Tim Murphy
- May 26
- 18 min read

Fort Sumter

On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired upon the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter—an island fortress centered in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This hostility did not develop in isolation, rather the culmination of decades-long sectionalism and progressively-divergent partisan politics, specifically the interwoven issues of slavery and state sovereignty. The object of instigative action, Fort Sumter became a springboard for the American Civil War—its beleaguered embattlements symbolic of Southern independence, and dichotomously, Northern resilience to preserve the Union.

ANTEBELLUM HISTORY

“Providing for the common defence [sic] will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of

the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

— President George Washington in his First Annual Address to Congress; January 8, 1790

The context behind Washington’s prevenient quote became acutely relevant during the War of 1812, when inadequate national security measures, specifically vulnerable coastal defenses, jeopardized the integrity of American sovereignty. On August 24, 1814, invading British troops infamously exploited these pervasive weaknesses at the Battle of Bladensburg, which ultimately resulted in the Burning of Washington, D.C. While the Treaty of Ghent (effective February 17, 1815) restored the status quo antebellum and peaceful Anglo-American relations, government officials acknowledged the need for a revamped national military policy. In a letter dated December 15, 1815, President James Madison recommended for “a liberal provision for the immediate extension and gradual completion of the works of defense…on our maritime frontier.” Congress expeditiously appropriated $800,000 for Madison’s ambitious proposal and created a Board of Engineers to survey and design this seacoast fortification network, known contemporarily as the Third System of Coastal Defense.

By 1821, the Board identified fifty strategic fortification sites, one of which being Charleston Harbor; however, plans for Fort Sumter—named after “Gamecock” General Thomas Sumter, who commanded South Carolina militia forces during the Revolutionary War—were not adopted until December 1828. Positioned on a sandbar, the new fortress was contrived to complement Fort Moultrie (located on Sullivan’s Island) and provide concentrated crossfire against enemy fleets attempting to enter Charleston Harbor.

During the first fifteen years of construction, over 100,000 tons of granite were transported from northern quarries and deposited around the tidal shoal, creating a 2.5-acre artificial island to support Fort Sumter’s foundation. This preliminary fabrication stage was repeatedly delayed due to fluctuating periods of high tide and tropical illness outbreaks among the labor force.

Work on Fort Sumter suddenly ceased in November 1834 when the South Carolina State Legislature launched an inquiry investigating “whether the creation of an Island on a shoal in the Channel may not injuriously affect the navigation and commerce of the Harbor.” Apparently, the federal government had commenced construction operations without explicit approval or regard for state affairs. Concomitantly, Charleston resident William Laval—who possessed a vague grant for “870 acres of harbor land”—claimed that Fort Sumter was being built on his property; however, this contestation was nullified by the state’s attorney general in 1837. After years of legal proceedings, the federal government ultimately received title to 125 acres of Charleston Harbor. Construction resumed in January 1841.

On August 21, 1858, the USS Dolphin intercepted the American trading vessel Echo off the coast of Cuba. A boarding party discovered a “most revolting” sight—more than three hundred Africans crowded below deck, wallowing in putrefaction and suffocative living conditions. The Echo had departed West Central Africa with approximately 450 captives six weeks prior, but 137 tragically perished—their bodies unceremoniously dumped overboard during the Trans-Atlantic journey. Many surviving passengers were emaciated by malnourishment, diseased with dysentery, and “reduced to the merest skeletons.”

The Echo and its human cargo were brought to Charleston Harbor on August 27. Fort Sumter and Castle Pinckney provided temporary asylum for the African captives. Sensationalized descriptions of the contrabands prompted local entrepreneurs to organize harbor cruises and view the grim spectacle up close. Witnesses were horrified by the obvious “proof of human depravity.” Several Charlestonians, including some slaves, provided humanitarian aid in the form of foodstuffs, blankets, and medical supplies. Despite these efforts, thirty-five unfortunate souls died in quarantine. In September 1858, President James Buchanan, citing constitutional grounds, consigned the USS Niagara to transport the remaining Echo captives to Liberia. Regrettably, another seventy-one individuals died aboard the steamship during its month-long voyage. Only 196 survived the entire ordeal.

