Fort Moultrie

Fort Moultrie
Part of Fort Sumter National Monument
Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, USA
Fort Moultrie. The United States flag is at half-staff because of Gerald R. Ford's death.
Fort Moultrie in 1861.
Coordinates	32°45′34″N 79°51′28″W
Site information
Owner	National Park Service
Open to the public	Yes
Site history
Built	1776 (1776)
In use	1776–1947
Battles/wars	Battle of Sullivan's Island

Confederate Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island looking east into Charleston Harbor.

Fort Moultrie is the name of a series of citadels 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 nickname (Palmetto State) of South Carolina. It is named in honour of the commander in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, General William Moultrie.

Fort Moultrie is the only area of the National Park System where the entire 171-year history of American seacoast defense (1776–1947) can be traced.

History

American Revolution

South Carolina patriots began to build a fort to guard Charleston, South Carolina, harbor in 1776. British Admiral Sir Peter Parker with nine British warships attacked the fort—still unnamed and incomplete—on June 28, 1776, near the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. The soft palmetto logs did not crack under bombardment but rather absorbed the shot; cannon balls reportedly even bounced off the walls of the structure. William Moultrie commanded the 2nd South Carolina Regiment for the revolutionary patriots in this battle, saving Charleston from capture. The fort took its name Fort Moultrie in his honor. Charleston locals celebrate 'Carolina Day' to commemorate the bravery of the defenders of the fort.

The British eventually captured Fort Moultrie in the Siege of Charleston in spring 1780. Nevertheless, the colonists won the war, and British troops departed in 1782.

Early federal period

Great Britain and France began another war in 1793, heightening tensions. The United States of America thence embarked on a systematic fortification of important harbors. Atop the decayed original Fort Moultrie, the Army completed a new fort in 1798; the Army also built nineteen other new forts along the Atlantic coast. A hurricane destroyed Fort Moultrie in 1804, and a brick fort replaced it in 1809.

Fort Moultrie changed little over the next five decades. The Army altered the parapet and modernized the armament, but defense of Charleston centered increasingly around newly created Fort Sumter. By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter, Fort Johnson, and Castle Pinckney surrounded and defended Charleston.

Fort Moultrie nevertheless began to record meteorological observations in the early 1820s.

The Army detained Seminole Indian fighter Osceola and some fellow Seminole prisoners at Fort Moultrie late 1837. Osceola died of malaria in January 1838; the Army buried his corpse at Fort Moultrie and thereafter maintained his grave.

Civil War

South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860. Unlike their counterparts at the other forts, defenders of Fort Moultrie chose not to surrender to the South Carolina forces. On December 26, 1860, Union Major Robert Anderson moved his garrison at Fort Moultrie to the stronger Fort Sumter. On February 8, 1861, South Carolina joined other seceded Deep Southern states to form the Confederate States of America. In April 1861, Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter into submission and the American Civil War began.

In April 1863, Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a bombardment of Fort Moultrie and the other forts around Charleston harbor. Over the ensuing twenty months, Union bombardment reduced Fort Sumter to a rubble pile and pounded Fort Moultrie below a sand hill, which protected it against further Union bombardment. The Rifled cannon proved its superiority to brickwork fortifications but not to the endurance of the Confederate artillerymen who continued to man Fort Moultrie. In February 1865, the Confederate Army finally abandoned the rubble of Fort Moultrie and evacuated the city of Charleston, South Carolina.

Postbellum period

The Army modernized Fort Moultrie in the 1870s with huge rifled cannon and deep concrete bunkers. Further modernization in the 1880s turned all of Sullivan's Island surrounding the old fort into a military complex.

The fort evolved with the times through and beyond World War II. Seacoast defense of the United States ceased as a viable strategy by 1947.

Decommissioning

Department of Defense in 1960 turned Fort Moultrie to National Park Service. National Park Service manages the historic fort as a unit of Fort Sumter National Monument. The National Park Service constructed the fort as a tour backward in time through its defenses from World War II back to the palmetto log fort of William Moultrie.

National Register of Historic Places listed Fort Moultrie Quartermaster and Support Facilities Historic District on September 6, 2007. In 2016, the "America the Beautiful" quarter for South Carolina will feature "Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument)."

External links

• Fort Moultrie
• Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary