The war has not begun in earnest. The
seccession of Virgina, and the attempts of rebels to seize the Arsenal at
Harper's Ferry and the Navy-yard at Norfolk; the bombardment of Fort Sumter;
the investment of Fort Pickens; the seizure of the Star of the West by a
Southern privateer; the threatened seizure of the Federal Capital by the
rebels; the murders of Massachusetts men in Baltimore, and the refusal of
Maryland to permit Northern troops to pass through that city to defend the
capital—these facts explain the situation without further comment.
It is not now a question of slavery or
anti-slavery. It is not even a question of Union or disunion. The question
simply is whether Northern men will fight. Southerners have rebelled and
dragged our flag in the dirt, in the belief that, because we won't fight duels
or engage in street brawl, therefore we are cowards. The question now is
whether or no they are right.
If they are wrong, and if Abraham
Lincoln is equal to the position he fills, this war will be over by January,
1862. (“The War,” Harper's
Weekly 5, no. 227 [May 4, 1861]: 274)
Further
Reading: