I am fully aware that the Thomas Freeborn did not participate in the Sumter intimidation effort. It was sent to participate, but it didn't arrive.
What is relevant is the fact it was sent. Confederate spies in New York would have sent word that it was coming, and the military planners in Charleston would have assumed it was going to arrive.
I want to take this moment to point out something that I have long known, but I suspect many people do not.
People act on what they *believe*.
What they believe isn't always correct, but they will formulate their plans based on what they believe is going to happen.
A reasonable assumption is that there were people who knew the nature of all the US ships that frequented ports where they lived or worked. The characteristics of the Thomas Freeborn would have been ascertained to the best of the ability of the Confederate spies and sympathizers, and that information would have been conveyed to the Southern authorities, along with the knowledge that it had been sent.
Nothing in the Navy ORs indicate that any of the civilian ships chartered for the Sumter resupply effort were armed.
I believe the "Uncle Ben" was the only one that wasn't armed, and it was armed a year or so later. The other two tug boats were armed, and the "Baltic" carried two hundred riflemen and who knows how many US Sailors.
Believe me, if I could have found pictures of the Powhatan's guns, and the Harriet Lane's guns, and the Yankee's guns, I would have posted them. I can only post what I can find, and one of what I found was "Thomas Freeborn."
Where is your proof that the two tugs were armed.
Every school child knows that A USS is probably armed.
Why do you make an issue of it. They were war ships.
Thomas Freeborn was armed after she was purchased by the U.S. Navy in May of 1861. She was not armed for the Sumter expedition.