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
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
| 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
| 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.
|
{"selectable":false,"width":"500"} |
Location: 1214 Middle Street, Sullivan's Island, SC 29482 Maps & Images Lat: 32.759382 Long: -79.857666 |
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:
Visited: No
Fort Moultrie Picture Gallery
|
Click on the picture to see a larger version. Contribute additional pictures - the more the better! |