Boys from ten to fourteen were daily drilling. In Petersburg three
hundred free negroes offered their services to fight or to ditch and
dig.
The bitterness of the answers of the Southern Governors from the Border
States yet in the Union amazed the President at Washington.
His demand for troops was refused in tones of scorn and defiance.
Governor Magoffin of Kentucky replied:
"The State will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her
sister Southern States."
Governor Harris telegraphed from Nashville:
"The State of Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but
fifty thousand if necessary for the defense of her rights."
The message of Governor Ellis of North Carolina was equally emphatic:
"I will be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of our
country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people."
Governor Rector of Arkansas replied:
"Your demand adds insult to injury."
Governor Jackson of Missouri was indignant beyond all others:
"Your requisition in my judgment is illegal, unconstitutional, and
revolutionary--its objects inhuman and diabolical."
Tennessee followed Virginia by seceding on May 6. Arkansas on May 18,
and North Carolina by unanimous vote on May 21.
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