Tuesday April 9, 1861

Fox's Expedition Heads for Charleston

After anchoring overnight at Sandy Hook waiting for the tide, the Baltic, with Fox on board, left for sea at 8 a.m. The Sumter relief expedition was finally under way.

Other ships left port at different times to rendezvous off Charleston Harbor: the Harriet Lane left on April 8; the Pawnee on April 9; the Pocahontas on April 10.

The tugboat Uncle Ben departed April 7, and the tug Yankee on April 8. The third tug, the Freeborn was detained by its owner and never left New York.

Bibliography: ORN, pp. 249-50; Rhodes, History, 3: 350.

Anderson's Mail Stopped

The Confederacy's secretary of war ordered General Beauregard to stop Anderson's mail. "The fort must be completely isolated," he commanded. Beauregard immediately responded that the mai ls had already been stopped (probably the evening before).

Bibliography: OR, p. 291; Nicolay and Hay, Lincoln, 4: 38-39.