Even after the firing on Sumter, anxious and thoughtful men had not given up all hope of an adjustment.

The very shock of arms in the harbor of Charleston, it was believed by many, might upon sober second thought induce Southern men to pause and consider and negotiate before taking the fatal plunge.

Such expectations were vain.

The South felt that their victory was pre-ordained.

Jefferson Davis answered Mr.Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men by a proclamation ordering the enlistment of one hundred thousand.
The Confederacy was growing in strength daily.