11/11/2023
At twenty minutes past four o'clock on the morning of April 12th the first shot of the Civil war went crashing against the solid walls of Fort Sumter. It was fired by Edmund Ruffin, a native of Virginia and a personal and political friend of John C. Calhoun. That shot was "heard around the world." President Lincoln was prompt to accept the challenge, and on the fifteenth called for 75,000 volunteers "to suppress the rebellion." That day the publishers of the Valparaiso Republican issued an extra edition containing the following call for a meeting at the court house in the evening:
"Americans! Union Men! Rally. The war has begun. Fort Sumter has fallen! Our flag has been insulted, fired upon and struck to traitors! A Pelican and a Rattlesnake banner floats in its stead! Let it be torn down and the Stars and Stripes float in its place, or let us perish in the attempt. Davis, the traitor, says that next the Secession flag shall wave over the Capitol at Washington Shall it be so? A thousand times NO! Then to-night let us rally at the court house, burying all party names, and come to the rescue of the Republic against its mortal enemies. We are beaten at Sumter, but not conquered, and must rally to preserve the inheritance left us by our fathers. Come one, come all who love their country! To-night let us pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to the defense of the proudest flag that ever waved over a free people."
Porter county was aroused and the court-house was packed to its utmost capacity within a few minutes after the doors were opened. Dr. E. Jones was elected to preside over the meeting, and J. F. McCarthy and A. J. Berry were chosen as secretaries. On motion of Dr. R. A. Cameron, a committee of five was appointed to draft resolutions indicative of the feeling that pervaded the entire North. The committee consisted of Dr. Cameron, Jacob Brewer, S. S. and J. N. Skinner, and Mark L. De Motte. It is quite probable that the resolutions had been prepared
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in advance as the committee retired but a short time when it returned and submitted the following:
"Whereas, A band of traitors have combined together to break up and destroy our glorious Union, and have confederated themselves for that purpose; and whereas, they have attacked the American flag and bombarded Fort Sumter, causing the gallant Anderson and his little band, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, to surrender; and whereas, they are now threatening to march upon the Nation Capitol if their independence is not acknowledged and their treason submitted to; therefore,
"Resolved, That we are unconditionally for the Union, now and hereafter, without regard to any sacrifice that we may be called upon to make.
"Resolved, That now our country is in peril, we will know no North, no South, no party names or times, but stand by the Union men both South and North, and never be satisfied until treason and treachery are crushed.
"Resolved, That yet we believe in Republican institutions, and the right of free men to be heard at the ballot box, and that we do not despair of the Republic; but in the name of our Heavenly Father, appealing to Him as the God of nations, we promise and swear never to desert the flag which was in His name unfurled at Ticonderoga, and carried through the storms of '76, and under which, for many years, civilization and Christianity have flourished.
"Resolved. That we hereby pledge to the Government our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor for the maintenance of the Constitution and the supremacy of the laws."
