At the time of the Battle of Fort Sumter at the beginning of the American Civil War, Longstreet was paymaster for the United States Army and stationed in Albuquerque, having not yet resigned his commission. After news of the engagement, he joined his fellow Southerners in leaving the post. In his memoirs, Longstreet calls it a "sad day", and records that a number of Northern officers attempted to persuade him not to go. He states that he asked one of them "what course he would pursue if his State should pass ordinances of secession and call him to its defence. He confessed that he would obey the call."