The first gun of Civil War is heard, whose reverberations are yet to echo through the world. It is a war whose successes are without glory, whose noblest deeds are without honor; for they are won in fratricidal conflict, and their cost is fraternal blood.
Original passage & context
"The first gun of Civil War is heard, whose reverberations are yet to echo through the world. The signal is given of events of which no man can tell the end. A fearful responsibility is due to those who have brought this crisis upon the country. [...] It is a Civil War that opens—a war whose successes are without glory, whose noblest deeds are without honor; for they are won in fratricidal conflict, and their cost is fraternal blood. [...] The deed of separation is sealed in the first blood shed in this conflict."
The news reaches Albany. A Democratic paper that had opposed coercion all winter does not celebrate and does not rally — it records the sound and refuses the consolation that a victory could be worth having. Three passages joined with [...].