ACT I.
CHARLESTON HARBOUR IN 1861. AFTER THE BALL.
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.