Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/327

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��CHAPTER XXII.

THE WAR OF THE* REBELLION.

Commencement of the War — First News in Mansfield — Public Meetings — Maj. McLaughlin and the First Company — Departure for Columbus — Miller Moody's Company — The Fifteenth and Six- teenth Regiments in the Field — Their Return — Capt. M. R. Dickey's Company — Capt. A. C. Cummins' Company — Other Companies — Return of the Three-Months Troops.

��THE tirst gun tired on Fort Sumter sent its reverberations around the world. Not an inland hamlet in the whole United States existed without its influence an hour after it occurred. Telegraph wires flashed the news to all railroad towns ; expresses were sent on foot and on horseback to all interior towns ; neigh- bor hastened to tell it to neighbor, and thus, almost before evening of the same day, all parts of the Union felt the news and pi'epared to act. The nation was attacked, and it should be defended.

The bombardment of Sumter began April 12, 1861. January H preceding, the insurgents had attacked a vessel — '-Star of the West" — when on its way to the fort, and even then the surrender of the fort was demanded. By the 12th of April, the rebellion had assumed a more formidable organization, and then the war was considered fairly opened. It awakened the nation. The attack was known in all parts of the North before the dawning of the next da^^, and steps for organizing troops to defend the country began to be made.

April 14, President Lincoln issued his proc- lamation for 75.000 troops to serve three months. Then the magnitude of the rebellion was not comprehended, else the call would have been very much larger, and for a longer term of serv- ice. Ohio's quota was 10,153 men ; more than thirty regiments Vere oflered ; 12,357 men were accepted, and the State provided (quarters for the remainder, mainly at her own expense.

��In this county, the foremost man was Gen. William ^McLaughlin, an old tried veteran of the Mexican Avar. Tall, erect, and manly in his bearing, the very personification of the soldier, with flowing white hair and beard (he was then nearly seventy years of age) giving a venerable, commanding presence — no man was better pre- pared than he. and no man more ready. He had been a gallant officer in the Mexican war. fifteen 3^ears before, and there learned some- thing of the privations and requirements of a soldier's life. Patriotic to the heart's core, he had long scented the danger to which the nation was exposed, and prepared himself as a " min- ute man "" of the Revolution, ready at a mo- ments notice.

Fort Sumter surrendered Saturday at 1:30 o'clock. Telegi'aphic news conveyed the word to all parts of the LTnion that evening. But that was all that was known. The next day was Sabbath, and no one in remote towns could get accurate and full details till the issue of the Monday morning papers. That da}' was a bo- nanza to those dailies which contained a full report. Early Monday morning, (len. R. Brink- erhoff went to the railroad where it entered the city, and procuring an Ohio <State Journal from the train boy, brought the sheet up to the court house, where many of the lawyers had assem- bled prior to the opening of court. He went into the court I'oom, where the majority of them were, and soon the account and the call for troops as they were printed in that paper were

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