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Show THE ANNIVERSARY OF SUMTER. "Fifty years ago, Just before dawn, on tho morning of tho 12th or April, In Charleston harbor. South Carolina, a signal gun was fired that started the greatest civil war In history," writes James Barnes In tho current Is8uo of Harper's Weekly, and' how Sumter was fired on and how defended Is told In this article, which is illustrated il-lustrated by romarkablo old photographs. photo-graphs. "It was at 4:30 that Georgo S. James, of Charleston, pulled the lanyard of a single gun from Fort Johnson. Immediately afterward, Edmund Ed-mund Ruffln, an aged, but red'-hot secessionist se-cessionist Virginian, fired tho first shotted gun from Morris island. Not until 7 o'clock In the morning did Sumter make return. Against tho sixty-four onllsted men, whoso, force had been augmented by the volunteering of the forty-throe workmen then In the fortress, were arrayed 3,700 In the onfpderato batteries. As well as they could, the garrison kept up a reply, re-ply, fighting mostly from the lower tiers. By noon the number of cart ridges woro almost expended. More cartrldgo bags had to bo made, A search among tho soldiers disclosed lho fact that thero wore but bIx needles. The return tiro had to be slackened whllo clothing was bolng torn apart and sewed Into bags for the powder as fast as the needlos could work. The enemy's shells landed wlth moro and moro accuracy within tho fort as tho beleagurs gained practice. The story of the gallant defense de-fense and of the final aurrendor only with full honors of war makes thrilling rcadlncr. |