When the Civil War erupted 150 years ago, Summit County didn't take immediate action.
That's because most of its residents didn't know about the conflict for nearly a week.
News traveled as slow as chilled molasses in April 1861.
The Summit County Beacon, the main source of outside information for the county's 27,344 denizens, was a weekly newspaper printed on Wednesday in Akron and distributed to rural areas on Thursday.
Editors Samuel A. Lane and Richard S. Elkins left readers with a real cliff-hanger on April 11, 1861: ''From the dispatches which will be found in another column, it is probable that before we go to press, the War will have actually been commenced.''
Tensions had simmered between Northern and Southern states since Akron abolitionist John Brown led the deadly 1859 raid on the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Va. The kettle boiled over in 1861 with the inauguration of President Abraham Lincoln, the secession of Southern slave states and the formation of the Confederacy.
The Beacon's ink had barely dried when Confederate forces bombarded federal troops at Fort Sumter in South Carolina on Friday, April 12, igniting the Civil War (or as the Confederates preferred to call it, the War for Southern Independence).
Details of the battle were not published in Summit County until the following Wednesday afternoon. Even so, it wasn't front-page news. The rigidly formatted Beacon chose to fill its first page with poetry, fiction and agriculture reports.
On the second page, readers found a series of one-column, exclamation-laden headlines:
WAR BEGUN!!!FT. SUMTER BOMBARDED!BARRACKS ON FIRE!!REBELS TRIUMPHANT!!!SURRENDER OF THE FORT!PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION. 75,000 TROOPS TO BE RAISED!!!
A small item in that edition noted: ''All friends of the Union and those in favor of sustaining the government in opposition to Treason, are requested to meet at Union Hall tonight at 71/2 o'clock to adopt such measures for concerted action, as may seem advisable. Let party be forgotten, and all patriots come to the rescue of their country.''
Akron Mayor Henry Purdy presided over the meeting April 17 in Union Hall at the southeast corner of Howard and Market streets. Among those elected to a war committee were Ohio Rep. Ira P. Sperry of Tallmadge and Dr. Mendal Jewett of Middlebury, two prominent Republicans, and Gen. George W. McNeil of Akron and Dr. Jacob J. Smith of Portage, two notable Democrats.
Following patriotic speeches, the fledgling committee issued formal resolutions:
''RESOLVED: That in the hour of our country's danger we discard all political differences, all considerations of party strife, and rally around the Stars and Stripes to make a united effort for the defense of the integrity of the States, the preservation and perpetuity of our government, and those whose blood bought rights and liberties that the fathers left to the common heritage.
''RESOLVED: That we will oppose to the bitter end secession, rebellion, and all kinds of traitors whether found in the North or South.
''RESOLVED: That the administration must be sustained in its efforts to enforce the laws, protect the public property, and suppress rebellion.
''RESOLVED: That no sacrifice is too great that will secure this object, for property without protection is without value, and life without liberty is worthless.
''RESOLVED: That the requisition of the Federal government for men should at once be responded to and doubled or trebled if necessary.
''RESOLVED: That we are for no halfway measures; let an overwhelming force be at once organized, that in one campaign shall wipe out the rebellion of petty slave tyrants and restore peace and prosperity to our country.
''RESOLVED: That while we deprecate war, and civil war especially, we count all men as enemies who are enemies to our government and fight against it, and will do all in our power to exterminate or conquer them.''
The meeting adjourned with three cheers for the Union.
Akron's actions
Slow to get the news, Summit County's citizens were quick to act. Akron recruited troops during flag-waving rallies at Hall's Corners, the muddy intersection of Howard and Market streets.
From all trades and occupations, young laborers volunteered. Akron's chief industries were clay products, cereal milling, farm machinery and matchstick making.
More than 2,000 soldiers and sailors enlisted from the county. Although that number might seem small today, Akron's population was barely 3,500 at the time.
''For the past week, our town has been in a constant state of enthusiasm and excitement,'' the Summit County Beacon reported April 25, 1861. ''Two full companies have been organized and the third nearly completed. National flags, almost without number, have been stretched across our streets and displayed upon our stores, shops and buildings.
''The mustering of soldiers — the singing of 'The-Star Spangled Banner,' 'Hail Columbia,' and other patriotic songs, the presentation of banners, sidearms, etc., with appropriate addresses and responses, and cheers for the Union, have been exciting and gratifying beyond expression.''
Soldiers established Camp Akron at the county fairgrounds off Ash Street at the present-day site of the Akron Innerbelt. Livestock barns temporarily transformed into barracks where men rested after long days of marching and drilling.
The troops departed April 30 for additional training at Camp Taylor near Cleveland.
Many Summit recruits joined the 19th and 29th regiments of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Although they hoped to defeat the Confederacy in one swift campaign, the Southern military proved to be a mighty opponent.
Over the next four years, Akron's soldiers fought in such far-flung battles as Shiloh, Bull Run, Chancellorsville, Nashville, Antietam, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Gettysburg.
Before the Confederate surrender of 1865, at least 145 Summit men would lose their lives in battle or die of wounds or disease. Many more would suffer disfiguring wounds and come home shell-shocked and weary, changed forever.
The war began 150 years ago.
For some, though, it never really ended.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send email to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
