With the Southern states claiming to be out of the Union, people were
wild to know what the President would say. To St. Joseph, Missouri, the
address was hurried. Here it was carefully wrapped in oil skin,
consigned to the saddle bags, and amid wild cheers the express was off.
Horses were waiting every ten miles. What a ride was that! "Speed,
speed! faster, faster!" was the cry. Each man tried to do a trifle
better than the last, while the thousands on the Pacific coast seemed to
be straining their ears for the sound of the galloping hoof beats which
brought nearer to them the brave message of the grand new President. And
when the last rider came in, making the final ten miles in thirty-one
minutes, what a cheer went up!
One thousand nine hundred and fifty miles in one hundred and eighty-five
hours, the message had traveled--at an average of a little more than
ten miles an hour--straight across the continent.
When we read of the speed-breaking special trains of to-day, let us not
forget what these brave men of the first overland express accomplished
in the days of '61.
Chapter X
The Signal Gun and the Steel Trail
Boom! Boom! Boom! Never in history did the firing of a gun have such a
powerful effect as that which sent the first shot at the flag of the
Union, as it floated over Fort Sumter on that memorable Friday, April
12, 1861.
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