Leslie and David's Wanderings: 7 June 2020 Fort Moultrie

Following church services (Youtube), we decided to try another local Mexican restaurants. This time we tried Senior Tequila and were favorably impressed. We received word on Friday that they were opening Fort Sumter and Museum for tours again and had opened the grounds of Fort Moultrie but not the Fort or it’s Visitor Center. So we made reservations for the boat tour to Fort Sumter on Monday and we decided to come to Fort Moultrie today. Fort Moultrie is located on Sullivan Island, across the main shipping channel from Fort Sumter. The first fort built on this site was in April – June 1776, just after South Carolina had announced its independence from Britain. On June 28, 1776 the fort, made of Palmetto Trees and sand severely damaged a British Invasion force of over 50 ships in the one of the early battles of the American Revolution. Four years later the British returned with a larger force and took the town of Charleston. Following the revolution, the fort was rebuilt but a severe hurricane destroyed the fort. Following the war of 1812, the fort was rebuilt using brick as part of the 72 coastal forts built to defend US harbors. The Fort was only partially completed and was not designed to defend against an invasion from the land side of the fort. During this period, Fort Moultrie was used as a prison for Indian chiefs of some of the eastern tribes. The most famous of which was Oceola in January 1838.

Charleston was the center of the African Slave Trade on the east coast of the US. From 1670 to 1807, when the slave trade was outlawed, over 250,000 slaves were sold to US slaveholders through Charleston. This was only 5-6% of the slaves that came to the Americas (North, Central and South). They brought with them the essential skills of raising rice, which was the main export from Charleston until just before the civil war.

On December 20 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. At that time, there were four Federally controlled forts ringing Charleston Harbor. Three of the forts were only staffed by one or two Federal caretaker troops. The majority of the troops were stationed at Fort Moultrie. 85 Union Troops under the command of Major Anderson occupied the fort. Major Anderson realized his position was not defendable and so on 26 December 1860, he moved his troops to the partially completed Fort Sumter in the middle of the harbor. This severely upset the South Carolina legislator, which believed the Forts should revert to their control. The next day, the South Carolina Militia occupied Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson and Castle Pinckney as well as the armory in Charleston. Additional canons were moved into place for the attack on Fort Sumter.

Following the war, Fort Moultrie fell into disrepair. In 1898, with the threat of war with Spain looming on the horizon, the fort was reoccupied and its cannon were updated with long range disappearing cannon and its battlements reinforced with concrete. The forts defenses were improved as part of WW2 defenses. The fort remained occupied by the Army until 1947 when its usefulness was outdated. The lands around Fort Moultrie were sold to private interests and the fort was transferred to the state. In 1961, the fort was transferred back to the federal government and incorporated into the Fort Sumter National Monument. The fort went through significant restoration between 1961 and 1976 before being opened to the public.

We wandered the grounds of Fort Moultrie and read the interpretive signs before wandering down to the beach for the views across the harbor to the city.