Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

‘ [38] gangs of negroes hard at work strengthening the defences on Morris Island. . . . Anderson was greatly troubled at the failure of all his plans to keep the peace. . . . The rebels knew, and perhaps he knew, that on the 6th and 7th of April a number of naval vessels had left New York and Norfolk under sealed orders. Their destination could hardly be doubted.’

The orders cutting off the supplies, alluded to by General Doubleday, were issued and rigidly enforced by General Beauregard, whose object was not only to prevent the fort from receiving supplies of provisions, but also to prevent the purchase of oil, without which no signals could be made to the expected fleet; moreover, without oil, the wheels and chassis of Major Anderson's guns, then clogged by the sand drifts in the work, could not be kept in proper order for immediate effective use.

To guard further against the entrance of the Federal fleet, which might be effected during a dark night, despite the vigilance of our channel batteries, General Beauregard determined to use two large Drummond lights, one on Morris Island, the other on Sullivan's Island, at points specially selected, in order to illuminate the channels leading to Fort Sumter, and thereby facilitate the firing of the Morris Island beach batteries and other works bearing on the outer harbor. He had ordered and received these valuable lights from New York, and having placed them in bombproofs, so constructed as to insure their usefulness and safety, intrusted them to the care of Professor Lewis R. Gibbes, of the Charleston College.

In connection with these two Drummond lights, and as an additional safeguard, Captain Hartstein, a distinguished ex-officer of the United States navy, was placed in command of the steam harbor boats, and detailed to watch the various channel entrances, with orders, should he discover vessels attempting to approach Fort Sumter, to throw up signal rockets, as a warning to the batteries and the Drummond lights, and then to steam slowly in, after hoisting a light of special color, by which his vessels could be distinguished from those of the enemy. This duty, at times very harassing, was performed by him and his officers and men, with unremitting zeal and energy.

Another object—and an important one—still remained to be accomplished: some of the barbette guns of Sumter, on the landface fronting the city, could not be effectively reached by the