That would be the 75 men landed on the 11th, to be reenforced by the official landing of 600 more several days later. All without the knowledge that Fort Sumter had been forced to evacuate.

Here are the opinions of Charles B. Boynton, D.D., Assistant Professor at the U.S. Naval Acadmy, 1867 in his "History of the Navy During the Rebellion"

"Let it now be bome in mind that there were already four vessels-of-war at Fort Pickens or off the harbor—the Sabine, the Brooklyn, and two others. The Powhatan was not needed to cover the landing of troops. The vessels already there were not only able to do it, but did do it, with no assistance from the Powhatan. Nor was the Powhatan needed to convoy the transports, for she did not sail in company with them; and, moreover, the Navy Department had provided for the relief of the fort independently of the new expedition, and it had already been done. What, then, was the mission of the Powhatan to Pensacola? If the object was simply to relieve the fort, was it not quite sufficient to send the transports on, and let the vessels already there receive them and protect their landing, as they actually did? The Powhatan was not needed either to convoy the transports or to land the troops, and she did neither of these things. Besides, if there was so great an anxiety in regard to Fort Pickens, what more natural than to have stepped into the office of the Secretary of the Navy to ascertain the actual condition of things? A single inquiry would have disclosed the fact that all needed measures had already been taken, and no second expedition was required.

These facts seem to indicate that—however necessary it might have been to detach the Powhatan from Captain Fox's squadron and secure the failure of his expedition, in order to "keep faith in regard to Sumter," in spite of the President there was no exigency in the public service that required that she should be sent to Pickens. Whatever was intended, the result was that Sumter was delivered into the hands of the rebels."

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David Upton