There
was, however, the will which makes the way. Simultaneously with the
story of Sumter came also the President's proclamation of April 15. He
called for seventy-five thousand volunteers to serve for three
months,--an insignificant body of men, as it now seems, and a period of
time not sufficient to change them from civilians into soldiers. Yet for
the work immediately visible the demand seemed adequate. Moreover, as
the law stood, a much longer term could not have been named,[133] and
an apparently disproportionate requisition in point of numbers might
have been of injurious effect; for nearly every one was cheerfully
saying that the war would be no such very great affair after all. In his
own mind the President may or may not have forecast the future more
accurately than most others were doing; but his idea plainly was to ask
no more than was necessary for the visible occasion. He stated that the
troops would be used to "repossess the forts, places, and property which
had been seized from the Union," and that great care would be taken not
to disturb peaceful citizens. Amid all the prophesying and theorizing,
and the fanciful comparisons of the respective fighting qualities of the
Northern and Southern populations, a sensible remark is attributed to
Lincoln: "We must not forget that the people of the seceded States, like
those of the loyal States, are American citizens with essentially the
same characteristics and powers.
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