Porter, David Dixon, 1813-1891 [Selecting officers to expedite the U.S.S. Powhatan]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC00866 Author/Creator: Porter, David Dixon, 1813-1891 Place Written: Washington, District of Columbia Type: Autograph document signed Date: 4 April 1861 Pagination: 1 p. ; 25 x 20 cm. Order a Copy
He "ordered by the President to select such officers as may be necessary to expedite the ship." Porter was initially supposed to take his ship, the steam frigate Powhatan, to South Carolina to reinforce Fort Sumter in case the Confederates chose to attack. At this time Secretary of State William Seward was still working towards reconciliation with the South. He worried that sending a warship to Sumter might increase Southern hostility, so with Dixon's help he managed to ensure that the Powhatan was not sent to Sumter. Instead it was sent to aid Fort Pickens in Pensacola, another Federal fort in what was now Confederate territory, since Pickens was a far less combustible situation. The forces at Fort Sumter never received the Naval support they had hoped for, and without it were easily forced to surrender.
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