Fort Moultrie -- Acoastal Defense Fort for almost 200 years

We visited Ft. Moultrie which is located on Sullivan's Island on the north side of Charleston Harbor. The fort was first built in 1776 out of palmetto logs and earth-filled berms. The fort was not even complete when it was attacked by a large British fleet, but was successful in beating the fleet back and saving the harbor. The Commander of the force in the fort was none other than William Moultrie, who went on to become both a Major General and Governor of South Carolina. As a result of this great victory, the Fort was named in his honor after this.

Orinda is looking at the powder magazine and contrary to her happy smile, she was not pleased to be in this confined space!

The Fort served until 1947 and went through a number of different iterations. Today, you can tour the Fort and see parts that are restored to be typical of WWII, WWI, the Spanish American War, Civil War and even earlier. Very interesting.

Fort Moultrie's next major claim to fame is the shelling of Ft. Sumter, seen here, in the middle of Charleston Harbor. This bombardment was part of the overall action that started the Civil War.
Union forces then began a siege of both captured forts and shelled Sumter and Moultrie for some 20 months, but never succeeded in defeating them. The forts finally fell to the Union when the city of Charleston was abandoned by the Confederacy in early 1865.

There are cannons from each period that Ft. Moultrie was in service mounted behind the walls, with these representing the late 1800 era.

This view shows the interior of the fort where you can see the earth-filled hills that proved resistant to cannon fire. The Fort is really a great walk through time starting at the most modern time and moving back to Revolutionary War times.