Tuesday may have been the "official" sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War's beginning nationally.
But Missouri experienced the conflict years before Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired 150 years ago in Charleston, S.C.
"Bleeding Kansas ... we'd been at it for five years," said instructor Jim Denny, Jamestown.
The local author and historian discussed the fateful events from 1854-1861 as part of the Lincoln University Continuing Education Spring Series on Tuesday.