Fort Moultrie

Fort Moultrie

Fort Moultrie (1776-1947) - Fort Moultrie is the name of a series of forts on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and motto (Palmetto State) of South Carolina.

Revolutionary War

It was not yet complete and unnamed when when Adm. Sir Peter Parker and nine British warships attacked it on 28 Jun 1776, near the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Legend has it that the soft palmetto logs did not crack under bombardment but rather absorbed the shot; in any case, Charleston was saved from capture, and the fort was named for the commander in the battle, William Moultrie.

As tensions hightened after Great Britain and France declared war in 1793, the United States embarked on a systematic fortification of important harbors. A new Fort Moultrie, one of 20 new First System forts along the Atlantic coast, was completed over the decayed original fort in 1798. Destroyed by a hurricane in 1804, it was replaced by a Second System brick fort by 1809.

During the Seminole War, Osceola, a chief, and 200 Seminoles were imprisoned in the fort; Osceola's tomb is there.

U.S. Civil War

Between 1809 and 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little; the parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but newly created Fort Sumter became the main component of Charleston's defense. Of the four forts around Charleston harbor, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, Fort Johnson, and Castle Pinckney, it was Moultrie's defenders who chose to fight against the Confederacy; they retreated to the stronger Fort Sumter when in December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union. Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter into submission and the U.S. Civil War began. In April 1863, Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a 20-month bombardment of Forts Sumter and Moultrie; the Confederates held the forts and the harbor until February 1865, when the army evacuated the city. By then, Fort Sumter was a pile of rubble, and Fort Moultrie had been pounded below a sand hill, which subsequently protected it against Federal bombardment. Rifled cannon had proved their superiority to brickwork fortifications, but not to the endurance of the Confederate artillerymen who manned the forts throughout.

Post U.S. Civil War

Fort Moultrie was modernized in the 1870s, with huge rifled cannon and deep concrete bunkers; further modernization in the 1880s turned all of Sullivans Island into a military complex, of which the old fort was just a part. Fort Moultrie was upgraded during the Endicott Period and again during World War II.

Fort Moultrie Endicott Period Batteries

Battery	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Years
Capron	8	12"	Mortar Carriage	1898-1942
Butler	8	12"	Mortar Carriage	1898-1942
Jasper	4	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1898-1942
Thompson	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1906-1945
Gladsen	4	6"	Disappearing Carriage	1906-1917
Logan	2	6"	Disappearing Carriage	1906-1944
Bingham	2	4.7" British Armstrong	Pedestal Mounts	1899-1918
McCorkle	2	3"	Masking Pedestal Mount	1899-1943
Lord	2	3"	Pedestal Mount	1899-1946
Source: Coastal Defense Study Group

Fort Moutrie World War II Batteries

Battery	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Years
AMTB #2	2	90 mm	Fixed Pedestal	1943-1946
#125	2	16" Navy Gun 1940 Program	Long Range Barbette Carriage
#230	2	6" 1940 Program	Long Range Barbette Carriage	1943
Source: Coastal Defense Study Group

It was Charleston's chief harbor defense until 1947, when it was abandoned. Fort Moultrie is part of Fort Sumter National Monument

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Location: 1214 Middle Street, Sullivan's Island, SC 29482 Maps & Images Lat: 32.759382 Long: -79.857666 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation:

Sources:

Links:

• National Park
• Abner Doubleday Account, Civil War

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