The Echo’s crew were arrested for participating in the international slave trade and charged with piracy—a crime punishable by death, as provisioned by an 1820 law. The criminal trial commenced in April 1859 at a Charleston federal court. Leonidas Spratt, a pro-slavery pundit and newspaper editor, represented the sixteen defendants while U.S. District Attorney James Conner headed the prosecution. Despite the crew’s obvious guilt, Spratt successfully challenged the constitutionality of the 1820 slave trading law with spirited paternalistic arguments. The all-white Southern jury issued “not guilty” verdicts after ninety minutes of deliberation. The Echo’s captain, Edward Townsend, was tried separately at a U.S. Circuit Court in Key West, Florida, and likewise acquitted of wrongdoing.

THE HARBINGER OF CIVIL WAR

“[I]f Sumter was properly garrisoned and armed, it would be a perfect Gibraltar to anything but

constant shelling, night and day, from the four points of the compass…[W]e must, for the present, turn

our attention to preventing it from being re-enforced.”

– Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard

In April 1860, the Democratic Party hosted its national convention at Charleston’s Institute Hall. The primary objective was to appoint a presidential nominee. Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas was the favored candidate, but his endorsement for popular sovereignty policies placed him at odds with radical southern constituents, who supported slavery’s unrestricted expansion into western territories. The delegations of eight states walked out in protest, driving a schism within the Democratic Party. The two bitter factions reconvened in Baltimore, Maryland, six weeks later. While northern delegates championed Douglas’s candidacy, Southern Democrats chose Kentuckian John C. Breckinridge—the contemporary Vice President and pro-secessionist sympathizer. This sectionalism diluted the Democratic Party's strength during the 1860 Presidential Election, providing Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln an easy path to victory.

Like most Republicans, Lincoln found the South’s “peculiar institution” morally abhorrent; however, he acknowledged that utilizing executive power to enact abolitionist legislation could irreparably disband the Union. Therefore, Lincoln espoused a non-expansionist platform, restricting chattel slavery to extant slave states where “it would surely die a slow death.” But radical Southern nationalists (called fire-eaters) were not interested in compromise. On December 20, 1860, in response to Lincoln’s election, 169 members of the South Carolina Social Convention passed and signed an Ordinance of Secession, thereby establishing an independent slaveholding republic.

During this secessionist turmoil, Major Robert Anderson—a 55-year-old Kentucky native and West Point graduate—commanded 85 men from the First U.S. Artillery Regiment and all American fortifications around Charleston Harbor: the Federal Arsenal, Castle Pinckney, Fort Johnson, Fort Sumter, and headquarters at Fort Moultrie (which was in significant disrepair). Confronted with growing threats of violence and insufficient manpower, Anderson found his position at Fort Moultrie untenable. On December 26, 1860, under cover of darkness, Federal troops hastily crossed Charleston Harbor and regarrisoned inside vacant Fort Sumter, only ninety-percent complete at the time. While designed to mount 135 cannons and provide living accommodations for 650 occupants, only fifteen of Fort Sumter’s guns were installed. Sixty-six additional artillery pieces lay unlimbered along with 5,600 rounds of ammunition strewn across the fort’s interior. The soldiers’ barracks were largely unfinished while numerous “temporary wooden structures” occupied the parade grounds.

While Unionists hailed Fort Sumter’s occupation as a symbol of steadfast American authority, fire-eaters reviled the move as a hostile act that defied South Carolina’s peaceable efforts to secede. After learning of Anderson’s attempted subterfuge, South Carolina Governor Francis Pickens mobilized the state militia. Thousands of men obeyed the call to arms, gradually amassing along Charleston’s coastline and seizing abandoned field defenses.

