The Sumter Expedition

AT SEVEN A.M. ON FRIDAY, A SECOND WARSHIP ARRIVED OFF CHARLESTON, the Pawnee, which anchored near the Harriet Lane and Captain Fox’s ship, the Baltic. Although there was still no sign of the tugboats, or of either the Powhatan or the fourth warship, the Pocahontas, with their soldiers and heavy guns, Captain Fox resolved to attempt the first phase of his mission, the peaceful delivery of provisions to Fort Sumter.

His ship raised steam and, accompanied by the Pawnee and Harriet Lane, sailed toward Charleston. They saw distant smoke and soon heard the faint booming of cannon. “Nearing the bar,” Fox wrote, “it was observed that war had commenced, and, therefore, the peaceful offer of provisions was void.”

His orders called for him now to force his way into the harbor. He had hoped to enter that night with his full complement of ships and, masked by darkness, get as close as possible to Sumter to launch boats full of men and supplies. But now, with an intense bombardment clearly underway, this did not seem possible. With so many Confederate guns around the harbor, advancing without a full armed escort would be foolhardy. His own ship, the Baltic, a commandeered passenger vessel, had no armor or guns whatsoever. “The heavy sea, and not having the sailors (three hundred) asked for, rendered any attempt from the Baltic absurd,” Fox wrote.

The ships waited.