The fort bore little resemblance to the impressive work that had stood there when the war began in During the decade following the war, the Army attempted to put Fort Sumter back into shape as a military installation. The horizontal irregularity of the damaged or destroyed walls was gien some semblance of uniformity by levelling jagged portions and rebuilding others. A new sally port was cut through the left flank; storage magazines and cisterns were constructed; and gun emplacements were located.
Eleven of the original first-tier gunrooms at the salient and along the right face were reclaimed and armed with pounder Parrott guns.
From to Fort Sumter was not garrisoned and served mainly as a lighthouse station. During this period maintenance of the area was so poor that the gun platforms were allowed to rot, the guns to rust, and the area to erode. The impending Spanish-American War, however, prompted renewed activity that resulted in the construction of Battery Huger in and the installation of two long-range inch rifles the following year. Fortunately, the war ended quickly and the guns were never fired in anger.
For the next 20 years, however, although maintained by the Army, the fort was not used as a military establishment. But it did become a destination for tourists until World War II brought about the fort's reactivation. The Battery Huger rifles, long since outmoded, were removed about During late World War II, mm antiaircraft guns were installed along the fort's right flank and manned by a company of Coast Artillery.
The guide below highlights the main historical portions of the fort today. For those who wish to inspect the fort at their own pace, this text describes a short tour of both ruins and exhibits. Sally Port The left-flank wall here is less than half its original height. This entryway was built in the s and replaced a gun embrasure. Left-Flank Casemates The first tier of casemates gunrooms was surmounted by a second tier similar in appearance but considerably taller.
This pattern was also followed on the fort's right flank and on its right and left faces. Enlisted Men's Barracks Ruins Paralleling the left-flank casemates, this three-story building had a mess hall on the first floor and sleeping quarters on the upper floors.
There was another barracks for enlisted men on the right flank. Officers' Quarters Ruins Three stories high, this building extended the entire length of the gorge. In it were lodgings for officers, administrative offices, storerooms, a guardhouse, and powder magazines. For an unknown reason, the powder magazine in this corner of the barracks exploded on December 11, , killing 11 and wounding 41 Confederates. The explosion also tilted the arch over the entrance to the magazine.
Union Garrison Monument The U. Government erected this monument in in memory of the Union defenders during the opening bombardment of the Civil War. Parade Ground When Battery Huger was built in , the remainder of the parade was filled with sand. The National Park Service removed fill 20 feet deep from this area in the s. Several of the projectiles still protrude from the wall.
Outside the casemate ruins are two inch Rodman guns, an eight-inch Columbiad, and a inch mortar. The Army moved them to the fort in the s. Right-Gorge Angle From a gun in the first-tier casemates, Capt. Abner Doubleday fired the first shot from Fort Sumter on April 12, Mountain Howitzer Confederates used light field pieces like this pounder mountain howitzer to defend against a surprise landing by Union forces.
This was the original entrance to the fort. To help preserve the fort, we ask that you not climb or sit on cannons or brickwork.
Do not disturb or remove artifacts. The fort is open 10 a. At other times of the year the hours vary. For Your Safety While every effort has been made to make your visit safe and enjoyable, you must remain alert and cautious in all areas of the fort. Be especially careful on stairways and uneven surfaces.
From the time of the earliest European settlements to the end of World War II, coastal fortifications guarded the harbors and shores of the United States. Here at Fort Moultrie the story of two centuries of seacoast defense is told through a unique plan of restoration. Five sections of the fort and two outlying areas, each mounting typical weapons, represent a different historical period in the life of the three Fort Moultries. The first fort on Sullivans Island was still incomplete when Adm.
Sir Peter Parker and nine warships attacked it on June 28, After a nine-hour battle, the ships were forced to retire.
Charleston was saved from British occupation, and the fort was named in honor of its commander, William Moultrie. In the British finally captured Charleston, abandoning it only with the advent of peace. After the Revolution Fort Moultrie was neglected, and by little of it remained. Then, in , war broke out between England and France. The next year Congress, seeking to safeguard American shores, authorized the First American System of nationwide coastal fortifications.
A second Fort Moultrie, one of 20 new forts along the Atlantic Coast, was completed in It too suffered from neglect and was finally destroyed by a hurricane in By many of the other First System fortifications were in need of extensive repair.
Congress responded by authorizing funds for a Second American System, which included a third Fort Moultrie. By a new brick fort stood on Sullivans Island. Between and Fort Moultrie changed little. The parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but the big improvement in Charleston's defenses during this period was the construction of Fort Sumter at the entrance of the harbor.
Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Sumter into submission, plunging the nation into civil war. In April Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a month bombardment of Sumter and Moultrie, yet Charleston's defenses held.
When the Confederate army evacuated the city in February , Fort Sumter was little more than a pile of rubble and Fort Moultrie lay hidden under the bank of sand that protected its walls from Federal shells. The new rifled cannon used during the Civil War had demolished the brick-walled fortifications.
Fort Moultrie was modernized in the s, employing concepts developed during the war. Huge new cannon were installed, and magazines and bombproofs were built of thick concrete, then buried under tons of earth to absorb the explosion of heavy shells. Endicott to head a board to review the coastal defenses of the United States and recommend how they might be improved in light of newly developing weapons technology. The system that emerged, named for Endicott, again modernized the nation's fortifications.
New batteries of concrete and steel were constructed in Fort Moultrie. Larger weapons were emplaced elsewhere on Sullivans Island, and the old fort became just a small part of the Fort Moultrie reservation that covered much of the island. As technology changed, harbor defense became more complex. The world wars brought new threats of submarine and aerial attack and required new means of defense at Moultrie.
Yet these armaments also became obsolete as nuclear weapons and guided missiles altered the entire concept of national defense. Today Fort Moultrie has been restored to highlight the major periods of its history.
The first time, on June 28, , during the Revolutionary War, the 30 smoothbore cannon of the original fort drove off a British fleet mounting guns. Despite its lack of use in combat, the fort was maintained until to provide a ready, and inexpensive, deterrent to any prospective enemy. Civil War By the s, seacoast weapons like this rifled and banded pounder used by Confederates at Fort Moultrie stood side by side with older.
For nearly two years, Federal forces bombarded the Charleston forts from land and sea, and though the masonry walls of Forts Sumter and Moultrie crumbled under the shelling, both forts were able to hold back the Union attacks. By noon the fort was almost uninhabitable. Major Anderson realized there was no point in subjecting his hungry, exhausted and half-suffocated men to further pounding.
On Sunday, April 14, , Major Anderson and his garrison marched out of Fort Sumter with drums beating and colors flying. A Confederate boat waited to take them to join the Federal fleet outside Charleston Harbor.
Neither side knew what the future would hold. It was a proud moment for the southerners when the first official flag of the Confederacy — the "Stars and Bars" — was run up the flagstaff, announcing to all that the Confederates were now in possession of Fort Sumter.
During the next four years the fort would be pounded into rubble by Union forces but it would never again be surrendered. Skip to main content. Board of Education and School Desegregation Brown v. Bush: U. Reading Primary Sources: an introduction for students Appendix B.
Wills and inventories: a process guide Appendix C. Who created this source, and what do I know about her, him, or them? When was the source produced? Where was the source produced? Contextualize the Source What do I know about the historical context of this source?
What do I know about how the creator of this source fits into that historical context? Why did the person who created the source do so? Explore the Source What factual information is conveyed in this source?
What opinions are related in this source? What is implied or conveyed unintentionally in the source? What is not said in the source? What is surprising or interesting about the source? What do I not understand about the source? Two years after the April bombardment, the next military action against Fort Sumter took place on April 7, Three months later, in July, a U.
Army-Navy force began operations to move onto Morris Island, erect batteries, bombard and capture Fort Sumter, and remove the harbor obstructions so that the navy could enter the harbor and capture Charleston. After two failed assaults against Wagner, siege operations were initiated to force the Confederates to give up their hold on the island.
This included construction of artillery batteries that mounted the largest rifled guns ever used in combat in the United States. On August 17, , the first major bombardment of Fort Sumter began with the batteries at ranges from two to two and one-half miles, plus the heavy guns from five Federal warships.
In the first seven days more than 5, heavy artillery rounds were fired. Outgunned, on August 23 Fort Sumter fired only 6 rounds in its defense, the last ever fired in combat from the fort. With the end of this bombardment on September 2, more than 7, rounds had been fired at the fort, giving it the appearance of a mass of ruins.
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