 On April 12, news arrived in Indianapolis via telegraph that Confederate forces had opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina.On April 13, two mass meetings were held in Indianapolis, where resolutions were approved to support the Union.Indianapolis citizens proclaimed, "We unite as one man to repel all treasonable assaults upon the Government, its people, and citizens in every department of the Union––peaceably, if we can, forcibly if we must."