Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/56

30 don't know about that. They have a good many men down there, and they have seen to it that they are pretty well provided with guns and cannon. I read of it in the papers."

"But they can't stand up against us," put in another man. "We will soon knock the spots out of 'em."

"Don't you be too sure of that," came from an old soldier who sat near the door, on a cracker barrel. "I fought alongside of some of those fellows in 1812, and in the Mexican War, and I tell you they can fight just as well as any of us. If war comes, it will be a long and bloody one, mark my words."

The news concerning Fort Sumter proved true. "The shot that was heard around the world" was fired on Friday, April 12, 1861. The cannonading was fast and furious, and Major Anderson, in command of the fort, could do little either to defend himself or in retaliation. The Unionists held the quarters for thirty-four hours and then accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard, and marched from the place a few hours later.