agent did not succeed
in making the purchase the forts would be taken by force, cut down the
flagstaff and spiked the guns at Fort Moultrie, and moved his men to
Fort Sumter, which stood on an island in the harbor and could be more
easily defended, and so the matter stood when Mr. Lincoln was
inaugurated, March 4, 1861."

Fort Sumter was now in a state of siege. Anderson and his men could
get no food from Charleston, while the troops of the Confederacy had
planted cannon with which they could at any time fire on the fort.
Either the troops must very soon go away or food must be sent them.
Mr. Lincoln decided to send food. But when the vessels with food, men
and supplies reached Charleston, they found that the Confederates had
already begun to fire on Fort Sumter. Then, as Major Anderson related:
"Having defended the Fort for thirty-four hours, until the quarters
were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire ... the
magazine surrounded by flame, and its doors closed from the effects of
heat, four barrels and three cartridges only being available, and no
provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered
by General Beauregard ... and marched out of the Fort, Sunday the 14th
instant, with colors flying and drums beating."

When the news of the fall of Sumter reached the North, the people knew
that all hope of a peaceable settlement of the dispute with the South
was gone. Mr. Lincoln at once called for 75,000 soldiers to serve for
three months, and the first gun of the Civil War had been fired.

While these momentous events were stirring both North and South, Betty
Van Lew, in her Richmond home, was experiencing the delights of young
womanhood in a city celebrated for its gaiety of social life. "There
were balls and receptions in the great house, garden-parties in the
wonderful garden, journeyings to the White Sulphur Springs, and other
resorts of the day, in the coach drawn by six snowy horses," and all
sorts of festivities for the young and light-hearted. Even in a city
as noted for charming women as was Richmond, Betty Van Lew enjoyed an
enviable popularity. To be invited to the mansion on the hill was the
great delight of her many acquaintances, while mor