Troops mustered into companies and massed themselves into regiments in the North and the great West so numerous and so fast that a swift pen might fail to keep the record. The uprising was general. Along our water courses, along our railroads, down the broad avenues of our cities, regiment after regiment swept a continued stream of armed men, all bearing toward the capital. For the whole great North rose as one man and sprang to arms. The plough was left in the furrow—the hammer upon the anvil—the saw upon the bench—the reaper in mid prairie—the shuttle in the loom—the pen upon the ledger—the engine untended—the press unfed—the busy sails of commerce unfurled, and the whirring mill unsupplied. A patient people had arisen in its might, with clear steel and the rolling thunder of cannon they were prepared to uphold the sacred majesty of the Union flag, while a splinter remained of the staff, or a shred of the fabric! An electric flash stirred the long-patient and dumb millions to life and speech, and under the red ensign of war they rallied in the common cause. No one State or town could claim pre-eminence in patriotic fervor over its neighbors, for no where did this wild enthusiasm find check or hindrance. Our great cities could only claim superiority over the smaller towns from the hospitality with which they received troops from the country and cheered them onward to the battle field. Boston, Portland, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, and the leading Western cities formed a great thoroughfare for the mustering army, for the country around poured their patriotic masses through the streets of these cities, and the press gave eclat to the movements which reflected back upon the cities themselves. But in the great North and the great West there was no nook or corner where this patriotic furor did not exist. Monster Union meetings were held in every city of the loyal States, and within an incredibly short time, _Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand_ men responded to the call of the President. Great as the number was, it proved but small to what would have volunteered had they been needed, or could they have been accepted, for with bonfires blazing upon every hill, and flags waving from every house-top—with the red, white and blue upon every breast, and the long roll beating in every heart—with wives sending their husbands—mothers their sons and girls their lovers, such a battle cry was raised as the earth had never listened to, and nations of the old world heard with astonishment. REINFORCEMENT OF FORT PICKENS. APRIL 12, 1861.