ACT I.
Reading edition
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.
ACTS II. AND III.
The Union Army, under General Sheridan, and the Confederate Army, under General Early, were encamped facing each other about twenty miles south of Winchester, on Cedar Creek. * * * General Sheridan was called to Washington. Soon after he left, a startling despatch was taken by our own Signal Officers from the Confederate Signal Station on Three Top Mountain.—POND, Camp. Civ. War, Vol. XI.
On the morning of October 19th, the Union Army was taken completely by surprise. Thoburn's position was swept in an instant. Gordon burst suddenly upon the left flank. The men who escaped capture streamed through the camps along the road to Winchester.—POND, supra.
Far away in the rear was heard cheer after cheer.—Three Years in the Sixth Corps.