only sorrowing that he, too, could not go.  Never before in the history of the world, not even in Carthage or Sparta, was there ever such a spontaneous outburst of patriotic feeling; never such a cheerful and willing answer to the call of a mother country.  Not a regret, not a tear; no murmuring or reproaches—­not one single complaint.  Never did the faithful Scott give with better grace his sons for the defense of his beloved chief, “Eric,” than did the fathers and mothers of South Carolina give their sons for the defense of the beloved Southland.

The soldiers gathered at the railroad stations, and as the trains that had been sent to the farthest limits of the State came along, the troops boarded them and hurried along to Charleston, then the seat of war.  General M.L.  Bonham had been appointed Major General of State troops and called his brigades together.  Colonel Gregg was already in Charleston with the First Regiment.  Col.  Joseph B. Kershaw with the Second, Colonel James H. Williams with the Third, Colonel Thomas Bacon with the Seventh, and Colonel E.B.C.  Cash with the Eighth, formed their regiments by gathering the different companies along at the various railroad stations.  The Second, Seventh, and Eighth came on to Charleston, reaching there while the bombardment was still in progress, but not early enough to take active part in the battle.  Colonel Williams with the Third, for want of transportation, was stopped in Columbia, and took up quarters in the Fair Grounds.  The other regiments went into camp in the suburbs of Charleston and on the islands.  After the surrender of Sumter the troops on the islands and mainland returned to their old quarters to talk upon the incidents of the battle, write home of the memorable events and to rejoice generally.  Almost as many rumors were now afloat as there were men in the army.  It was the generally conceded opinion of all that the war was at an end.  A great many of the Southern leaders boasted of “drinking all the blood that would be shed in the war.”  The whole truth of the entire matter was, both sections underrated each other.  The South, proud and haughty, looked with disdain upon the courage of the North; considered the people cowardly, and not being familiar with firearms would be poor soldiers; that the rank and file of the North, being of a foreign, or a mixture of foreign blood, would not remain loyal to the Union, as the leaders thought, and would not fight.  While the North looked upon the South as a set of aristocratic blusterers, their affluence and wealth having made them effeminate; a nation of weaklings, who could not stand the fatigues and hardships of a campaign.  Neither understood the other, overrating themselves and underrating the strength of their antagonists.  When Lincoln first called for 50,000 troops and several millions of dollars for equipment and conduct of the war, the South would ask in derision, “Where would he get them?” When the South would talk