The Blue and The Gray

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earth, and every heart was glad that the long winter was over, and the charms of outdo

nd bitterly in politics and churches, and through the columns of the press, had come to a focus, and dread murmurs were abroad, of a

ize two South Carolina forts, Moultrie

s to help him hold that fort. This request offended the Southern members of Congress, who construed it into an insult, and demanded his rem

oss the harbor. This fort could not be approached by land, and, consequently, from this fact, was deemed more secure against any opposing force. The undertaking was a dangerous one. The harbor was full of guard

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covered, and the fort, whose defense rendered the gallant Anderson immortal, was occupied by hi

ge 20. Its carriage is broken, and it was thus rendered usel

ng Messrs. James M. Mason of Virginia and John Slidell of Louisiana to London and Paris with the hope that their claims would be recognized. Henry Ward B

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ations for keeping them in the Union were made by the general government, they commenced hostilities, and the first gun of the war was fired by the Confederates under General Beauregard on the morning of

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es and the first reply on the part of the Union was made b

e 14th of April, 1861, General Ro

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he first expedition projected for this purpuse was fitted out near Fortress Monroe and was under the command of Flag Officer Silas H. Stringh

Why had they done it? What did it mean? And when, in consequence of this act, President Lincoln ordered them to disperse within twenty day

and boys and old men pressed on, side by side, willing to

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erly reared, went forth from his home, never aga

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g and passionate appeals to the people w

ne to the front. Many an article found its way to the army that was useful, and when blood had been spill

rouse the spirit of the South. They had orators in their midst, whose tones swayed them, and they, too,

to shoulder with the humblest, clad in the gray, all equa

, and the blood tingled in his veins as he listened to stirring arguments day by day, and saw one after ano

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s as keen, his brain as clear, his arm as strong to do

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loving, gentle and shrinking, and when he urged her to let him go, her answer was-"Ralph, you know not what you ask. Do you forget that I am a Southern woman, whose childhoods days were spent

id you not love my father so dearly that you left your home and

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she said softly to herself, "and I honor his memory. What shall I do?-I canno

th have fired upon our forts in Charleston harbor, and driven the garrison away. I, too, am a Souther

a cruel and unnatural alternative. Why, they will be firing upon their own people-

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it seemed to her unnatural for him to be so ready to take up arms against "her people," and he respected her too deeply to wound her willingly. That mother had been gently born, and when she met the young Northern lawyer, she had loved him from the

d mother's prejudices by joining the Federal forces? On the one hand he felt that he, too, was Southern in feeling and in birth. His father was a Northern man, and he would uphold the old flag; b

alone. One of his schoolmates had the proud distinction of having an uncle who was a commission

timidly, "may I

h his doubts, his desire to do what was right, his mother's objecti

is hand kindly on

ing for me to decide for you. Try and work out the proper an

was ready to enlist on whichever side called him. On one hand was his mother and her early teachings, on the other his dea

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d to join the Union army. His mother saw that he believ

d face: "Ralph, you are only seventeen. You have never been away from your home, and know nothing about hardships and privat

chances with the rest. I want to go with the other boys. Eddie Downing

three or four years older than you. There are plenty of me

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udest mother in the land, to think you sent your boy away. I

her reluctant consent, and though many a bitter tear was shed in the

mfort of the boy who was to leave them so soon. His sisters wept conti

o not worry about me. I shall do my duty. This war can't last long. Then

e was enrolled as a soldier. Although his youth was at first objected to, his

the "militia," who simply paraded on the open green, or turned out on dress occasions, with the curious for an audience, who would wat

and his belt with its bayonet buckled around him, he looked so manly that a thrill of pride

d him. His beloved mother stood in the doorway, her hands pressed over her face, while she strove to keep back the choking sobs, as she bade her boy

rn, as mothers and sisters bade farewell to the boys in blue and gr

ons in camp, wearing the blue uniform, with its

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were upon him. He had taken an important step, and he would show his

otism, and the "boys in blue" were the recipients of perpetual admiration. Every move they made was noticed and approved, and i

ups and plates rattled in a most discordant fashion. Then the drill began; first with musket and rifle, and then with the bayonet. A bayonet charge was a fierce reminder of the real thing. When men meet the enemy with fixed bayonets, a dreadful slaugh

hile many of the older men grumbled at this work, he kept on, l

hole when you're caught out in the field. "We don't know how soon we may be sent to the fron

ist in some grand sortie, and be mentioned in the dispatches as "the gallant private of Company K-- Mass. Volunteers, whose valor turned the tide and carried the day?" Then probably he would be summoned before the com

are in no danger of starving here in camp,

(here he made a wry face), rice and hard tack? If we get enough of the

n bunks, with plenty of straw for a bed, and o

id Harvey Phillips. "Overcoats doubled up

t present. Wait till we go into a battle. Perhaps we'll come out

to his heart's content. "War looks very pretty on paper, with the big fellows at Washington moving the men like they're at a chessboard, but wait till the

are no three months' men. We enlisted for

organize an army, and keep its various parts in trim. We don't usually go out to fight the enemy with only a fl

f all these matte

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supplies-blankets for the men, medicines for the sick and transportation for th

he f

who do the fighting. The quartermasters have excitement and danger en

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is a s

rry things to sell to the soldiers. He furnishes them at hi

a sol

kes good care not to interfere in any skirmishes going

s to war to

m. Still, he's generally a good sort of a fellow. He's obliging and always willing to trust a man. Often the boys help

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