f the Secessionists. They for a time gave themselves
up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. The South now generally
looked upon the Confederacy as already established. The Confederate
flag floated over Sumter in place of the Stars and Stripes. At
the Catholic cathedral in Charleston a _Te Deum_ was celebrated
with great pomp, and the Episcopal bishop there attributed the
event to the "infinite mercy of God, who specially interposed His
hand in behalf of _their_ righteous cause."

The taking of Sumter was undoubtedly the most significant event of
the age. The achievement was bloodless; not a man was killed or
a drop of blood spilled by a hostile shot, yet in inaugurated a
war that freed four millions of God's people.(21)

Montgomery, the temporary Capital of the Confederacy, wildly
celebrated the event as the first triumph.

Bloodless was Sumter; but the war it opened was soon to swallow up
men by the thousand.

Fort Pickens, in Pensacola Harbor, now only remained in the possession
of the United States of all the forts or strongholds in the seceded
South.

This fortification was taken possession of by Lieut. A. J. Slemmer
of the United States Army, and though in great danger of being
attacked and taken, it was successfully reinforced on April 23,
1861, and never fell into Confederate hands. At a special session
of the Confederate Congress at Montgomery (May 21, 1861), Richmond,
Virginia, was made the Capital of the Confederacy, and the Congress
adjourned to meet there.

Howell Cobb (late Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury), the
President of this Congress, with some of the truth of prophecy
defiantly said:

"We have made all the necessary arrangements to meet the present
crisis. Last night we adjourned to meet in Richmond on the 20th
of July. I will tell you why we did this. The 'Old Dominion,' as
you know, has at last shaken off the bonds of Lincoln, and joined
her noble Southern sisters. Her soil is to be the battle-ground,
and her streams are to be dyed with Southern blood. We felt that
her cause was our cause, and that if she fell we wanted to die by
her."

How was the news of the failure to reinforce Sumter, and of its
being fired on and taken possession of by a rebellious people,
received in the North? The evacuation of Fort Sumter was known in
Washington and throughout the country almost as soon as at Charleston.
Hostilities could no longer be averted, save by the ignominious
surrender