THE BOAT ATTACK ON SUMTER.

49

showed conclusively that a master of his art waslu command. In the incomparable Belknap—thePresent commodore—he had an executive alwaysready to do his will, and in the best possibleWay.

We had just lighted our pipes on the Ironsidesfor an after-dinner chat when Flag-Lieutenant S.W. Preston was announced, with orders for thecommander of the Patapsco to report on board thehag-ship. On our way to the vessel Preston in-formed me that it was the intention of the admiralto attack Sumter that night in boats, and added:

You are selected to command.” This informa-tion was corroborated by the admiral. My judg-ment opposed the movement on the grounds thatWe were without reliable knowledge of the in-ernal or external condition of the fort, and of thePracticability of scaling the. walls, for which noProvision had been made ; that sufficient time hadt 10 * been allowed for the proper organization of aorce for service of so desperate a character; thatne enemy had been fully notified that some dem-onstration was to be made by the gathering of

boats

around the flag-ship, in open daylight; that

bey would naturally conclude Sumter to be theobjective point and would defend it to the last ex-tremity ; and, finally, that if a lodgment were bym’y possibility effected on the fort, and the forttaken, we could not hold it so long as the obstruc-rons remained in the channel. For the enemy’stron-clads and batteries above and around Sumter,e ‘ n g unmolested and beyond our reach, wouldsey er our communications and starve our people°of- I made these representations and asked pei’-toission to decline the command. To this no directre ®ponse was given, but, in the course of conver-sation, the admiral said: “You have only to goan d take possession. You will find nothing but aoorporal’s guard to oppose you.”

Loing down to the wardroom, my decision wasriefly lna( j e ] mown i n reply to the interroga-rons of friends. Within half an hour Preston<j°»ied us; he had evidently been conversing with16 admiral, for he was thoroughly informed on16 situation and used his best efforts to alter my^termination, urging among other reasons that16 army was organizing for an independent, dem-on stration to be led by General T. G. Stevenson,^.officer of tried valor and established reputationJ ! 1 ' v bom we all had a great personal liking. As‘ ey enson was the ranking officer, General Gill-v)° re contended that the expedition should coni-llle Wnder liis leadership. The admiral would notconsent to this, on the ground that it, was a boatxpedition and purely naval in its character,i! jj giving me this information, Preston added:fall ^° U f ^° llot K °’ bbe naval demonstration willthrough and the army will reap all the glory.”as ^ convictions of the impracticability of thesault were unshaken, but my reasons could notill known without injurious results. I was

soi ' 1 ? mui( biry and saw no way out of it, but per-p la i a PPeals from such men as Lieutenants B. H.

er, Preston, and Moreau Forrest, with other+„, ll f. 1 | b era fi 0 ns, finally had their effect, and I reluc-

tan % consented to go.

By the time the watchword for the night hadbeen arranged it was half-past ten o’clock. Aswe were taking leave of our friends, the presentBear -Admiral Rhind suggested to me that onedivision of boats should be sent around Sumter asa feint, while the remainder should wait withineasy distance of the fort for the order to advance.This suggestion was adopted, and Lieutenant(now Captain) Francis J. Higginson was selectedfor the command of the party. His demonstration,among other things, was to develop the extent ofthe enemy’s defensive preparations.

The admiral’s barge was placed at my disposal,and Lieutenant Forrest, an officer of rare judg-ment, intelligence, and merit, was appointed as myaide. Final instructions were given to the officerscommanding divisions to make the best of theirway to the fort when the divisions were formedand the order was given to advance. Instructionsof a general character were given to LieutenantHigginson, and a tug having been brought intoservice, its commander was directed to lie by thePatapsco on leaving the flag-ship. The barge wasto stop alongside the former vessel for Dr. Wheeler,as we had no medical officer with us.

We finally shoved off, and after the necessaryshort delay by the Patapsco while the surgeon wasmaking his preparations, were towed by the tugtoward the picket monitors Montauh and Lehigh,which I instructed to move up to our support, asthe admiral, at my request, had authorized me todo. We moved slowly on our way to the fort. Itwas a calm, clear, starlight night. The only soundwas the steady thumping of the tug’s propeller,and nothing was seen ahead but the grim, half-de-fined outline of the fort. When the master of thetug reported that he could go no farther, the boatswere cast off, the divisions were formed, and Hig-ginson, an officer of courage and judgment, wasdirected to carry out the instructions previouslygiven him. He accordingly moved off to do so,and most of the division commanders dashed offalso, under the impression that his movement wasa general one, and that the order to advance hadbeen given. Efforts to recall them were made,but in vain. Nothing remained to do but to givethe order for the remaining boats to make the bestof their way to the fort. Through this misappre-hension all the good effects of Higginson’s demon-stration were lost. On our way to the fort in thebarge, fairly flying under the strokes of the oars-men, we observed a large number of boats lyingon their oars; we hailed them and directed themto pull in, but as no sign of a movement wasmade by them, then,— or, indeed, during the wholeaffair,-—-we concluded that it was the army forceawaiting the result of our demonstration. As weneared Sumter we were hailed loudly by theenemy, but no answer was returned. Simultane-ously a rocket was sent up from the fort, and al-most as it exploded the air was filled with hissing,shrieking missiles from the James and Sullivan’sIsland batteries, which seemed alive with fire,while an iron-clad was pouring grape and canisterinto the boats and sweeping the approaches to thegorge. The parapets and crown of Sumter were