At the beginning of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln directed the U.S. Army to prevent Maryland from joining the Southern Confederacy, even if that required the bombardment of cities. As a result, the Army quickly mounted heavy seacoast mortars and two large 10-inch Columbiad cannons at Fort McHenry. In July 1861, when a delegation of women visited the fort to complain about the federal occupation of Baltimore, Major General John Dix showed them that he had aimed one of the fort's largest cannons at the center of the city and made clear he would not hesitate to fire if he felt it necessary to hold Baltimore. Capable of firing exploding shells, the guns of Fort McHenry threatened the city with bursting bombs similar to those the fort had preserved the city from in 1814.