Fort Moultrie: Difference between revisions

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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.

Fort Moultrie	[[\|300px\|thumb\|right\|]]
Fort Moultrie Panorama

Revolutionary War

Fort Moultry 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 Fort Sumter and Fort 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.

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.

Endicott Period

**Fort Moultrie Endicott Period Battery** (edit list)
Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery Capron	8	12"	Mortar	1897-1898-1898-1942	All mortars scrapped & replaced in 1920
Battery Butler	8	12"	Mortar	1897-1898-1898-1942	All mortars scrapped & replaced in 1920
Battery Jasper	4	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1897-1898-1898-1942	2 Guns removed in 1918 replaced in 1919
Battery Thompson	2	10"	Disappearing Carriage	1903-1906-1906-1945
Battery Gadsden	4	6"	Disappearing Carriage	1904-1906-1906-1917
Battery Logan	1 1	6" 6"	Disappearing Carriage Armstrong Pedestal	1898-1899-1899-1944 1898-1899-1899-1904	Gun removed 1904
Battery Bingham	2	4.7"	Armstrong Pedestal	1898-1899-1899-1919	1 gun replaced 1980
Battery McCorkle	2	3"	Masking Pedestal Mount	1900-1901-1901-1920	1 gun replaced 1980
Battery Lord	2	3"	Pedestal Mount	1903-1903-1903-1946	Destroyed
Source: CDSG

World War II

**Fort Moultrie World War II Battery** (edit list)
Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery 520	2	12"	LR Casemate Barbette Carriage	1944-1947	Navy Guns, 1940 Program Guns from Battery Kimble, Fort Travis (2) On Marshall Military Reservation
Battery 125	2	16"	LR Casemate Barbette Carriage	Not Built	Navy Guns, 1940 Program Located on James Island
Battery 230	2	6"	LR Shielded Barbette	1942-1944	Battery built, not Armed
Battery B - Fort Moultrie	4	155mm	Panama Mounts	1942-1947	On Marshall Military Reservation
Battery AMTB 2A - Sullivans Island	2 2	90mm 90mm	Fixed Pedestal Mobile	1943-1946 1943-1946	On Battery Jasper
Source: CDSG

Current Status

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:

Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 716-717
Coast Defense Study Group, CDSG Press, CDSG Digital Library

Links:

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Fort Moultrie Picture Gallery

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 '''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.
-[[Image:FortMoultrie.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Fort Moultrie]]
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+|width="50%"|[[Image:FortMoultrie.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Fort Moultrie]]
+|width="50%"|[[|300px|thumb|right|]]
+|-
+|colspan="2"|[[Image:Fort Moultrie Panorama.jpg|795px|thumb|center|Fort Moultrie Panorama]]
+|}
 ==Revolutionary War==
 Fort Moultry 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]].