After breakfast I accompanied Gov. Wise to his room. He advised me to remain a few days before proceeding elsewhere. He still doubted, however, whether Virginia would move before autumn. He said there was a majority of 500 Union men then in the city. But the other Convention, to meet on the 16th, might do something. He recommended me to a friend of his who distributed the tickets, who gave me a card of admission.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p.18
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/12/diary-of-john-beauchamp-jones-april-13.html
Saturday, April 13.
The news is glorious for us. No one hurt on our side, and no damage of any consequence to our batteries. Your father has been at Morris's Island all yesterday, and all night. He however wrote me not to expect him and I did not feel uneasy, as Captain Hartstein told me it was utterly impossible for boats to land with such a high sea. This morning Fort Sumter is on fire (produced from the shells it is thought). They say the flag is at half mast and has been so all the morning — a sure sign of distress. The fleet will try to relieve him, of course, but it will be in vain, and thus, I trust in God, this business will end. Heaven has favored our side, and we are all grateful to a Kind Providence. I doubt if your father returns before night.
SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 40
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2015/07/charlotte-cross-wigfall-to-louise_7.html
The news must thrill the heart of the mighty North, and arouse a. spirit of desperate resistance to the hordes of the secessionists. If war must be, may it be quick and terrible, and may traitors learn that the arm of the government is not yet powerless in the vindication of National honor and of the glory of the old flag.
SOURCE: Corydon Eustathius Fuller, Reminiscences of James A. Garfield: With Notes Preliminary and Collateral, p. 308
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2014/08/diary-of-corydon-eustathius-fuller.html
Confederates on April, 12, 1861: “Hey, let’s open fire on Ft. Sumter!’’
Confederates on April 9, 1865: “Maybe bombarding Ft. Sumter wasn’t such a good idea after all’’.