[Gwatch] N with the request that he would communicate the policy which he

[Cheeves <uti...@ne...>]

Y guns as the small body of defenders could handle. But the fort was
more easily damaged than were the works on the mainland, and on the
morning of the 13th, the officers' quarters having caught fire, and the
magazine being so imperiled that it had to be closed and covered with
earth, the fort became untenable. Early in the evening terms of
capitulation were agreed upon. Meantime three transports of the relief
expedition were lying outside the bar. The first arrived shortly before
the bombardment began, the other two came only a trifle later. All day
long these vessels lay to, wondering why the Powhatan did not appear.
Had she been there upon the critical night of the 12th, the needed
supplies could have been thrown into the fort, for the weather was so
dark that the rebel patrol was useless, and it was actually believed in
Charleston that the relief had been accomplished. But the Powhatan was
far away steaming at full speed for Pensacola. For this sad blunder
Lincoln generously, but fairly enough, took the blame to himself. The
only excuse which has ever been advanced in behalf of Mr. Lincoln is
that he allowed himself to be led blindfold through this important
business by Mr. Seward, and that he signed such papers as the secretary
of state presented to him without learning their purport and bearing.
But such an excuse, even if it can be believed, seems fully as bad as
the blu