Star of the West

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The Star of the West was a civilian ship hired by the United States government to transport military supplies and reinforcements to the garrison of Fort Sumter before the American Civil War. The ship was a substitute for the Brooklyn, an armed screw sloop which continued to escort the Star of the West on its journey.^[1]

1 Background
2 Popular culture
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Background

The first shots of the Civil War occurred January 9, 1861 when the Star of the West was fired upon by cadets, from The Citadel, who were stationed at Battery Greg on Morris Island as the ship entered Charleston Harbor. This prevented the Star of the West from resupplying Major Robert Anderson's garrison at Fort Sumter. The Star of the West was given a warning bowshot but continued towards Fort Sumter. She was then fired on and hit twice at which point she turned around and headed for home port.

Hired out of New York as a troop transport for $1,000 a day, under its master, Elisha Howes, the Star sailed for Texas to pick up seven companies of United States troops assembled at Indianola. On April 18, 1861, while anchored off Pass Caballo bar leading into Matagorda Bay, the ship was captured by Colonel Earl Van Dorn and members of two Galveston militia units, the Wigfall Guards and the Island City Rifles. Two days later the ship was taken to New Orleans, where Louisiana's Governor Moore changed its name to the C.S.S. St. Philip. The old name persisted, however, and the Star served as a naval station and hospital ship until Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans. Then the Star carried millions in gold, silver, and paper currency to Vicksburg and continued to Yazoo City, Mississippi. When federal Lieutenant Commander Watson Smith tried to lead two ironclads and five smaller vessels through the Yazoo Pass into the Tallahatchie River to attack Vicksburg from the rear, Confederate defenders hurriedly constructed Fort Pemberton, and Major General William W. Loring had the Star sunk athwart the Tallahatchie near Greenwood to block the passage of the Union flotilla. In a skirmish on April 12, 1863, the Union forces suffered heavy casualties and were forced to withdraw. The owners of the Star collected $175,000 in damages from the United States government for their loss.

[edit] Popular culture

The incident looms large in a novel by John Updike, Memories of the Ford Administration (1992). Although Updike's protagonist is trying (in the early 1990s) to write about the mid-1970s, he spent those years seeking to write a book about President Buchanan, and his mind keeps reverting to the 19th century and, among other incidents, the mission of this sloop to Sumter.