Jefferson Davis, who had been chosen President of the Southern Confederacy that was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, early in February, was born in Kentucky, June 3, 1808. Thus he and President Lincoln were natives of the same State, with less than a year's difference in their ages. Davis was graduated at West Point in 1828, and served on the northwest frontier, in the Black Hawk War. He was also a lieutenant of cavalry in the operations against the Comanches and Apaches. He resigned from the army and became a cotton-planter in Mississippi, which State he represented in Congress in 1845-46, but resigned to assume the colonelcy of the First Mississippi regiment.
Colonel Davis displayed great gallantry at the storming of Monterey and at the battle at Buena Vista, and on his return home was immediately elected to the United States Senate, in which he served 1847-51 and 1857-61. From 1853 to 1857 he was secretary of war under Pierce. He was one of the Southern leaders, and had already been mentioned as a candidate for the presidency. He resigned his seat in the United States Senate in January, 1861, upon the secession of his State, and, being elected Provisional President of the Southern Confederacy February 9th, was inaugurated February 18th. In the following year he and Stephens were regularly elected President and Vice-President respectively, and were inaugurated on the 18th of the month.
INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
President-elect Lincoln left his home in Springfield, Illinois, on the 11th of February for Washington. He stopped at various points on the route, and addressed multitudes that had gathered to see and hear him. A plot was formed to assassinate him in Baltimore, but it was defeated by the vigilance of the officers attending Lincoln, who took him through the city on an earlier train than was expected. General Scott had the capital so well protected by troops that no disturbance took place during the inauguration.
BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER.
The Confederate government sent General Beauregard to assume charge of the defenses in Charleston harbor. Finding the fort was being furnished with supplies, he telegraphed to his government for instructions. He was ordered to enforce the evacuation. Beauregard demanded the surrender of the fort, and, being refused by Major Anderson, he opened fire, early on the morning of April 12th, from nineteen batteries. Major Anderson had a garrison of 79 soldiers and 30 laborers who helped serve the guns. He allowed the men to eat breakfast before replying. In a few hours the supply of cartridges gave out, and blankets and other material were used as substitutes. The garrison were kept within the bomb-proof galleries, and did not serve the guns on the open parapets, two of which had been dismounted by the fire from the Confederate batteries, which after a time set fire to the officers' barracks. The flames were extinguished, but broke out several times. The smoke became so smothering that the men could breathe only by lying flat on their faces. Finally the position became so untenable that Anderson ran up the white flag in token of surrender. No one was killed on either side.
The news of the surrender created wild excitement North and South and united both sections. While the free States rallied to the Union, almost as one man, the Unionists in the South became ardent supporters of the cause of disunion. It was now a solid North against a solid South.
FORT MOULTRIE, CHARLESTON, WITH FORT SUMTER IN THE DISTANCE.