Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 161, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1912 — WAR REMINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR REMINISCENCES

SAW FALL OF FORT SUMTER Capt John A. Bunker While Aboard Coasting Schooner off Charleston Witnessed Battle. On an April day in 1861, while the guns of Moultrie and Castle Pinckney were thundering against the walls at Fort Sumter, there lay at anchor outside the harbor at Charleston, S. CL, a coasting schooner. From Its low-lying deck its officers and crew of half a dozen sailors watched the artillery duel that proved to be the opening scene in the Civil War. The schooner was the Pennsylvania, chartered by Boston shippers, and freighted with ice for Charleston. One of the crew that was thus privileged to be eyewitnesses of the first overt act of rebellion against the United States government, was John Allen Banker, then aged 23, of Edgartown, Mass. “I was 23 yeans of age at the time serving before the mast In the coasting trade. Our ctaft, which was schooner-rigged, was owned in Rockland, Me. Early in April, 1861? wo sailed out of Boston, carrying 250 tons of ice consigned to parties In Charleston, S. C. Of course we had heard for several months muttering* of Impending trouble, and we knew that Maj. Anderson had transferred his command from the shore fortifications to Tbrt Sumter and was bolding for Uncle Sam, but I think not a soul on board the Pennsylvania, our schooner, realized the seriousness of the situation. I know I felt no hesitation about making the trip. "After rounding Cape Cod we ran down the coast without special delay, so far as I can remember, and In about five days, I should say, we were off Charleston, and headed few the channel leading to the city. "Fort Sumter was being bombarded. We werrf four miles away but we could see the flash of the guns In Moultrie and other shore fortifications. Over all hung a great ' volume of smoke. “What did we do? Why there was but one thing for the captain to do—drop the anchor, and await the outcome. It would have been suicidal to have attempted to run the gauntlet off that heavy crossfire. Yes, we were held up all right, ,and so through the afternoon we swung at anchor and:

watched foe battle, too for away to judge whether one Bide or the other was gaining an advantage. “There was mighty little steep on! the Pennsylvania that night mid when foe morning broke every eye was: strained harborwarda to see whether* foe old flag Was still flying over Sumter. We cqnld not make It out and: our fears were reahned when later ai harbor pilot boarded us and told oft Sumter had fallen. | “Under Ms guidance we worked our* way up the channel past the now si-; lent forts of the city. There all was: excitement. Nothing but the victory gained by foe South Carolina sohtterK was talked about, and a Yankee sailor was not enthusiastically welcomed. -That port oflksers advised our captain to discharge hi* cargo without delay and get away white there waa a chance. We toah the hint and lost no time in acting upon it In considerable less than forty-eight hours our cargo was hoisted oat and we had said ‘goodhy* to Charleston. * -The next time I sailed to that port was shoot one year later, I should say,, and then we carried stone instead of: toe. You see, it waa this way; The. government did not have enough armed vessels to maintain an efffee* tlve blockade of the long-stretching Atlantic seaboard, and it was decided to obstruct the channels leading to certain ports, of which Charleston waa one, ujith sunken vessels. The government purchased sixteen ships that hnA been formerly employed In the whaling business, picking them up in New London, Sag Harbor, Nantucket and. New formed only teml^fH>i^^ui^ a *of of th < e bi§r would eventually cause them to break up and wash away, hut I reckon served the purpose intended at tan ttoe.”

"We Swung at Anchor and Watched the Battle.”