Emory Upton

Emory Upton

United States Military Academy -- Cadet life -- 1857-1862

Audio recording

Cadet Nicholas DiLeo

Excerpt from Emory Upton letter to his sister, December 1, 1860

United States Military Academy

2021-03-23

Reba Thomas

Public Domain (see USMA Library Terms of Use)

.mp3

Eng

Sound recording

EmoryUpton02_CDTDiLeo(1).mp3

paper

00:00:55

192 kbit/s

“My Dear Sister: You must pardon me, but I must introduce the general and all-absorbing topic of conversation-secession. What do people at home think of it? I believe the Union is virtually dissolved. South Carolina cannot retract. Her honor demands that she secede, else she would be a “by-word.” But secession is revolution. She will seize Fort Moultrie, and hence a collision with the General Government must follow. War would alienate all the other Southern States from the Union, and a terrible and bloody revolution will result. Everyone in South Carolina is for disunion, at least none dare avow themselves for the Union, and from the accounts in the New York daily papers I sincerely believe she will secede on the 18th or 19th of this month. If so, the North and the South will be speedily arrayed against each other, and the result will be that the North with be victorious.”