Vol. 63, No. 4 winter 2018 60
5. Revenue Cutter Harriet Lane forces the merchant steamer Nashville to show its colors during the attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861. T is illustration, titled “T e Cutter Harriet Lane Fires across the Bow of Nashville,” was painted by Coast Guard artist Howard Koslow. (Coast Guard Collection)
election. In 1861, Buchanan and niece Harriet Lane moved to Wheatland, Buchanan’s country estate near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Cutter Harriet Lane played a vital role in the Civil War’s fi rst combat operation. In April 1861, President Abraham Lincoln faced a standoff between Federal troops at Fort Sumter and Secessionist forces in Charleston, South Carolina. To resolve the situation, Lincoln authorized an expedition to relieve the fort. T e expedition included ships carrying 500 troops and an armed escort that included Harriet Lane. During the voyage south from New York, a severe storm separated the cutter from the convoy, so it arrived off Charleston on T ursday, April 11, earlier than the rest of the ships. On shore, news spread quickly of the Federal cutter’s arrival. Early the next morning, Confederate cannons at Fort Moultrie opened fi re on Sumter to prevent Federal troops from landing to reinforce the fort. T ese were the fi rst artillery shots of the Civil War.
Later that morning, the transports for the expedition found Harriet Lane at a pre-arranged rendezvous point and the revenue cutter tried to escort them to beleaguered Fort Sumter. By the time the ships neared
the fort, the artillery fi re grew so intense that they had to turn back. Harriet Lane returned to its station guarding the harbor entrance and later that day the cutter observed the approach of a steamer fl ying no national fl ag. Lane ordered the unidentifi ed vessel to heave to and show its colors. T e ship ignored these signals and continued toward Charleston Harbor. Captain Faunce ordered a 32-pound cannon shot fi red across the bow of the steamer, which fi nally raised an American fl ag and Faunce allowed it to pass into the harbor. T is turned out to be the South Carolina steamship Nashville, which later became an infamous blockade-runner and Confederate cruiser. Regarding the shot fi red across Nashville’s bow, Faunce later stated that it “had the desired eff ect.” Historians consider Harriet Lane’s shot fi red across Nashville’s bow as the fi rst naval shot of the Civil War.
With shellfi re raining down on Fort Sumter, and no protection for the Federal troop transports, further relief eff orts were futile. T e fort’s commanding offi cer fi nally ordered the white fl ag raised. Under the white fl ag, the relief expedition evacuated the troops from Sumter. Under Faunce’s command, Harriet Lane escorted the troop ships back to New York.
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