After Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired on by Rebel forces on April 12, 1861, Nebraska Territory Governor Alvin Saunders issued a proclamation on May 18 calling for volunteers either to answer President Lincoln's call for service in the United States Army or to protect citizens of the state from Indians. In June 1861, Beatrice residents Frederick Elwood, 23, and Jonathan Potts, 27, with other Gage County volunteers, went to Nebraska City and joined the First Regiment Nebraska Infantry, which saw action at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Cornith. In the spring of 1898, when Spain and the United States declared war, Nebraskans again mobilized in large numbers at President McKinley's call for volunteers. In the Philippines, First Nebraska Company C from Beatrice took part in the assault on Manila in August 1898, and after Spain surrendered, the First Nebraska remained there to quell an uprising by Filipino insurgents unhappy with American occupation. There the regiment earned its reputation, suffering 232 casualties, more than any other regiment in the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, and receiving eleven citations for gallantry in action and two Certificates of Merit.