Back when I first started discussing the Civil War with people I thought the Harriet Lane was an egregious example of unnecessary belligerence on the part of South Carolina.
Last year I learned that the Harriet Lane was carrying a secret contingent of men intended to be used to reinforce Sumter. In other words, they were engaging in deliberately provocative belligerence against the Confederates.
Still, this did not excuse the behavior of the Citadel Cadets who fired at them without provocation, because how could they have known the Harriet Lane was secretly carrying arms and munitions to be used against them?
And then I learned that these forces were transferred to the Harriet Lane out in the middle of the ocean for the express purpose of keeping it a secret, meaning they knew that if people knew the truth, they would be angry about it.
And then I learned, word of what the Harriet Lane was carrying did in fact reach Charleston long before the Harriet Lane got there, so people did know that the Harriet Lane was on a belligerent mission against them.
And so now what I used to believe has been shown to be wrong based on the arrival of new information that I previously did not know.
And so I changed my mind about this incident.
Remember, the plan did not call for the war ships or the supply ship to enter the harbor. Lie off, transfer the cargo to small boats and have them towed in to the Fort. Same plan would have worked for an unarmed merchant ship with an unarmed tug.
If this is true, why then did Admiral David Porter write in his account that all those ships would have been quickly sunk? Did Admiral Porter have it wrong, and he simply didn't understand the plan?
Still, this did not excuse the behavior of the Citadel Cadets who fired at them without provocation, because how could they have known the Harriet Lane was secretly carrying arms and munitions to be used against them?
You mean Star of the West don’t you?
“he simply didn’t understand the plan?”
That is why they chartered two steam tugs and put extra boats on Powhatan.
The Navy folks knew that portions of the entrance to Charleston were blocked. The ships lie off shore, transfer the provisions to the boats, the steam tugs tow the boats to Fort Sumter. They are shallow draft so they should have been able to negotiate any impediment to entering the harbor.
“Still, this did not excuse the behavior of the Citadel Cadets who fired at them without provocation”
These were not school boys on an afternoon lark. They were Cadets being trained in gunnery, under the leadership of instructors who were officers of the South Carolina militia. They fired those guns on orders from those officers. What prompted the militia officers to order the guns being fired? That is a question to look into. Beauregard said that he did not order that action.