If they were ready to move on short notice why did it take weeks to actually mobilize them? According to your article Massachusetts had 6600 men ready to go. Among them "...several dragoon and cavalry corps, not surpassed in efficiency by any in the volunteer militia in the United States." Yet according to this site which gives the history of all the Union, and many of the rebel, units that were raised during the rebellion the first Massachussetts cavalry regiment wasn't mustered in until December of 1861. Guess they weren't all that efficient after all, huh? Massachussetts had a handful of regiments which mustered in after Lincoln's call for milita, but only one regiment which was supposed to be ready and offered to the government before Sumter was fired on. So where was this mobilization, rustbucket? Where were all these regiments? Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, none of the states show regiments being raised before Sumter. But the New Orleans Picayune said they were, so it must be show.
I got to hand it to you, rustbucket. Your sources are still up to your usual standards.
Mobilization was going on for longer than I realized, even before Lincoln met with the governors of several states about their militias in early April 1861. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch (VA) of February 11, 1861:
The Massachusetts Military.
Boston, February 7.
--Military orders promulgated to-day by the Commander-in-Chief are prefaced as follows:"The present condition of national affairs renders it possible that the services of the volunteer military of Massachusetts may be required at no distant day, and at short notice, by the President of the United States for the defence of the Federal capital, and it is the desire of his Excellency, the Governor, and Commander-in-Chief, that the troops be in readiness for any legal requisition that may be made upon them."
The orders apply more directly to the First Division, and require rigid scrutiny of company rolls, frequent company drills, and a thorough preparation for active service.
The Sixth Massachusetts Regiment was the first to march in response to Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops. They left Lowell, Mass. on the morning of April 16, completely equipped and organized. It had a full band and regimental staff. [Source: Baltimore and the Nineteenth of April 1861, by George William Brown]
Also from the NY Herald via the Richmond Daily Dispatch:
Gov. Andrews to-day telegraphed to the President. The quota of troops required of Massachusetts is ready; how will you have them to proceed?"--N. Y. Herald of 16th [of April, one day after Lincoln's proclamation]
Pennsylvanians were apparently the first to reach Washington. [Source]
Three days after the distressed president’s call, some 475 Pennsylvanians, comprising the ranks of five volunteer militia companies, arrived in the nation’s capital.
I got to hand it to you, rustbucket. Your sources are still up to your usual standards.
Thanks for the compliment. I provided you with two sources on Lincoln's meetings with governors concerning their militias. I know your usual style of requiring thirteen first hand signed affidavits offering facts against your claims. I found two more.
April 6, 1861
Governors of Indiana, Ohio, Maine, and Pennsylvania confer with President about military status of militia. Baltimore Sun, 9 April 1861 [Source: The Lincoln Log]
And ...
... we have reliable information to the effect that a number of Black Republican Governors have been in recent secret conclave with the President of the United States, the evident intent of which was a conspiracy against the rights and liberties of the South, of which we form a part, as proven by the recommendation of a war bill by the Governor of Pennsylvania, who was one of them, and the immediate passage of the same by the Legislature of that State ... [Source: The Richmond Daily Dispatch, April 17, 1861]
I forgot to thank you for the link. You have to be careful about such web sites. I've spent some months myself trying to correct erroneous data about the Confederate unit of one of my ancestors on an otherwise excellent web site.