Knots of citizens still linger around the stands where Anderson, who had
abandoned Sumter only six days before, had just roused the multitude to
wild enthusiasm. Of this gathering in support of the Government the _New
York Herald_ said at the time: "Such a mighty uprising of the people has
never before been witnessed in New York, nor throughout the whole length
and breadth of the Union. Five stands were erected, from which some of the
most able speakers of the city and state addressed the multitude on the
necessity of rallying around the flag of the Republic in this hour of its
danger. A series of resolutions was proposed and unanimously adopted,
pledging the meeting to use every means to preserve the Union intact and
inviolate. Great unanimity prevailed throughout the whole proceedings;
party politics were ignored, and the entire meeting--speakers and
listeners--were a unit in maintaining the national honor unsullied. Major
Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, was present, and showed himself at the
various stands, at each of which he was most enthusiastically received. An
impressive feature of the occasion was the flag of Sumter, hoisted on the
stump of the staff that had been shot away, placed in the hand of the
equestrian statue of Washington."
[Illustration: COPYRIGHT, 1911, PATRIOT PUB. CO.]