September 26, 1862 (Friday): "We shall feel free to fire..."

The Hulk of the Minnesota in 1898 (mnhs.org)

UNITED STATES FLAG-SHIP MINNESOTA,
Off Newport News, Va., September 26, 1862.
Major General JOHN A. DIX, U. S. A.,
Commanding Seventh Army Corps, Fort Monroe, Va.:
    GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your reply to my communication of the 25th, relative to giving notice to the foreign consuls and to the inhabitants of Norfolk to prepare them in the event of an attack on Norfolk, now threatened by the concentration of rebel forces in the vicinity of Suffolk, the outpost of Norfolk. Should the enemy march upon the town, and under shelter of it attack the troops and gunboats, the latter, stationed in the harbor to assist in maintaining our occupation of the place, would be obliged to fire upon it.
    By giving timely notice to the women and children, the consuls, & c., we shall feel free to fire, should it become necessary to do so. By hesitation and delay, lest we put to some inconvenience the inhabitants, of whom the influential, if not the larger part, appear hostile to the General Government, we may entail on ourselves the disagreeable alternative, in the event of a sudden attack, of firing upon a town whose people have not had the benefit of a previous and proper notice. A premature warning would be better for them and for us than none at all, and might possibly have the effect of inducing the enemy, at the instance of the inhabitants, to desist from any attempt against our position there.
    I therefore propose that the terms of a notice shall at once be arranged to your satisfaction and signed by me, so that you may date, sign, and publish it, whenever in your good judgment it shall be proper to do so.
    I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, yours,


    S. P. LEE,
    Actg. Rear-Admiral, Commanding N. Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 18, Part 1, Page 406.

With Confederate forces at Suffolk, south of Norfolk, it might have become necessary for the Navy to shell the city if Union forces there were attacked.  Here Lee, of the Navy, communicates with Dix of the Army regarding the amount and type of notice to be given to civilians in such an event.