=465. Equipment and Further Preparation.=—In the beginning of the war, though enlistments were rapid, preparations for an advance were necessarily slow. The Southern ports were declared blockaded, but the North had not enough ships on hand with which to make the blockade effective. Coasting vessels of all kinds were rapidly brought into the service, supplies had to be collected, and troops had to be equipped and drilled. The Confederates were more rapidly organized, because their preparations for war had been much more advanced when the war began, although they, too, were short of arms and powder. Before the North was ready to move, the Confederacy had formed a strong line across Virginia from Harper’s Ferry to Norfolk. It had also placed strong fortifications along the Mississippi River, the Mexican border, and about the Atlantic ports. A little later the construction of Forts Henry and Donelson, on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, protected the northern frontiers. Thus the Confederacy was nearly surrounded with a line of defenses. Early in May, when the Northern troops reached the line of action, skirmishing began, but no important engagement occurred before July. On the 4th of July, Congress met in special session. Lincoln, in his message, after reviewing the situation, said: “This issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic or democracy—a government of the people by the same people—can or cannot maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes.” Congress at once authorized the President, at his discretion, to call out five hundred thousand volunteers, and gave him all the powers necessary to carry on the war. MILITARY MOVEMENTS OF 1861. =466. Movements in West Virginia.=—Early in the summer of 1861, General George B. McClellan advanced from Ohio into western Virginia, and in less than a month succeeded in driving the Confederates out of that mountainous region. A little later, General Robert E. Lee, in command of an insufficient Confederate force, and in an inclement season, attempted to recover the ground lost, but he was successfully resisted by General Rosecrans, and the district remained in the hands of the Union. [Illustration: GENERAL BEAUREGARD.]