Friday, the 12th day of April, 1861, will be recorded as the Black Day in the history of our Republic. United States Forts firing upon United States Forts. American citizens directing the implements of death upon American citizens. The Civil War commenced.
Original passage & context
"Friday, the 12th day of April, 1861, will be recorded as the Black Day in the history of our Republic. United States Forts firing upon United States Forts. American citizens directing the implements of death upon American citizens. The Civil War commenced. What a shocking record! [...] We have no “subjects” in this country. We are equals, or we have no REPUBLIC."
The Democratic answer to the same morning's news: the war is Lincoln's doing, the four weeks of peace talk were a trick, and the Union cannot be held together by force. Note what the paper's proposed settlement actually was — a territorial line with Southern rights guaranteed south of it. Two passages joined with [...]. Compare se-052, printed the same day.
Read it in the original — Hartford Daily Times, Apr 13, 1861 ↗