慢慢的显而易见的是，当他们最终致力于分裂，而不是威胁，而是作为一个有成就的事实是为了暴力行为时，想要维护南部生活方式的虔诚男人造成了战术上的错误。其事业的最终命运将主要取决于华盛顿所做的事情。永远离开华盛顿，他们致命地投降了这项倡议。现在他们的敌人会抓住它。
(It would slowly become evident that when they committed themselves at last to secession, not as a threat but as an accomplished fact armed for violence, the devoted men who wanted to preserve the Southern way of life had made a tactical error. The ultimate fate of their cause would be largely determined by what was done in Washington. Leaving Washington forever, they had fatally surrendered the initiative. Now their enemies would seize it.)