Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/427

Rh stand in to the bar with him because his orders required him to remain and await the &quot;Powhatan;&quot; and besides he was not going in there to inaugurate civil war. Other vessels steamed in and as they neared the land the smoke and shells from the Confederate batteries, which had just opened, became visible. The sound of war at once drew the remark from the gallant commander of the &quot; Pawnee,&quot;Captain Rowan, that he would &quot; stand in with his ship and share the fate of the army.&quot; The weather was bad and the sea was heavy, the warships inside the bar had no boats nor men to carry in supplies, the i4 Powhatan &quot; had not arrived, the &quot;Baltic&quot; could not withstand the very heavy swell, first running ashore on a shoal and then anchoring far out in deep water. One of the tug boats had been driven by the gale into the hands of the &quot; rebels &quot; at Wilmington, and the others, had not arrived. But the indomitable Fox persisted in hoping that all the elements of his carefully planned attack on Sumter would yet get together. Pursuing this hope he organized a boat s crew, pulled in to the "Paw nee &quot; from the &quot; Harriet Lane, &quot; purposing to make an effort to reach Sumter with provisions even in the absence of the tug boats, but the heavy sea forbade the venture. An ice schooner was then captured and loaded for entering the harbor at night.

But in the afternoon the fort was surrendered. On the 1 4th it was evacuated, on the i5th the garrison was taken to the Baltic, and Fort Sumter went into the peaceable possession of the Confederacy. Captain Fox’s plan was designed to secure the reinforcement of Fort Sumter peaceably if the Confederates consented, but forcibly if they objected. The objections of South Carolina at first and the subsequent declarations of the Confederate States had been very plainly made. It was understood on both sides that the attempt to reinforce by provisions and troops, or by either, would provoke war. The steaming into the harbor of Charleston was under-