Amidst escalating tensions, outgoing President James Buchanan dispatched an unarmed steamer, Star of the West—loaded with provisions and two hundred reinforcements—to relieve Anderson’s isolated garrison. On the morning of January 9, 1861, as the Star approached Fort Sumter, Confederate defenders (namely Citadel Military College students stationed on Morris Island) fired upon the supply vessel, forcing its withdrawal. This deliberate attack only reaffirmed the inevitability of “bloody conflict.” By February 4, the states of Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana had issued their own articles of secession, effectively creating “a great Slaveholding Confederacy, stretching its arm over a territory larger than any power in Europe possesses.”

Major Anderson’s petulant refusal to concede Fort Sumter prompted Governor Pickens to send state attorney general Isaac W. Haynes to Washington D.C. and diplomatically request the garrison’s recall. When solicitation failed, Haynes attempted to negotiate a price for Fort Sumter’s acquisition. President Buchanan declined to entertain such concessions.

In early March 1861, the Confederate government assumed control of military operations around Fort Sumter. Newly commissioned Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard—a graduate and former superintendent of West Point—was appointed to command all Southern troops “[within the vicinity of] Charleston Harbor” two days later. Ironically, Beauregard’s favorite instructor at West Point had been artillerist Robert Anderson, whose garrison occupied the contested fortress.

As March bled into April, Anderson’s men began running low on rations. After much deliberation, President Lincoln dispatched several merchant vessels—accompanied by an armed naval flotilla under Captain Gustavus Vasa Fox—to resupply Fort Sumter. On April 4, Secretary of War Simon Cameron informed Anderson of the pending relief effort. A courtesy notification was also conveyed to Governor Pickens and General Beauregard four days later. On April 10, Confederate Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker directed Beauregard to “at once demand [Fort Sumter’s] evacuation, and if this is refused, proceed in such manner as you may determine to reduce it.”

During the early midnight hours of April 12, three of Beauregard’s aides—James Chesnut Jr., A.R. Chisolm, and Stephen D. Lee—arrived at Fort Sumter and presented Major Anderson with the following terms of surrender:

“SIR: The Government of the Confederate States has hitherto forborne from any hostile

demonstration against Fort Sumter in the hope that the Government of the United States, with a view

to the amicable adjustment of all questions between the two governments, and to avert the calamities

of war, would voluntarily evacuate it.…I am ordered by the Government of the Confederate States to

demand the evacuation of Fort Sumter.…all proper facilities will be afforded for the removal of

yourself and your command, together with company arms and property, and all private property, to

any post in the United States which you may select. The flag which you have upheld so long and with

so much fortitude, under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down.”

After a brief discussion, Anderson and his staff unanimously refused Beauregard’s terms. The Confederate emissaries subsequently asked when the garrison may run out of supplies. The major estimated April 15; however, with the imminent arrival of Lincoln’s naval convoy, this answer proved unacceptable. At 3:20 am, the rebel officers departed Fort Sumter, warning that a bombardment—and consequently the American Civil War—would begin in one hour.

Precisely at 4:30 am, a ten-inch mortar was launched across Charleston Harbor, bursting midair over Fort Sumter—the unmistakable signal for the Confederate cannonade to commence. Ardent Virginia secessionist Edward Ruffin has long been credited with firing the first shot at Fort Sumter; however, that distinction belongs to Captain George S. James, the battery commander at Fort Johnson. Ruffin did, in fact, discharge the first projectile from the glorified “Iron Battery” a few moments later.

The Sumter garrison stood to reveille that morning from their bombproofs, safely hidden from the shrapnel and shell fragments flying about the parapet. Around 7 am, the Federals finally responded when Anderson’s second-in-command Captain Abner Doubleday fired a 32-pounder towards Cummings Point. While the shot was fired accurately enough, the shell bounced harmlessly off the Iron Battery’s armored exterior.

