Today will be known as . We are utterly and disgracefully routed, beaten, whipped by secessionists. - George Templeton Strong

The bird of our country is a debilitated chicken, disguised in eagle feathers. We have never been a nation; we are only an aggregate of communities, ready to fall apart at the first serious shock and without a centre of vigorous national life to keep us together.

If disunion become an established fact, we have one consolation. The self-amputated members were diseased beyond immediate cure, and their virus will infect our system no longer.

All the indications are that this treasonable inflammation—secessionitis—keeps on making steady progress week by week.