Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-02-16

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
lieutenants-Webb, Wood and Morris
also DR. Tenbrock Wood, l think. was
the ranking officer. We arrived OFF
Charleston January 9, 1861, and the first
shot of the war was fired on that day.
II 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 Mai An
derson had surrendered and that the
confederates were in the fort In con-
sequence 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 to repel
an attack. The men, of course. were
armed. but the vessel could not have
withstood a fire from the guns of the
fort
There had been q good deal said
about who should fire the first shot and
Maj. Anderson naturally did not want
to be the one to do it. lie thought that
the firing by the confederates on the
Star of the West was merely a wish to
draw his fire. He knew nothing about
our expedi lion and its purpose, although
the confederates, through somebody's
treachery, were fully posted. Had the
officers on our vessel had any idea that
Mai Anderson was in the fort we would
have gone there. We had supplies on
board enough to Las him year, and
we had 200 soldiers to reinforce him.
Both sides made a big blunder.
really believe that if we had gone into
the fort we could have held it through
out the war. You know that Fort
Sumter was never captured-Maj. An
derson only evacuated it, saluting his
colors as he withdrew No, sir, the
failure of that expedition was not due
to any lack of bravery on Capt, Mellow
ans part
''The expedition was very quietly ar
ranged, yet the confederates were kept
well informed of our plans / was a
non-commissioned officer then on Gov
ernor's Island. On January we were
ordered out for review in the afternoon.
Gen. Scott, whose headquarters were
over in New York, was expected, so it
was said, to come over to review us.
Well, we were drilled and 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 commanding 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 con-
federate army and was made general
Gen. Theophilus Holmes There was
another officer Johnson-Edward John
SOM long after had charge of him and
conducted him prisoner to Fort La
fayette. Holmes, l suppose, thought
we were all going away to be killed
st had been intended to have the
government war vessel, the Brooklyn,
take part in the expedition and meet
us at Charleston. but we saw nothing
of it and afterwards learned that it
had been sent down to Florida to Fort
Pickens.
1.-THE boat on which we embarked
carried US to the Star of the West
which was waiting out in the bay
Going down the coast we had very
pleasant sort of time, though no one
knew where he was going. 1t was in
tended to get up to the fort before day
light, 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 conse-
quence, get his bearings. The officers
had their suspicious of the man, but
could not be certain The consequence
was that we did not get up to Charles
ton till after daylight and were seen,
of course. They then began firing on
us One shot was imbedded in the yes
sci, but with that exception no harm
was done. But had it not been for a
mistake in judgment Fort Sumter
would have been relieved. Washing
ton Star.