fort Sumter, April 3, 1861.
Maj. Robert Anderson,
First Artillery, U. S. Army,
Commanding Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor:
Major: In
obedience to your directions, we visited Cummings Point, and the schooner
bearing the United States flag, which was fired into by the batteries on Morris
Island, and respectfully present the following statement concerning the affair:
The commanding officer on Morris Island, Lieutenant-Colonel
W. G. De Saussure, stated that a schooner with the United States flag at her
peak endeavored to enter the harbor this afternoon about 3 o'clock; that in
accordance with his orders to prevent any vessel under that flag from entering
the harbor, he had fired three shots across her bows, and this not causing her
to heave to, he had fired at her, and had driven her out of the harbor; that he
thought one or two shots had taken effect, and that if he had a boat that could
live to get out to her he would send and see if she were disabled, and inform
Major Anderson at once, but that he had no proper boat, as the schooner was at
anchor in a very rough place; that the revenue cutter had gone out to examine
her condition. We ascertained the schooner to be the Rhoda B. Shannon. Joseph
Marts, master, of Dorchester, N. J., bound from Boston to Savannah with a cargo
of ice, having left the former place on March 26. On account of unfavorable
weather, the master had obtained but one observation, and that was an imperfect
one on yesterday. On his arrival off Charleston Bar, supposing himself to be
off Tybee, and seeing a pilot-boat, he directed one of his men to hold the
United States flag in the fore rigging as a signal for a pilot. As none came,
the flag was taken down in a few minutes, and the master undertook to bring his
vessel into the harbor without a pilot. He did not discover that he was not in
Savannah Harbor until he had crossed the bar and had advanced some distance in
the harbor. As he was passing Morris Island, displaying no flag, a shot was
fired from a battery on shore across the bows of the schooner. The master
states that he thought they wished him to show his colors, and that he
displayed the United States flag at his peak. One or two shots were then fired
across the schooner's bows, but he did not know what to do or what the people
on shore wished him to do; that he kept the vessel on her course until they
fired at her, and one shot had gone through the mainsail, about two feet above
the boom, when he put her about and stood out to sea, anchoring his vessel in
the Swash Channel, just inside of the bar; that the batteries kept on firing at
his vessel for some time after he had turned to go out to sea.
The master of the schooner stated that before leaving
Boston, he had learned how affairs stood in Charleston Harbor, and that Fort
Sumter was to be given up in a few days; that they had established a new
confederacy down South.
After satisfying ourselves that the vessel was uninjured,
and as she was lying in a very rough place, we advised the master to move his
vessel — either to stand out to sea and go on to Savannah, or to come into the
harbor and anchor.
On our return we stopped at Cummings Point, and stated the
facts to Lieutenant-Colonel De Saussure. He said that the vessel would not be
molested if she came into the harbor.
The schooner weighed anchor a short time after we left, and
stood in towards Morris Island for some distance, but finally turned about and
went to sea.
Respectfully
submitted.
T. Seymour, Captain,
First Artillery.
G. W. Snyder, Lieutenant
of Engineers.
SOURCES: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the
Civil War: The Story of Sumter, 1860-1861, p. 379-80
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