Daylight witnessed intensified bombardment efforts and the arrival of Fox’s relief flotilla, which remained beyond the range of rebel guns, much to Anderson’s dismay. The sight of reinforcements was tantalizingly close, but as Captain Doubleday admitted, “[entering the harbor] would probably have resulted in the sinking of every vessel.” The Federal garrison quickly grew weary. Supplies reached critical lows amidst the hurricane of artillery projectiles and debris.

On April 13, Confederate field command authorized the use of “hot shot” which caused incendiary damage to Sumter’s wooden structures, consequently endangering its gunpowder magazine. Around 1 pm, a rebel projectile struck the fort’s flagpole, felling the Stars and Stripes. Sensing an opportunity for peaceful intervention, Colonel Louis T. Wigfall—a former Texas senator—rowed towards embattled Fort Sumter under his own volition; a white handkerchief waving from his sword. The Confederate officer entered through an embrasure and presented himself as an envoy from General Beauregard. Wigfall praised the Federal command for its gallant defense of Fort Sumter and recapitulated negotiations for surrender. Major Anderson solemnly stated, “I have already stated the terms to General Beauregard. Instead of noon the fifteenth, I will go now.” Satisfied with Anderson’s response, Wigfall sailed back to Cummings Point with the triumphant news. A ceasefire was instituted around 1:30 that afternoon.

Shortly after Wigfall’s departure, another boat carrying Stephen D. Lee and two other Confederate emissaries docked at Fort Sumter’s wharf. What ensued was a frustrating and briefly confusing encounter for Federal leadership. The rebel envoy informed Fort Sumter’s garrison that Colonel Wigfall had acted on his own accord and without Beauregard’s knowledge, therefore the terms of his surrender negotiations were invalid. In an outburst of understandable outrage, Anderson threatened to run up the American flag and resume his defense, but the impetuous major was quickly restrained. Lee promised to convey Anderson’s requests to General Beauregard, who expeditiously approved the conditions within the hour.

Over three thousand projectiles were fired at Fort Sumter during the 34-hour bombardment. The terreplein level was completely destroyed. Craters pitted the inner walls and parade grounds. Flames smoldered from gutted barracks and charred gun carriages. Despite this interior damage, the exterior battlements remained in relatively good condition. Astonishingly, not a single soldier on either side was killed during the action—a bloodless opening to America’s bloodiest war.

On April 14, prior to his garrison’s departure, Major Anderson arranged a one-hundred-gun salute to the American flag. The demonstration began in earnest at two o’clock that afternoon. During the 47th salvo, a stray spark prematurely ignited several exposed charges, causing a fierce explosion that maimed six members of Company E. Private Daniel Hough—killed instantly when molten shrapnel disarticulated his right arm—was the first soldier to die in the Civil War. Another man, Private Edward Galloway, died several days later from his wounds. Major Anderson ordered the salute to cease at fifty rounds and had Private Hough buried on the parade ground. Around 4 pm, the Federal garrison marched out of Fort Sumter while the band played “Yankee Doodle.” Aboard the steamer Isabel, Major Anderson’s command sailed out of Charleston Harbor. Confederate soldiers on Cummings Point lined the beach; their heads uncovered in tribute to Sumter’s brave defenders. Following the evacuation of Federal troops, Fort Sumter was occupied by Company B of the 1st South Carolina Artillery Battalion and the Palmetto Guard volunteer militia.

The port of Charleston prospered during the first two years of war—its open trade network a crucial lifeline for Confederate welfare. The harbor’s main shipping channel, which passed between Forts Moultrie and Sumter, was heavily defended by Confederate forces. Floating booms, barrel torpedoes, and other obstructions dissuaded enemy fleets from invasion.

On April 7, 1863, nine Union ironclads attempted to break through Charleston Harbor’s mine-laden shipping channel. When the lead monitor, Weehawken, came within range of Fort Sumter, rebel gunners assailed the frigate with unrelenting determination. Confederate batteries positioned on Sullivans Island, Fort Moultrie, and Cummings Point joined the barrage against the unwieldy ironclads, launching more than 2200 projectiles in two hours. Unable to organize an effective response, the flotilla’s commander, Union Rear Admiral Samuel Du Pont, ordered retreat. Five Union vessels were severely damaged during the exchange. The monitor Keokuk was hit ninety times and sank the following day. Confederate scavengers recovered the wreckage and mounted one of its guns at Fort Sumter.

