A century and a half ago this month, the Civil War began officially with the shelling of Fort Sumter, but as embroiled as the nation was in the turmoil of the times, Hall Countians had diamonds on their minds and in their mines. The Southern Confederacy, a weekly newspaper circulated statewide, was filled with news and comment about the war, slavery, secession and related topics. But it had space on its front page in April 1861 to reprint a Gainesville Eagle article about diamonds in Hall County.