which the attack on Fort Sumter would begin, and they gathered
in the gray twilight of the morning to view the bombardment
as a spectacle.--NICOLAY, _Campaigns of the Civil War, Vol. I._

"I shall open fire in one hour."--BEAUREGARD'S _last message
to_ MAJOR ANDERSON. _Sent at 3:20 A.M., April 12, 1861_.


ACT SECOND

The Ellingham Homestead in Virginia

When the Union Army under Gen. Sheridan and the Confederate Army
under Gen. Early were encamped at Cedar Creek, almost twenty miles
south of Winchester, there was a Confederate signal station on Three Top
Mountain, overlooking both camps; [Transcriber's note: Unreadable] another, near the summit of
North Mountain, on the opposite side of the valley.--_Official Records and
Maps_.


ACTS THIRD and FOURTH

No Intermission between these Acts.

The Shenandoah Valley. Night and Morning. Three Top mountain.

[Transcriber's note: Unreadable text.]

While the two armies lay opposite each other, General Sheridan was called
to Washington. Soon after he left, a startling despatch was taken by our