On the day succeeding the evacuation of the fort, he issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 soldiers to recover possession of the “forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union,” and at the same time summoned an extra session of both Houses of Congress, to assemble on Thursday, the fourth day of July, “to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.”
It is needless to say that the evacuation of Fort Sumter, and the President’s proclamation, created a whirlwind of excitement. The South was jubilant, the North was deeply stirred, and the proclamation was generally approved and promptly responded to. These spirited lines of the poet Whittier are well called
THE VOICE OF THE NORTH.
Up the hill-side, down the glen
Rouse the sleeping citizen;
Summon out the might of men!
Like a lion growling low—
Like a night-storm rising slow—
Like the tread of unseen foe—
It is coming—it is nigh!
Stand your homes and altars by,
On your own free threshold die!
Clang the bells in all your spires,
On the grey hills of your sires
Fling to heaven your signal fires!
Oh! for God and duty stand,
Heart to heart, and hand to hand,
Round the old graves of the land.
Who so shrinks or falters now,
Who so to the yoke would bow,
Brand the craven on his brow.
Freedom’s soil has only place
For a free and fearless race—
None for traitors false and base.