Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-15
SERGEANT JOYCE's STORY.
Why the Star of the West Did Not Relic
Fort Sumter.


Fort Sumter.
II don't agree with Mr. DAILY, who. In his let
ter to THE STAR, blames the captain Of the Star
Of the West for turning back from Fort Sumter
without attempting to relieve it." said Sergeant
Robert Joyce to q STAR reporter. Sergeant
Joyce is one Of the few men living who took
part in the Star Of the West expedition and he
told the story Of it to the reporter. He is now
on the retired list Of the army, having served
thirty years, and ia living in Washington, his
last service having been the charge OF Fort
Washington, where he was stationed for a num-
Der Of years.
There never was drawer officer than Capt
MCGOWAN, who commanded the Star of the
West His bravery was shown by the fact that
Immediately on his return to the north after
his expedition he entered the navy, where he
served throughout the war. He died q couple
of yeais ago, when all the newspapers printed
eulogies Of him. / heard him say to one of the
officers that he had set out to relieve the fort
and he was determined to do 1t. Give me the
word, he said, and / will run up there what
ever takes place You see while he was in COM
mand of the vessel he was not in command
of the expedition. The vessel was chartered by
the army authorities. But the commander
decided not to make the attempt. There was
no army captain on board, only three ieuten-
ants-Webb, Wood and Morris-also DR.. Ten
brock. Wood, think. was the ranking officer
We arrived of Charleston on January 9. 1861,
and the first shot Of the war was fired on that
day. 1t was fred at the Star of the West. No
answering shot came from Fort Sumter, and
the officers in our party came to the conclusion
that Maj Anderson had surrendered and that
the rebels were in the fort. In consequence
they did not go to the fort, for they thought
that they would fall into a trap and the whole
party would be captured if they did so. We
had no guns on the vessel with which 10 repel
an attack. The men, Of course, were armed,
but the vessel could not have withstood O fire
from the guns Of the fort.
who should fire the first shot and
Major Anderson naturally did not want
to be the one to do it. He thought
that the firing by the rebels on the Star Of the
West was merely wish to draw his fire. He
knew nothing about our expedition and its pur-
rose. although the rebels, through somebody's
treachery, were fully posted. Had the officers
on our vessel had any idea that Maj. Anderson
was in the fort we would have gone there. We
had supplies on board enough to last him q
year and we had 200 soldiers to reinforce him
Both sides made big blunder. Ireally believe
that if We had gone into the fort we could have
held it throughout the war. You know that
Fort Sumter was never captured-Maj. Ander-
son only evacuated it. sauting his colors as he
withdrew. No, sir, the failure Of that expedi-
ton was not due to any lack Of bravery on
Capt. McGowan's part.
"The expedition was very quietly arranged,
yet the rebels were kept well informed Of our
plans. l was q non-commissioned officer then
on Governors Island. On January 4 we were
ordered out for review in the afternoon. Gen.
Scott, whose headquarters were over in New
York, was expected, so 1t was said, to come
kept at one thing and another all the afternoon.
Then, toward dark, we were taken down to the
water and embarked on vessel. No one had
any idea where we were going. The command
ing officer, Maj Holmes, was SO affected at our
leaving that he shook hands with every one of
us and tears were in his eyes. The
old rascal He afterward skipped out and went
south and Joined the rebel army and was made
a general-Gen. Theophilus Holmes. There
was another officer (Johnson-Edward John
SOM long after had charge Of him and con-
Quoted him as . rebel prisoner to Fort Lafay-
cite. Holmes, 1 suppose, thought We were all
going away to be killed.
at had been intended to have the govern
ment war vessel, the Brooklyn. take part in the
expedition and meet US at Charleston, but We
saw nothing Of her and afterward learned that
she had been sent down to Florida to Fort
Pickens.
1.-THE boat on which we embarked carried Ms
to the Star of the West, which was waiting out
in the bay. Going down the coast We had q
very pleasant sort of a time, though no one
knew wnere ne was gong. " Wac intehoeo 10
get up to the fort before daylight, but the pilot
whom we picked up at night below Charleston
said that the lights along the shore had been
put out and that he could not, in consequence,
get his bearings The officers had their sus-
picions Of tho man, but could not be certain.
The consequence wos that we did not get up to
Charleston till after daylight and were seen, Of
course. Then they began firing ON u.s. One
shot was imbedded in the vessel, but with that
exception no harm was done us But had it
not been for a mistake in Judgment Fort Sum-
ter would have been relieved"