NEWS: Items from The Alleghanian, 18 Apr 1861, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Patty Millich Copyright August 2008. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________ The Alleghanian Ebensburg, Pa. Thursday, 18 Apr 1861 Volume 2, Number 35 Our Colors The Star Spangled Banner, O! Long May it Wave, O'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. WAR BEGUN! The Traitors Fire the First Gun! Fort Sumter Attacked! Anderson Returns Fire! Sumter's Wall Breached! The Fort in Flames! - Its Guns Silenced! Surrender of the Fort and Garrison! Not a Life Lost in the Conflict. Major Anderson and His Command Embark for New York The Port of Charleston Blockaded Fort Pickens Re-Enforced The President's Proclamation 15,000 Volunteers Wanted!! The War has been commenced! The blow which we have been awaiting, but which we would fain have averted has fallen! The so-called Southern Confederacy has plunged the country into a war that must be, indeed, terrible; for it will be the death struggle between Freedom and Slavery. Hostilities have been precipitated by the Traitors, with them the dreadful responsibility will rest. But this war now thrust upon us must be prosecuted to a stern and definite conclusion. No Compromises nor Concessions will avail now. Stern Justice must be meted out to those who have incurred the penalty of Treason, which is death, by levying war against the Federal Government. Union and Freedom is our battle-cry; Disunion and Slavery, the Traitors. Fort Sumter has been lost, but Liberty is saved. The end is not yet! Proclamation of the President 75,000 Volunteers Called For! Special Meeting of Congress! Washington City, April 14 - Whereas, the laws of the United States, have been, for some time past, and are now, opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the Marshals by law, Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forthwith, and hereby, do call forth the Militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of Seventy-five Thousand, in order to suppress the said combination and "cause the laws to be duly executed." The details of this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities, through the War Department. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity and the existence of our National Union and the perpetuity of the popular Government and to redress the wrongs already too long endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to Repossess the Forts, place and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation of, or interference with the property or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the county. And I hereby command the persons composing the combination aforesaid to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date. Deeming that the present conditions of public affairs presents an "extraordinary occasion," I do hereby convene both Houses of Congress. The Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers at twelve o'clock noon on Thursday, THE FOURTH OF JULY NEXT, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. In witness thereof I have hereunto set my hand and cause the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this fifteen day of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. Abraham Lincoln, President Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State The following are the requisitions of the President upon the governors of the several States for military to act in the maintenance of the Union: New York, seventeen regiments; Pennsylvania, sixteen; Illinois, six; Indiana, six; Missouri, four; Kentucky, four; Ohio, thirteen; Tennessee, two; Massachusetts, two; Wisconsin, one; Minnesota, one; Iowa, one; Connecticut, one; Rhode Island, one; Vermont, one; Maine, one. In all 75 regiments of 1000 men each. The War Bill Passed - Pennsylvania True to the Union! Five Hundred Thousand Dollars Appropriated to Arm the State! On last Wednesday, Gov. Curtin sent a special message to the State Legislature on the subject of our national difficulties. He strongly urged that an appropriation be made for the arming of the State. The message was immediately referred to a joint committee of both Houses, who reported the following bill. It passed both branches of the Legislature, and has been signed by the Governor. Pennsylvania will come nobly to the rescue. IT reads: AN ACT for the better organization of the militia of the Commonwealth: SECTION 1. Be it enacted, &c., That the grand staff of the militia of this Commonwealth shall in addition to the commander-in-chief, who shall have one aid for each division, to be appointed and commissioned by him during his term of office, consist of one adjutant general, who, until otherwise ordered, shall act a as paymaster general, inspector general and judge advocate; one commissary general and one quartermaster general who shall be appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, upon the passage of this act, and to hold their commissions during his pleasure. SEC. 2. That the Adjutant General shall receive a salary of five hundred dollars per annum and in addition three dollars per day when actually engaged in the service of the State; the Quartermaster General and Commissary General shall each receive five dollars per day when actually engaged in the service of the State; it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to prepare the room formerly occupied by the Canal Commissioners in the Capitol for the use of the officers before named, who shall be allowed one clerk at