The citizens of Charleston knew almost the exact hour at 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_. ACTS II. AND III. The Union Army, under General Sheridan, and the Confederate Army, under General Early, were encamped facing each other about twenty miles south of Winchester, on Cedar Creek. * * * General Sheridan was called to Washington. Soon after he left, a startling despatch was taken by our own Signal Officers from the Confederate Signal Station on Three Top Mountain.--POND, _Camp. Civ. War, Vol. XI._ On the morning of October 19th, the Union Army was taken completely by surprise. Thoburn's position was swept in an instant. Gordon burst suddenly upon the left flank. The men who escaped capture streamed through the camps along the road to Winchester.--POND, _supra._ Far away in the rear was heard cheer after cheer.--_Three Years in the Sixth Corps._ ACT IV. WASHINGTON, 1865. RESIDENCE OF GENERAL BUCKTHORN. I feel that we are on the eve of a new era, when there is to be great harmony between the Federal and Confederate.--GEN. GRANT'S _Memoirs._ SHENANDOAH ACT I. CHARLESTON HARBOUR IN 1861. "AFTER THE BALL." SCENE. _A Southern Residence on the shore of Charleston Harbour. Interior.--Large double doors up centre, open. Large, wide window, with low sill. Veranda beyond the doors, and extending beyond window. A wide opening with corridor beyond. Furniture and appointments quaint and old-fashioned, but an air of brightness and of light; the general tone of the walls and upholstery that of the old Colonial period in its more ornamental and decorative phase, as shown in the early days of Charleston. Old candlesticks and candelabra, with lighted candles nearly burned down. Beyond the central doors and the window, there is a lawn with Southern foliage, extending down to the shores of the harbour; a part of the bay lies in the distance, with low-lying land beyond. The lights of Charleston are seen over the water along the shore. Moonlight. The gray twilight of early morning gradually steals over the scene as the Act progresses._ DISCOVERED, _As the curtain rises_ KERCHIVAL WEST _is sitting in a chair, his feet extended and his head thrown back, a handkerchief over his face_. ROBERT ELLINGHAM _strolls in on veranda, beyond window, smoking. He looks right, starts and moves to window; leans against the upper side of the window and looks across._ ELLINGHAM. Kerchival! KERCHIVAL. [_Under handkerchief_.] Eh? H'm! ELLINGHAM. Can you sleep at a time like this? My own nerves are on fire. KERCHIVAL. Fire? Oh--yes--I remember. Any more fire-works, Bob?