Fort Moultrie: Constant Defender (Handbook)

By Jim Stokely

This officical government handbook provides a vivid account of the men and events at Fort Moultrie, which defended the sea approaches to Charleston, South Carolina from 1776 until the end of World War... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912627271
• ISBN13: 9780912627274
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: National Park Service Division of Publication
• Length: 78 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The history of Charleston's most significant fort

Fort Sumter gets most of the attention when it comes to coastal fortifications protecting the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, but long before Fort Sumter was built another fort, located on the strategically crucial Sullivans Island, played its part in the history of Charleston, the state of South Carolina, and the nation itself. This 1978 volume, published by the Government Printing Office, tells the story of Fort Moultrie's history. As the American Revolution began running hot, a General Moultrie insisted that he could defend Charleston from an incomplete fort located on Sullivans Island - any invading ship basically had to come right by the island thanks to the sandbars and other hazards of the harbor. His superiors did not agree and were about to replace General Moultrie when fate intervened in the form of British ships coming over the horizon. Much to the surprise of everyone (except Moultrie, for whom the fort would be named), the fort's firepower repelled the British attack. This put a real monkey wrench in Britain's plans for a Southern campaign in 1776 and helped inspire the nation in the giddy days surrounding the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Fort Moultrie and Charleston fell three years later, but Fort Moultrie would rise again.Life at Fort Moultrie seemed to go in cycles; in between wars, the fort was neglected and, on a number of occasions, battered badly by hurricanes. In times of potential conflict, the fort would be rebuilt or repaired, oftentimes falling back into neglect all too soon - as, for example, in the period leading up to the War of 1812. The Nullification Crisis of 1832 saw the fort thriving momentarily, but not until the War Between the States would Fort Moultrie return to the headlines. It played a crucial role in forcing the surrender of federal troops at Fort Sumter in the first days of the War (the Union troops who had been occupying the fort actually snuck away to Fort Sumter in the middle of the night before the fighting even began). Several advances into the harbor by Union ships met with stalemate or rebuff, and Rebel soldiers only abandoned the fort in the final days of the War when Confederate defeat was already assured. As the decades passed, the fort saw usage as a training center, until it was finally deactivated in 1947 - new tactics and the rise of aircraft carriers had finally, after almost two centuries of service, made the fort obsolete. Over the course of its history, Fort Moultrie offers an object lesson of sorts in the evolution of coastal fortification. A number of famous men served at Fort Moultrie over the years, including the scourge of the South (we do not speak his name), General George C. Marshall, and Edgar Allen Poe. Poe actually refers to the old fort in several of his stories. With a plentiful supply of illustrations and photographs, this history of Fort Moultrie is in no way boring, and a great deal of information on the history of American warfare can