Lot 308

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Description:

Truman Seymour and George W. Snyder Autograph Letter Signed Report to Major Robert Anderson, Commanding Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, on the attack on the Schooner Rhoda H. Shannon
dated: 3 April 1861, Fort Sumter,
To Maj Robt. Anderson, 1st Arty, U. S. Army, Comdg. Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor. "In obedience to your directions we visited Cummings Point and the Schooner bearing the U. S. flag, which was fired into by the batteries on Morris Island, and respectfully present the following statement concerning the affair." Captain Seymour and Lieutenant Snyder interviewed the commanding officer on Morris Island, Lt. Col. W. G. DeSaussure, who explained the circumstances of the incident: "a schooner, with the U. S. flag at her peak, endeavored to enter the harbor this afternoon about 3 o'clock P. M.; that, in accordance with his order to prevent any vessel under that flag from entering the harbor, he had fired three shots across her bows, and, this not causing her to heave-to, he had fired at her, and had driven her out of the harbor; that he thought one or two shots had taken effect, and that, if he had a boat that could live to get out to her, he would send and see if she were disabled, and would inform Maj. Anderson at once, but that he had no proper boat, as the schooner was at anchor in a very rough place; that the Revenue Cutter had gone out to examine her condition." The two officers also visited the schooner which was still anchored off Morris Island and questioned the master of the vessel, Joseph Marts (1829-1885), of Dorchester, New Jersey. Marts explained that he mistook the entrance to Charleston for Tybee Island, located off Savannah, Georgia, his destination, sailed across the bar, and "As he was passing Morris Island, displaying no flag, a shot was fired, from a battery on shore, across the bows of the schooner." Captain Marts "thought they wished him to show his colors," but when "he displayed the U. S. flag at his peak; one or two shots were then fired across the Schooner's bows, but he did not know what to do….that he kept the vessel on her course until they fired at her, and one shot had gone through the mainsail, about two feet above the boom." The two officers on their return to Fort Sumter "stopped at Cummings Point and stated the fact to Lt Col DeSaussure. He said that the vessel would not be molested if she came into the Harbor. The schooner weighed anchor, a short time after we left, and stood in toward Morris Island for some distance, but finally turned about and went to sea." Docketed on verso and dated 6 April 1861.
This episode was widely reported in both Northern and Southern newspapers in early April but was quickly overshadowed by the events that soon followed. Within ten days, Fort Sumter was under intense bombardment by some of the same batteries that had fired on Captain Marts and his schooner Rhoda H. Shannon. Marts, after he delivered his cargo of ice to Savannah, safely returned to New Jersey. Captain Truman Seymour, who had previously been in battle in both the Mexican-American War and the Third Seminole War in Florida (1855-1858), was again under fire in Fort Sumter when the bombardment of 12-14 April 1861 occurred. Seymour was promoted to the rank of brigadier general early in 1862 and was involved in the battles of Second Manassas, South Mountain, and Antietam before he was transferred to the Department of the South in November 1862. Once again in the Charleston area in 1863, he was in command of the Federal forces that launched the unsuccessful attack on Fort Wagner on 18 July 1863. Although captured by Confederate troops, he was exchanged and remained on active duty for the last years of the war. Lieutenant Snyder was promoted to captain after the fall of Fort Sumter, was present during the Manassas campaign in July, but fell ill during the summer of 1861 and died on 17 November in a Washington, D. C. hospital.
Two and half pages, on woven-pattern paper, W8" L10"

Provenance: Dr. & Mrs. C.G. Hopper, Jr. Collection

Other Notes: Truman Seymour (1824-1891) a career soldier and accomplished painter. Seymour served in the Union Army during the American Civil War, to the rank of major general. He was present at the Battle of Fort Sumter.

George W. Snyder (1833-1861) a West Point honors graduate commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. Arriving at Ft. Sumter on Sept. 21, 1860, Snyder was assigned assistant engineer and put in immediate charge of work involving the evacuation of Major Anderson's command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. After Sumter's surrender, he returned north to serve as engineer of the third division of the Army of Northeastern Virginia.

Major Robert Anderson (1805-1871) a United States Army officer during the American Civil War. He was the Union commander in the first battle of the American Civil War at Fort Sumter in April 1861 when the Confederates bombarded the fort and forced its surrender to start the war. Anderson was celebrated as a hero in the North and promoted to brigadier general.

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