Du Pont’s humiliating defeat forced Federal leaders to rethink their military tactics against Charleston’s defenses. Tenth Corps commander General Quincy A. Gillmore and Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren arranged a joint offensive against Morris Island and its Confederate stronghold Battery Wagner—the principal outpost for Fort Sumter that commanded the southern approaches of Charleston Harbor. On the morning of July 10, Gillmore’s men (three thousand infantry supported by four ironclads) maneuvered north from Folly Island. Directing the attack was Brigadier General Truman Seymour, who was previously stationed at Fort Sumter as a company commander. The Union force easily swept over Morris Island, but faced stiff resistance behind Battery Wagner, which withstood naval and artillery bombardments for over a week. Facing well-entrenched Confederates, the Federal war machine prepared to incorporate newly organized African American regiments for an audacious frontal assault.

Following the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, President Lincoln advocated for the mass enlistment of Black soldiers. Massachusetts Governor John Andrew quickly answered the call and assembled the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment—one of the first all-Black units to serve in the American armed forces—numbering nearly one thousand men from across New England. Governor Andrew chose Colonel Robert Gould Shaw of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry to lead this revolutionary regiment. The son of prominent abolitionists, Shaw had already seen combat (wounded at Antietam) and possessed valuable insight regarding military discipline and organization. On May 28, 1863—after several weeks of drilling at Camp Meigs in Readville, Massachusetts—the 54th regiment paraded through the streets of Boston, boarded the ship DeMolay, and departed for South Carolina.

Throughout the afternoon of July 18, Federal guns poured a “storm of shot and shell upon Fort Wagner…without cessation or intermission…perhaps unequalled in history,” softening the rebel defenses. Three Union brigades—numbering six thousand men under General Seymour—assembled accordingly to assault Battery Wagner. Leading the attack was Shaw’s 54th Massachusetts regiment, who bravely trudged towards the imposing Confederate fortification. When they were within two hundred yards, artillery fire violently clamored from behind the sand dunes, followed by a devastating musket volley that tore huge gaps in the Union ranks. Those who survived this fierce fusillade found temporary reprieve within the waist-deep waters of the fort’s drainage ditch before scrambling up the parapet. Shaw himself ascended the rampart shouting, "Forward, Fifty-fourth!", before falling dead with a bullet through his heart.

Members of the 54th managed to crest Wagner’s walls, but fell back with heavy losses. While they fought valiantly, “the splendid 54th was cut to pieces,” wrote Lewis Douglass, son of Frederick Douglass and veteran of the famed regiment. “The grape and canister shell and Minnie [sic] swept us down like chaff,” he continued, “but still our men went on and on.” The 54th regiment suffered 42% casualties with more than 270 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured of the 650 men who participated in battle. The totality of Seymour’s force suffered 1,500 casualties in the short, savage struggle—ninety percent of his regimental commanders were either killed or wounded fighting against their well-defended enemy.

Though clearly a military defeat, the 54th regiment’s courageous assault on Battery Wagner proved to be a powerful political and symbolic victory. Through their heroic actions, the 54th helped convince a skeptical public and military leadership that Black men could perform bravely on the battlefield. This progressive societal mentality directly increased the recruitment of African American soldiers into the United States army. Frederick Douglass remarked, “[The 54th Regiment] had distinguished itself with so much credit in the hour of trial, the desire to send more such troops to the front became pretty general.”

After the failed assault on Fort Wagner, Union forces resorted to siege tactics. Naval bombardments pummeled Confederate positions throughout the summer. Beginning early on September 5, Federal cannoneers delivered a sustained, 42-hour bombardment—a lively demonstration General Gillmore described as a “spectacle of surpassing sublimity and grandeur.” The Confederates evacuated Fort Wagner overnight on September 6, leaving Morris Island in Union hands. Federal gunners requisitioned the enemy works and installed rifled cannons directed at Fort Sumter.

