The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-12
"The Twelfth of April

To the present generation concern
 ed with an even greater struggle than 1 that which involved the United States !
 in the eos, the twelfth of April has no
 special significance, but to the few
 survivors of the multitudes who wore l
 the blue and the gray the date recalls l
 the beginning of the great conflict in
 which they participated. It was on
 April 12, 1861, that Fort Sumter was
 fired on, and the hopes of those who
 were working for a peaceful solution
 were blasted.
 It is noteworthy at this time to re-
 call that Lincoln, up to the last mo- 1
 ment. ardently hoped that peace
 might be maintained. On the day
 that he was inaugurated, March 4, l 1861, letter was received at the War department from Major Ander- son, the commander of Fort Sumter, expressing the opinion that rhe Charleston defenses could not be held except with "a force of not less than 2,000 good and well-disciplined men" Those who doubt the ability of the United States to raise a sufficient army to defend itself at the present time should consider the condition of affairs at the outbreak of the civil
 war. The Washington government. in spite of the fact that war had been threatening for months, did not have at !hand the 2,O0O men that Ander- son asked for, nor could they be rais- ed and taken to Charleston before the supplies of Fort Sumter's defenders would be exhausted.
 + President Lincoln, anxious for peace, declared for the abandonment of the fort, and the cabinet agreed with him almost to a mah The President sent for member of the Virginia convention, a professed Un- ion man, and told him that if the convention would adjourn and cease to menace the government, he would
 at once order the abandonment of Fort Sumter. This request was re- fused, and Lincoln was told that the United States must immediately evac- 1 uate the fort, without conditions It was not until the demand was made upon him that he recognized ] the provisional Confederate govern ment as sovereign power that Lin- 1 coin abandoned his attitude of con- | ciliation ad '4watchful waiting" He was forced to the reluctant conclu-
 sion that, as he said, "It may be nec-
 essary to put the foot down hard.'' When he had reached that decision he l overruled the objections of his nili- 1 tary advisers and fitted out an expe-a
 dition to carry provisions to the faithful seventy at Fort Sumter. The
 vessels carrying this relief were ap- preaching Charleston when the South Carolina forces were ordered to at 1 tack Sumter. The fort was battered
 to pieces by shot and shell, and the 4 little garrison, helpless from lack of I food but practically unharmed, evac- I uated the ruined structure.
 ] It is we'll to recall that the patient President who, before the war, was l criticized for his "vacillation and tim idity," never once faltered in his pur-
 pose once he had entered the struggle, l and that the nation which could not l send 2,000 men to Fort Sumter was able during the war to call to the
 military service of the government e. 656,553 men.
 The lesson of Fort Sumter is one which the German Emperor might have studied with benefit to himself
 It is that the most patient of men
 may find it necessary to put the 1 foot down hard.''