Erie Weekly Gazette, May 2, 1861

The wonderful transformation which has taken place in the public mind since the fall of Fort Sumter, and the universal uprising of the Northern people in response to the President's appeal for volunteers to avenge the insult to our national flag and vindicate the honor of the National character, constitute the most remarkable event of this and probably of any age. It is no exaggeration on the part of one of our contemporaries that it forms one of the most marvelous manifestations of any country, and exhibits, as no other event ever did, the fervor and devotion with which our glorious Union is cherished in the hearts of the people. It completely realizes the prediction of Mr. Seward that all parties and party platforms would be swept [away] the moment the people discovered the Union to be in danger.

Let us ask, when in the world's history were all party considerations so completely and absolutely swallowed up, all party lines so wholly obliterated, and so stern and inflexible a determination shown by the entire mass of men of all shades of political opinion that this Union shall not be destroyed by traitors? There is not now a town or a city in the whole North where it would be safe to publicly advocate or justify the Southern conspirators. Rant as those may who secretly sympathize with the rebels, about the dangerous character of mobs, Northern sentiment will not tolerate a disloyal utterance against the Union or its time honored ensign. The outrage upon the national honor, the insult to the national flag, and the blow at the national Union in the attack upon Fort Sumpter, is felt by every true man throughout the length and breadth of the Free States as a personal indignity; and it has aroused the popular fury to an intense degree.—This popular indignation has suddenly taught traitors in our midst (we have two or three) the danger of giving expression to their infamous sentiments.

The capture of Sumpter, says an exchange "has proved the wand of enchantment that has in one night transmuted twenty millions of partizans into patriots—of staid, sober, and peace-loving citizens into fighting men; and history proves that such men are the best fighters in the world when once forced to the issue of war." Every State North of Mason and Dixon's line has for ten days been flying to arms, and preparations on the most stupendous scale have been commenced and rapidly carried forward. The great cauldron of public opinion is boiling and seething, and the blood of twenty million freemen is hot with indignation and a desire to avenge the insult to our national flag. The popular elements heave and rock like an earthquake, and the great Northern heart, hitherto so calm and insensible, is lashed into a tempest of passion. From Maine to Kansas the drum beat can be heard in almost one continuous roll. Two hundred thousand men will be armed and equipped in the North in one week from the present time, ready to move at the first click of the wires, and double the number stand ready to follow if the exigencies of the Government shall require them.—Our great energies have been directed into a war element, and will amaze those who have deluded themselves with the false theory that a people who excel in the arts of peace do not equally excel in the arts of war.