Union Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren wasted no time. On the morning of September 7, he formally requested Fort Sumter’s Confederate garrison to surrender. Major Stephen Elliot, who had only taken command just two days prior, consulted with General Beauregard and replied, “Inform Admiral Dahlgren that he may have Fort Sumter when he can take it and hold it.” Incensed by Elliot’s instigative response, Dahlgren impulsively ordered an amphibious assault against Fort Sumter the night of September 8-9. Coincidentally, Union land forces under General Gillmore were also preparing to attack Fort Sumter the very same night, but neither commander coordinated their plans with the other.

Dahlgren assigned Commander Thomas H. Stevens from the ironclad USS Patapsco to lead the offensive, notifying him only hours before the operation was to begin. In a meeting with Dahlgren, Stevens expressed his opposition to the attack, citing insufficient resources and preparation time. Meanwhile, inside Fort Sumter, Major Elliot became aware of impending action after intercepting and decoding Union ship signals. Elliot armed his garrison with rifled muskets, hand grenades, and “Greek Fire”—an incendiary chemical weapon. He subsequently notified batteries on James and Sullivans Islands and the CSS Chicora to provide supporting fire when prompted.

Stevens commanded a landing squadron of one hundred Marines and 350 sailors. One division was to perform a diversionary attack against the fort’s northwest face while the remaining four divisions executed the main attack from the southeast. Confederates manning the parapet observed Union rowboats approach, but patiently held their fire. As the first boats landed, Major Elliot launched a red signal rocket into the air and the fighting began.

Instead of waiting for the diversionary action to take effect, boats from the main assault forged ahead. The Confederates unleashed hell upon the attacking Federals, throwing bombs and masonry fragments down the rocky embankments. At the same time, exploding shells from Confederate shore batteries and the ironclad Chicora disrupted incoming amphibious landings, leaving Federal soldiers stranded on hostile territory with little choice but to surrender. After twenty minutes of savage fighting, Union losses were six killed, nineteen wounded, and 102 captured, along with five boats. The Confederates suffered no casualties.

A second major assault against Fort Sumter commenced on October 26, 1863. For 41 days, Union gunners launched 18,000 rounds at the Confederate stronghold—one precise shell ignited the small arms magazine on December 11, killed eleven rebels and wounding 41 more—but the Confederates remained defiant. Ironically, with each ordnance strike, the fort’s walls grew stronger. Crumbled brick and mortar morphed into breastworks measuring twenty feet thick. When reinforced with cotton bales and sandbags, they became virtually impenetrable to artillery projectiles.

The summer of 1864 brought one final attempt to take Fort Sumter. Major General John G. Foster—a former engineer previously stationed at the island fortress who succeeded General Gillmore’s command on May 26, 1864—was convinced that the weary rebels could be pummeled into submission. On July 7, Foster’s batteries opened a sustained bombardment for 61 days, firing an average of 350 rounds per day. Early in the siege, Captain John C. Mitchell, commander of Fort Sumter, fell mortally wounded and was succeeded by Captain Thomas A. Huguenin. Despite relatively sizable losses—twelve killed and thirty-seven wounded, most of whom enslaved laborers—the Confederates remained steadfast in their defense when the final bombs dropped on September 4, 1864. Though heavily damaged, Fort Sumter remained a powerful Confederate earthwork that prevented Union forces from penetrating Charleston Harbor for 587 days—the longest siege in U.S. military history.

On the evening of February 17, 1865, the Fort Sumter garrison, along with all remaining Confederate forces in Charleston, evacuated north to avoid being cutoff by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s advancing Military Division of the Mississippi. Union troops quickly moved to capture the abandoned defensive position the following day. On April 14, 1865, now-Brigadier General Robert Anderson returned to Charleston for a ceremonial re-raising of the American flag over the battered remnants of Fort Sumter.

