The square jaw closed with a snap:
"By God, I will!"
The old man seized the lanyard and waited for the Captain and messenger to reach the front to witness the effect of the shot.
They had scarcely cleared the enclosure when the first gun of actual civil war thundered its fateful message across the still waters of the beautiful Southern harbor.
They watched the great screaming shell rise into the sky, curve downward and burst with sullen roar squarely over the doomed fort.
The deed was done!
Instantly came the answering cry of fierce, ungovernable wrath from the millions of the North. The four remaining Southern States wheeled into line, flung their battle flags into the sky, and the bloodiest war in the history of the world had begun.