New Orleans, May 24, [1861]—A month has elapsed since I began the preparation of the Sumter for sea, and yet we are not ready. Leeds & Co. have not given us our tanks, and we only received the carriage for the 8-inch gun to-day. The officers are all present and the crew has been shipped, and all are impatient to be off. The river is not yet blockaded but expected to be to-morrow . It must be a close blockade and by heavy vessels that will keep us in. Troops are being collected in large numbers in the enemy’s States. Marchings and countermarchings are going on and the fleet seems to be kept very busy scouring hither and thither, but nothing accomplished. Whilst penning the last paragraph news reaches us that the Lincoln Government has crossed the Potomac and invaded Virginia. Thus commences a bloody and a bitter war. So be it; we but accept the gauntlet which has been flung in our faces. The future will tell a tale worthy of the South and her noble cause.
Extracts from the journal of Commander Semmes, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Sumter
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