POSTWAR HISTORY

Coastal defenses remained a national concern in the years following the American Civil War. Improvements in naval warfare, particularly the development of rifled cannons and steam-powered ironclads, rendered many existing masonry fortifications obsolete. In March 1871, Congress passed the Fortifications Bill, which appropriated resources to reconstruct and modernize military installations, including those around Charleston Harbor; however, rebuilding efforts were repeatedly stalled due to insufficient funds and the dissolution of Reconstruction governments in 1876. Fort Sumter sat neglected for over two decades, serving mainly as a light station and maritime navigational aid.

During the late nineteenth century, the design and construction of heavy ordnance advanced rapidly. The development of breech-loading guns rendered 1870s defense improvements inadequate. Beginning in 1885, the Endicott Board scrutinized America’s coastal defenses and instituted a massive construction overhaul—specifically, the installation of reinforced concrete defenses and “disappearing gun carriages,” which could withstand the impacts of modern artillery.

Plans for an Endicott battery at Fort Sumter were drafted in 1895, but implementation was delayed due to the perceived instability of the manmade island. Despite these concerns, construction efforts were revamped with the onset of the Spanish-American War. Between May 1898 and December 1899, U.S. Army Engineers constructed Battery Huger—named after South Carolina Revolutionary War hero Isaac Huger—in the middle of Fort Sumter’s parade ground.

During the early 1900s, Fort Sumter housed no enlisted men—the garrison comprised of one or two non-commissioned officers. The fort was later commandeered by 114 men from the Coast Artillery Corps during World War I, but saw no action. In 1943, Battery Huger was deactivated and its two 12” rifled guns were removed. A new Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat battery was installed, but was only active until 1946. The United States military decommissioned Fort Sumter in 1947. The following year, it was transferred to the National Park Service and deemed a National Monument.

VISITING FORT SUMTER

A conspicuous symbol of the American Civil War, Fort Sumter garners pertinent recognition as one of South Carolina’s premier historical attractions. The seacoast fortification is only accessible by ferry—tickets are currently priced at $37 per adult—with departure points located at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant and Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square in downtown Charleston. The Liberty Square facility features several museum exhibits pertaining to Charleston’s Antebellum society, causal agents of the Civil War, and Fort Sumter’s legacy.

After a thirty-minute harbor cruise, passengers disembark through the sally port to begin their self-guided tour of Fort Sumter. Immediately upon entry, visitors will notice a large, black concrete structure dominating the parade ground. This is Battery Huger, a late-nineteenth century Endicott defensive work that currently houses the Fort Sumter museum. Adjacent to the entryway are the Left Flank Casemates—arched gunrooms that exhibit period artillery pieces.

Fort Sumter’s far right corner features ruins of the Officers’ Quarters and Enlisted Men’s Barracks. Formerly three-story structures, these lodgings were gradually reduced to rubble amidst the hail of Union artillery fire. On December 11, 1863, the small arms magazine here exploded, killing eleven Confederate soldiers and wounding forty-one others.

On top of Battery Huger, a twelve-pound Mountain Howitzer occupies Fort Sumter’s right gorge angle. From this vantage point, visitors can view Morris Island, where the famed 54th Massachusetts regiment launched their ill-fated attack against Battery Wagner. Continuing counterclockwise along the Right Face are a series of lower-tiered casemates. During the Endicott Period, these gunrooms were filled with sand to reinforce Fort Sumter’s walls; however, they were reopened during a 1959 archaeological excavation. Eleven Civil War-era cannons were salvaged from the casemates and are currently displayed throughout the fort’s interior.

Due to strict ferry service schedules, tourists are limited to one hour of visitation, which is hardly enough time to fully appreciate Fort Sumter’s historical landscape and architectural configuration. Despite these time restrictions, this momentous landmark is incredibly fascinating to explore and an integral part of the Charleston experience.