n breach of the Constitution. From the moment Abraham Lincoln
proclaimed a war without the act of Congress, from that moment he became
a dictator and a despot who deliberately sought to destroy their
liberties.

The cause of the South not only meant the defense of their homes from
foreign invasion; it became a holy crusade for the reestablishment of
Constitutional freedom.

Virginia immediately seceded from the Union by the vote of the same men
who had refused to secede but a few weeks before. The old flag fell from
its staff on her Capitol and the new symbol of Southern unity was
unfurled in its place. As if by magic the new flag fluttered from every
hill, housetop and window, while crowds surged through the streets
shouting and waving it aloft. Cannon boomed its advent and cheering
thousands saluted it.

A great torchlight parade illumined the streets on April 19. In this
procession walked the men who a week ago had marched through Franklin
Street waving the old flag of the Union and shouting themselves hoarse
in their determination to uphold it. They had signed the ordinance of
secession with streaming eyes, but they signed it with firm hands, and
sent their sons to the muster fields next day.

Augusta County, a Whig and Union center, and Rockingham, an equally
strong Democratic Union county, each contributed fifteen hundred
soldiers to the new cause. Women not only began to prepare the equipment
for their men, but many of them began to arm and practice themselves.
Boys from ten to fourteen were daily drilling. In Petersburg three
hundred free negroes offered their services to fight or to ditch and
dig.

The bitterness of the answers of the Southern Governors from the Border
States yet in the Union amazed the President at Washington.

His demand for troops was refused in tones of scorn and defiance.

Governor Magoffin of Kentucky replied:

"The State will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her
sister Southern States."

Governor Harris telegraphed from Nashville:

"The State of Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but
fifty thousand if necessary for the defense of her rights."

The message of Governor Ellis of North Carolina was equally emphatic:

"I will be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of our
country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people."

Governor Rector of Arkansas replied:

"Your demand adds insult to injury."

Governor Jackson