Lincoln, the unknown

126 LINCOLN THE UNKNOWNThe Confederates turned the affair into a social event. Braveyoung men, gay in their new uniforms, fired their cannon tothe applause of fashionable society women promenading thewharves and the Battery.On Sunday afternoon the Union soldiers surrendered thefort and four barrels of salt pork; and, with the Stars and Stripesflying, and the band playing "Yankee Doodle," they sailedaway, bound for New York.For a week Charleston abandoned itself to joy. A Te Dewnwas sung with great pomp in the cathedral; and crowds paradedthe streets, drinking and singing and carousing in tap roomsand taverns.Judged by the loss of life, the bombardment of Sumter wasnothing. Neither side lost a man. But judged by the train ofevents which it set in motion, few battles have been moremomentous. It was the beginning of the bloodiest war theworld had ever known up to that time.