a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, to be appointed by the Adjutant General. SEC. 3. It shall be the duty of the officers before named to proceed at once to a thorough organization of the militia of the State and the Adjutant General shall keep a current record of all the organized volunteer companies of the State, including the number of efficient men in each, and the number and quality of their arms and equipments, and the returns of the same to the adjutant General. And should the President of the United States at any time make a requisition for part of the military of this State for the public service, the Adjutant General shall take most prompt measures for supplying the number of men required, and having then marched to the place of rendezvous, and shall call them by divisions, brigades, regiments or single companies, as directed by the commander-in-chief. SEC. 4. That for the purpose of organizing, equipping and arming the militia of the State, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act, be and the same is hereby appropriated to be paid by the State Treasurer out of any money not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 5. That should the ordinary revenues of the State not be realized in time to meet the expenditures that may be incurred under the provisions of this Act, the Governor is hereby authorized and empowered to anticipate the excess receipts to the treasury above the ordinary expenditures, including the interest on the public debt by temporary loans based on the faith of the Commonwealth at a rate of interest not exceeding six per cent. Such loan shall be negotiated by the Governor at such times and in such amounts (not to exceed the amount appropriated), as the objects and purposes hereinbefore stated shall require. The Certificates of loan shall be signed by the State Treasurer and countersigned by the Governor and shall not extend beyond the close of the next fiscal year, to which period the excess receipts above the ordinary expenditures are hereby pledged for the payment of such loans. SEC. 6. That the Adjutant General Quartermaster General shall expend such amounts of the money hereby appropriated as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act. All such expenditures shall be made under the direction and by the advice and consent of the Governor and no bill shall be paid without being endorsed by him, and afterwards settled in the usual manner by the Auditor General and State Treasurer, when the Auditor General shall draw his warrant on the State Treasurer for the same. SEC. 7. That so much of any laws as may be supplied by, or conflict with, the provisions of this Act, be and the same are hereby repealed. Local and Personal We are informed that a Military Company will be formed in this borough on next Friday evening, 19th inst. The Government calls for volunteers - let the "Frosty Sons" respond. We must be brief when traitors brave the field." Beatty's station on the Pennsylvania Railroad six miles east of Greensburg was totally destroyed by fire last week. George Raymond, editor of the Hollidaysburg WHIG has been appointed Consul resident at Singapore, British India. This is authentic. The Hollidaysburg Fencibles, the Altoona Rifles, the Altoona Guards and the Juniata Rifles of Blair county have tendered their services to Gov. Curtin, under the call of the President, and have been accepted. George W. N. Bolsinger, our former partner in the publishing of this paper has enlisted in one of the Pittsburg military companies and intends to do service in the struggle between Union and Disunion. Good for George! A bill has passed the Legislature dividing the borough of Ebensburg into two wards. The East Ward comprises all of said borough, east of Centre street; elections for which to be held in the Court House. The West Ward comprises all of the borough west of Centre street; elections to be held in the Town Hall. The East Ward is strongly Republican; the West Ward is Democratic. Johnstown in a Blaze of Excitement - April 16: The day has been one of intense excitement here. Flags are flying, drums beating and our citizen soldiers are preparing to leave for the scene of battle. Two full companies will leave tomorrow evening, and a third on Thursday. They embrace many of our best citizens. The feeling is universal now that the blow has been first given by the South and that the government must be sustained. A mass meeting will be held tomorrow. Allegheny County An immense mass meeting of the Union-loving citizens of Pittsburg, without regard to politics or party, was held at the City Hall on Monday night Resolutions were adopted and speeches were delivered, upholding the notion of the National Government. Allegheny is patriotic to the core. Warlike Speech April 13 - President Davis and the Secretary of War were serenaded last night. The latter was called out and in his speech said that the confederate flag would soon be waving over Fort Sumter, and the federal capitol at Washington, if their independence was not acknowledged and hostilities should continue. Gov. Curtin's Opinion New York, April 14 - A private letter from Governor Curtin states that Pennsylvania can furnish one hundred thousand men and have them in Washington in forty-eight hours if required. Washington City April 16 - Washington City is being fortified. Twenty tons of shells and grape shot were removed from the Washington Navy Yard to Georgetown today, in view of a possible attack on the former city from that direction. Several additional companies were mustered into service today.