FORT MOULTRIE
In February 1776, American Patriots began constructing a fort to protect Charles Town from naval attacks and guard the city harbor's main shipping channel. Named for the island on which it was located, Fort Sullivan's construction was unique with walls made of the materials most close at hand: two rows of palmetto logs placed 16 feet apart and packed with beach sand in between.
Its design called for walls 500 feet long and 10 feet high with bastions on each corner, capable of mounting 31 cannon. Yet the fort saw its most historic battle before it was even completed when, on June 28, 1776, the British sent what was then the most powerful naval force of its day to capture Charles Town, America's most important southern port.
Col. William Moultrie commanded fewer than 400 men when the nine British warships, armed with some 300 cannon, attacked. In a magnificent struggle against all odds, the Battle of Fort Sullivan became the Patriots' first major victory of the American Revolution.
Bouyed with confidence from the victory, a week later members of the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of indepence. As Charlestonians like to say: "Had there not been a June 28 in Charleston, there would not have been a July 4 in Philadelphia." Today Charlestonians still celebrate the victory as Carolina Day.
After the battle, the fort was renamed for its commander, Fort Moultrie, though when Charles Town fell and was occupied by the British from 1780-82, it was called Fort Arbuthnot, after British Vice Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot.
After the Revolution, the fort, now completed, was never garrisoned nor maintained. A combination of locals' scavaging building materials and damage from tropical storms quickly reduced the fort to ruins.
England and France proclaimed war upon each other in 1793, establishing naval blockades against each other, blockades that included U.S. ports such as Charleston. Not only were U.S. merchant ships captured, but also British warships sailed into American ports at will.
In response, the U.S. government built a new fort on the site by 1789. Mounting 16 cannon, the new Fort Moultrie was a five-sided brick, timber, and earthen structure with 17-foot high walls.
Unfortunately, this fort was short-lived, destroyed just five years later in the great Hurricane of 1804.
Construction of a new fort began four years later, again with a five-sided design. This third fort featured brick walls 15 feet high with the capacity to mount 40 cannon. Several historical figures passed through the fort prior to the Civil War, including macabre author and poet Edgar Allen Poe; Abner Doubleday, the man most often - and incorrectly - credited wtih inventing basketball; and Osceola, leader of the Seminoles. Six future Civil War generals, five Union (including William Tecumseh Sherman) and one Confederate, were stationed at Fort Moultrie.
When South Carolina seceeded on Dec. 20, 1860, Maj. Robert Anderson was the fort's U.S. commander. As a naval defense, Anderson knew the fort was vunerable to an attack by land, and therefore he evacuated his troops to Fort Sumter a week later.
During the 1863-65 Siege of Charleston, Fort Moultrie was heavily damaged by Union bombardments, though it continued playing an important role in the Confederate defense of Charleston Harbor until the city fell to Union troops on Feb. 17, 1865.
Repairs to the fort began in 1872, but funding ran out before the work was complete. The government purchased more property on Sullivan’s Island for new defensive works in 1896. A year later, construction funding was restored and troops garrisoned the fort.
As the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, three concrete batteries - Bingham, McCorkle, and Lord - were built inside the fort.
About 3,000 troops were stationed at Fort Moultrie during World War I, after which it served as a National Guard and ROTC training facility. From 1933 - 39, a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was located here.
During World War II, the garrison grew and improvements made. In July 1942, German U-boat U-751 mined the harbor entrance. U-455s also laid mines in September. Each time the mines were detected and no shipping was lost. In 1944, the Harbor Entrance Control Post, a joint Army/Navy facility, was added. This would be the army’s last major modernization of Fort Moultrie.
Fort Moultrie was deactivated in 1947 and its buildings either sold to private individuals or transferred to the town of Sullivan’s Island or the state of South Carolina.
In 1960, Fort Moultrie was transferred by the state to Fort Sumter National Monument, a unit of the National Park Service.
