The Sumter Expedition

OFF THE CHARLESTON BAR ON SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 13, Captain Fox and his crew of volunteers readied themselves for the foray they hoped to execute that night using their captured schooner. It remained windy, but the sun was bright, the sky mostly clear.

By midmorning, heavy black smoke was rising from the harbor. Fox heard the firing abruptly intensify.

The Pawnee’s Captain Rowan grew impatient. He proposed an immediate attack. Fox dissuaded him. Without the Powhatan, such a full-on charge would yield only disaster.

And the Powhatan was nowhere in sight.