Fort Sumter

  On Wednesday we went back to Charleston and went on the tour of Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. There are two departure points for boats going to the fort which is Charleston Harbor. One is Patriots Point and one is in Liberty Square. We went to Liberty Square and took the 2:30 tour because we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get there and to park and grab lunch. Hint: you can take your own refreshments onto the boat so we picked up sandwiches at the East Bay Deli before boarding. Liberty Square is also where there are displays and historical information on the fort, slavery and southern culture before the war. The boat started boarding promptly at 2:15 and was under way by 2:30. The ride is about 38 minutes to the fort and you can see many sights along the way. We even a couple of dolphins swimming right on the bow of the ship for a while.

 

  Charleston is flanked by the Ashley and Cooper rivers and the Arthur Ravenel bridge spans them. It is the longest concrete suspended cable bridge in the country.

 

 

  Also the Fighting Lady is seen at her permanent resting spot:

 

  Charleston at one time was protected by four military forts including Castle Pickney which is seen here:

 

  The other forts were Fort Moultrie and Fort Johnson. Fort Sumter was the most defensible of the four installations and Major Robert Anderson moved his garrison there from Fort Moultrie a few days before the bombardment of Sumter began. Fort Sumter was actually not totally complete in its construction and armament. Only half of its guns were installed when the war commenced and Major Anderson held out as long as he could. The Fort was reduced to rubble after 34 straight hours of bombardment. The top two tiers of the structure were obliterated and the fort today looks nothing like it did in 1861:

 

 

 

The current entrance is the left face of the pentagon shaped fort I believe. The original entrance, or sally port was on the gorge side which was the longest and lightest defended side. The gorge took the brunt of the attack because most of the fire came from what would have been expected to be the friendly side facing the mainland. 

 

  There are various cannon on display:

 

 

 

  The crew included an officer and about 12 enlisted men to fire it. This photo gives you a good idea of how imposing the original fort must have been when it was three stories high:





 

  The fort was reinforced during the Spanish- American War with the addition of the Huger Battery but thankfully never saw action.

#6 is the main entrance today and #12 is the gorge wall where the original entrance was located. The large black edifice is the Battery Huger. The area behind Battery Huger is all the rubble from the top two tiers used to fill in that part of the fort so you are actually looking out over the top of the fort.

 

  The battery now houses a gift shop, museum, and restrooms. The is an elevator but unfortunately it was out of service. They say a work order was put, LOL, but it looked as if it has been broken a while so once again Doreen was relegated to the parade ground and I wondered all over. They only give you an hour on the island which is not enough time to read everything as I like to do. You can get an extended ticket for $5 more but then you are there for four hours. The museum alone would take an hour. But I did get a shot of Major Anderson's battle flag which he was permitted to take with him when Confederate General P.G.T Beauregard allowed the fort to evacuate to the supply ship Star of the West. Amazingly it remained in his family's possession until 1904 when it was donated to the fort.

 

  There are several stories about the salvaging of the colors that fateful day on April 13, 1861 but one thing is true; several soldiers gave their lives to preserve the everlasting symbol of freedom.

God Bless America and the Union.