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| Port Royal Sound (Click to Enlarge) |
RICHMOND, November 4, 1861.
General JOSEPH R. ANDERSON,
Wilmington, N. C.:
As soon as Governor Pickens informs you that South Carolina is attacked, you may send him all the aid that you can possibly spare.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Acting Secretary of War.
SAVANNAH, November 4, 1861.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Acting Secretary of War:
The enemy's fleet concentrating between Savanah River and Port Royal. Point of attack still doubtful. Move than twenty vessels in sight.
A. R. LAWTON,
Brigadier-General.
CHARLESTON, November 4, 1861.
General COOPER,
Adjutant-General:
Enemy's fleet concentration between Tybee and Port Royal. Have started re-enforcements to General Drayton. Am occupying the country inland with cavalry, and concentrating the force here to re-enforce either Drayton or Lawton. Desire authority for General Anderson to re-enforce me. Not much fear of any landing north of Edisto.
R. S. RIPLEY.
Official Records, Series I. Vol. 6, Page 1, Page 309
The great fleet was nearing its destination and would spend the following two days maneuvering into position. Tybee is near Fort Pulaski at the entrance to the river leading up to Savannah. Port Royal (the target of the expedition) is located between Charleston and Savannah. Only at this late date can the Confederates finally be sure of the intended destination and begin to shift what forces were available (3,000 men, 44 cannons, 4 small vessels). The Confederates had two forts at Port Royal Sound (Fort Walker on Hilton Head and Fort Beauregard on Phillips Point). Lawton (from Savannah) was a Harvard Law graduate (and, in 1882 future President of the American Bar Association) who eventually fought under Jackson in the Valley, was wounded at Antietam, and finished the war as Quartermaster General. Ripley, of South Carolina, was in the area after serving under Beauregard, with whom he constantly argued.
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