"In my POV to avenge Fort Sumter"
George, my friend, I think you hit the nail on the head. Even tho there were other causes, that was the main one. Before Sumter, there was as much opinion in the north from what I read to let the south go as there was to keep it in the Union. Once that first shot was fired, the whole game changed in the north and I might say in the south. Many who were teetering on the whole question lined up with their respective sides after that act. I have in the past enjoyed reading copies of the two main papers here at that time. One,the State Register was a democrat paper and a daily and the other was the Sangamo Journal that was a weekly and a former Whig paper turned Repubilcan and before April of 61 they were for the most part at different ends of the question, but after Sumter they came together at least on this question of what to do in regards to that attack.
Frank