Daniel Ammen, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 7.2, The Atlantic Coast
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

In speaking of the transports he says: ‘The transport steamers Union, Belvidere, Osceola, and Peerless have not arrived (on the 8th). Two of them are known to be lost, and it is probable they all are. It is gratifying, however, to say that none of the troop transports connected with the land forces were lost, though the Winfield Scott had to sacrifice her whole cargo, and the Roanoke a portion of her cargo to save the lives of the regiments on board. The former will be unable to again put to sea.’

The loss of these army transports, all of them of light draught, interfered seriously with the intended movements of our troops immediately after the battle of Port Royal, and the lack of shells for the large guns of the smaller navy vessels imposed quiet upon them for a time.

On the afternoon of the 8th General T. W. Sherman made a reconnoissance several miles up the Beaufort River on board of the Seneca. Lumps and bluffs and ruined houses had the semblance of concealed batteries, but there were none; the preparations for defence by the enemy were confined to the works captured, so far as the waters of Port Royal Harbor and the creeks and rivers were concerned. The same day all of the troops yet on board of the transports were debarked, mostly on Hilton Head, and the construction of a large entrenched camp was immediately begun.

The navy vessels for the most part that had been engaged in the attack on Port Royal were sent at once to blockade duty, leaving the smaller gunboats to an examination of the internal waters, and soon after, the harbors in the vicinity. The Unadilla was sent up Broad River, and the Seneca, Pembina, and Penguin went to Beaufort, under the supposition still that guns would be found in position, in