table conflict
was very near breaking out at that time; for there was an eager desire
on the part of all the people around us to seize these negroes, and
distribute them among the plantations; and if the Government had not
acted promptly in sending them back to Africa, I think an attempt would
have been made to take them from us by force, on the ground that some
of them had violated a State law by landing at Moultrieville.

As Fort Sumter has considerable historic renown, it may not be
uninteresting to relate another incident connected with it, although it
is not germane to my narrative. In 1859, after the negroes were taken
away, the fort remained in charge of an ordnance-sergeant, who lived
there alone with his wife and two little children. Supplies were sent to
him regularly, but in case of emergency he could only communicate with
the shore by means of a small boat. One wild stormy day, when the wind
was blowing a gale, he was suddenly struck down with yellow fever. His
wife saw that if he did not have immediate medical assistance he would
die. She herself could not go, as he required constant attention, and
the children were too young to be of any service. A day passed on, and
it became evident that he was growing worse. In a frantic state of mind,
she rushed up to the top of the fort, waved a sheet backward and
forward, and raised and lowered the garrison flag repeatedly, in hopes
of attracting the attention of some passing vessel; but although several
went by, no one seemed to notice the signals, or, if they did, they
would not stop, on account of the tempest, which still continued. She
then took the desperate resolution of putting her two little children in
the small boat, and trusting to the flood-tide to drift them somewhere
in the vicinity of Charleston. She placed a letter in the hand of one of
them, to be given to the first person they met, imploring that a
physician might be sent to her at once. It was a terrible experiment,
for the children might easily have been swept out to sea by the ebb-tide
before they could make a landing. They succeeded, however, in reaching
the shore near Mount Pleasant. A doctor finally arrived, but too late to
be of any service.

Foster wanted forty muskets to arm some of his workmen, as a guard for
the powder in Fort Sumter, and for valuable public property in Castle
Pinckney. This was approved at Washington; but the moment he obtained
the guns from the arsenal, the Secretary o