While at the time indicated there undoubtedly was a lack of organization and military discipline in the State, there was no scarcity of material from which to create a formidable army for either offensive or defensive purposes, as the report of the adjutantgeneral for the preceding year showed 355,000 men subject to military duty, although of the entire number only 19,000 were members of organized companies. There were four hundred and seventy-six of these companies, with an average membership of about forty men in each. All the arms and military equipment then owned by the State were in possession of the companies, and comprised 12,080 muskets, 4,706 rifles, 2,809 cavalry swords and sabres, 3.149 pistols, 69 pieces of ordnance, and about 575 camp tents. Of the muskets, about 2,500 were of new model, and 1,200 of the rifles were of modern pattern, but the remainder of the equipment, except the ordnance, was of comparatively little use. The total number of effective small arms was 4,200; thus 14,500 members of the organized and uniformed militia had no arms fit for use when they entered the service in the spring of 1861.

It was this condition in the military establishment of the State that impelled the Governor's action, and also that of the Assembly, to which reference has been made in a preceding paragraph. The Assembly took prompt action, but before anything had been really accomplished the war of the rebellion was begun.

On the morning of April 12, 1861, the guns of Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor, S. C., were trained on Fort Sumter, the latter then being held by a Federal garrison under Major Anderson; and with the first boom of Confederate cannon civil war was proclaimed throughout the United States; the great sections of country known as the South and the North were arrayed against each other in a conflict which was destined to cost billions of money, hundreds of thousands of human lives, and to engender feelings of animosity which in all subsequent years have not been entirely effaced, although to-day the old contending forces are nearer together in thought and action and sympathy than ever before.

In this brief chapter it is needless to dwell upon the promptness, the enthusiasm and the patriotism with which the people of Pennsylvania, in common with those of the other Northern States, sprang forward at the call of the President for men to suppress the treasonable rebellion organized by the hosts of misguided people of the South. The subject, although never to be worn threadbare, has nevertheless been the frequent theme of the most gifted pens in song and story, and the banner of peace floated over the entire republic at the end of the sanguinary and heroic struggle. The record achieved by the brave men who gave up the comforts and safety of their homes for the dangers and hardships, the wounds and death of the battlefields, is one that ever may be looked upon with pride by every loyal citizen of the State; while the liberality displayed by those whose duty was to remain at home helped to soften the rigors of war and gave the volunteers the most undoubted assurances that their sacrifices were appreciated to the fullest possible extent; and as the tide of war rolled on and call succeeded call to fill the depleted ranks of the army, the State did not hesitate in its duty, nor the counties and towns in their loyalty, in providing for the payment of such generous bounties as would serve the very best purpose.

Throughout the period of the war the civil and military history of Pennsylvania ran in the same channel, and were almost concurrent events, and it was not until well along toward the close of the struggle that there began to develop a sentiment of opposition to the administration of the President, of the war department, and, in a less degree, to the course of Governor Curtin and his advisers. Previous to this time there was little division of political sentiment in the State and Republicans and Democrats alike warmly supported all the measures proposed in the legislature for the vigorous prosecution of the war, while in the ranks of the army were hundreds and even thousands of sturdy volunteers who were descended from ancestors "scrupulous of bearing arms"; but along after the enforcement of draft orders there developed a spirit of

opposition, which manifested itself chiefly at the polling places, and had the ultimate effect to create serious disturbance in the harmony of State politics. These events, however, in our history will be treated in a subsequent portion of this narrative.

On the morning of April 12, 1861, a message was handed to Governor Curtin in Harrisburg which read as follows: "The war is commenced. The batteries began firing at four o'clock this morning. Major Anderson replied, and a brisk cannonading commenced. This is reliable, and has just come by Associated Press," etc.

On this day, in response to the Governor's suggestion, the legislature passed an act for reorganizing the military department of the State, and in conformity to its elaborate provisions, on the 17th, the Governor nominated and sent to the Senate for confirmation the name of Major-General Edward M. Shepard to be adjutant-general, Captain John W. McLane to be commissarygeneral, and General Reuben C. Hale to be quartermaster-general, each on the grand staff of the military department of the State as constituted under the act.

True to the patriotic principles so frequently expressed on previous occasions, and thoroughly alive to the exigencies of the situation after South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas had openly seceded and had arisen. in armed rebellion against the sovereign authority and government of the United States, and had declared to dissolve their allegiance to the Federal Union, the legislature of Pennsylvania, on April 18, unanimously adopted the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the faith, credit and resources of the State, in both men and money, are hereby pledged to any amount and to every extent which the Federal Government may demand, to subdue the rebellion, to punish the treason, to enforce the laws, to protect the lives, the liberties and the property of the people, and to maintain inviolate the constitution and the sovereignty of the nation."