ey demanded. They looked with utter contempt upon
the hard-working men of the North. They determined to rule or ruin.
Every Northern man living at the South was looked upon with suspicion.
Some were tarred and feathered, others hung, and many were killed in
cold blood! No Northern man could open his lips on that subject in the
South. Men of the North could not travel there. The noble astronomer,
Mitchell, the brave general who has laid down his life for his country,
was surrounded by an ignorant, excited mob in Alabama, who were ready to
hang him because he told them he was in favor of the Union. But Southern
orators and political speakers were invited North, and listened to with
respect by the thinking, reasoning people,--the pupils of the common
schools.

Climate, trade, commerce, common schools, and industry have made the
North different from the South; but there was nothing in these to bring
on the war.

When the slaveholders saw that they had lost their power in Congress to
pass laws for the extension of slavery, they determined to secede from
the Union. When the North elected a President who declared himself
opposed to the extension of slavery, they began the war. They stole
forts, arsenals, money, steamboats,--everything they could lay their
hands on belonging to government and individuals,--seceded from the
Union, formed a confederacy, raised an army, and fired the first gun.

They planned a great empire, which should extend south to the Isthmus of
Darien and west to the Pacific Ocean, and made slavery its cornerstone.
They talked of conquering the North. They declared that the time would
come when they would muster their slaves on Bunker Hill, when the
laboring men of the North, "with hat in hand, should stand meekly before
them, their masters."[2]

[Footnote 2: Richmond Enquirer.]

They besieged Fort Sumter, fired upon the ships sent to its relief,
bombarded the fort and captured it. To save their country, their
government, all that was dear to them, to protect their insulted,
time-honored flag, the men of the North took up arms.

CHAPTER II.

THE GATHERING OF A GREAT ARMY.

The Rebels began the war by firing upon Fort Sumter. You remember how
stupefying the news of its surrender. You could not at first believe
that they would fire upon the Stars and Stripes,--the flag respected and
honored everywhere on earth. When there was no longer a doubt that they
had begun hostilities, you could not ha