Today was the anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter. Fanny Graves Hubbard remembered how the news was greeted in Hatfield, and another foreshadowing of what was to come.
"When news came of firing on Fort Sumter, S.C., because the government would not give it over to the South, it caused great excitement and they, our people, decided to raise a new flag staff on the Hill near the school with a new flag.
" A great crowd assembled and there was firing of a cannon to celebrate. There was an accident, the cannon burst and Erastus Billings was hit on his leg. He was carried into a nearby house and a doctor summoned. Everyone was sobered, it all came so unexpected. The leg had to be amputated. It was below the knee and he had a false leg, but always walked a little lame. He was young, in his early twenties, but it prevented his taking part in the activities or later going to the war with his brother."
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