The Real Cause of the U.S. Civil War

Steve Hurlbut to Abraham Lincoln, March 27, 1861


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the City visiting especially the wharves

and the Battery so as to view the ship-

ping in port & the harbour.

I regret to say that no single vessel in

port displayed American Colours.

Foreign craft had their National Colours,

the flag of the Southern Confederacy

and of the state of South Carolina was

visible every where but the tall

masts of Southern owned ships were bare

& showed no colors whatever.

Four miles down the harbor the standard

of the U. States floated over Fort Sumpter

the only evidence of jurisdiction and

nationality.

The Sandy banks of the Islands which

form the harbor were lined with

fortifications abundantly manned

and placed in strong points to com-

mand the Channel.

I learned from one of the pilots an ac-

quaintance in former years that

the vessels sunk to obstruct the Ship

channel had not had that effect

but had been swept out by the force of the

current, making but a slight

alteration on the Bar.

On Sunday night I passed by the

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