ACT FIRST
Charleston Harbor in 1861
After the ball. Residence of the Ellinghams.
The citizens of Charleston knew almost the exact hour at which the attack on Fort Sumter would begin, and they gathered in the gray twilight of the morning to view the bombardment as a spectacle.—NICOLAY, Campaigns of the Civil War, Vol. I.
"I shall open fire in one hour."—BEAUREGARD'S last message to MAJOR ANDERSON. Sent at 3:20 A.M., April 12, 1861.