Within  these  States  all  the  Forts,  Arsenals,  Dock-Yards,
Custom -Houses,  and  the  like,  including  the  movable  and  sta-
tionary property  in  and  about  them,  had  been  seized,  and
were  held  in  open  hostility  to  this  Government,  excepting  only


LIFE    OP    ABRAHAM    LINCOLN.  255

Forts  Pickens,  Taylor  and  Jefferson,  on  and  near  the  Florida
coast,  and  Fort  Sumter  in  Charleston  harbor,  South  Carolina.
Thei  forts  thus  seized  had  been  put  in  improved  condition,
new  ones  had  been  built,  and  armed  forces  had  been  organ-
ized, and  were  organizing,  all  avowedly  with  the  same  hostile
purpose.
The  forts  remaining  in  possession  of  the  Federal  Govern-
ment in  and  near  these  States  were  either  besieged  or  menaced
by  warlike  preparations,  and  especially  Fort  Sumter  was  nearly
surrounded  by  well-protected  hostile  batteries,  with  guns
equal  in  quality  to  the  best  of  its  own,  and  outnumbering  the
latter  as,  perhaps,  ten  to  one — a  disproportionate  share  of  the
Federal  muskets  and  rifles  had  somehow  found  their  way  into
these  States,  and  had  been  seized  to  be  used  against  the  Gov-
ernment.
Accumulations  of  the  public  revenue  lying  within  them  had
been  seized  for  the  same  object.  The  navy  was  scattered  in
distant  seas,  leaving  but  a  very  small  part  of  it  within  the  im-
mediate reach  of  the  Government.
Officers  of  the  Federal  Army  had  resigned  in  great  numbers,
and  of  those  resigning  a  large  proportion  had  taken  up  arms
against  the  Government.
