Edgar Allan Poe LIbrary

Poe's Charleston

Poe Classical's Debut in the May I Have This Dance Program 2010

Fort Moultrie

Fort Moultrie
South Carolina

Fort Moultrie is a unit of Fort Sumter National Monument. The site is located on Sullivan's Island near Charleston, SC.

Where The American Civil War Began

Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.

Defender of Charleston Harbor

On June 28, 1776, as British warships moved to conquer the South Carolina city of Charleston, Colonel William Moultrie and a force of Patriot soldiers stood behind unfinished palmetto log walls and prepared to defend the city.
Moultrie had been warned by General Charles Lee that the British guns would
knock his fort down around his years, but the fiery officer replied that he would fight from the rubble.

For nine hours Moultrie withstood the fire of nine British warships, returning fire with cannon shots that swept the decks of the enemy vessels. The palmetto logs of Moultrie's fort did not shatter from the impact of British cannon balls, but instead the soft logs absorbed the iron balls much as a
sponge absorbs water.

The flag of the fort was shot down at one point, but Sergeant William Jasper braved a storm of shot and shell to retrieve it and return the colors to their place over the works.

In the end, Moultrie and his men prevailed. The badly battered fleet withdrew and the fort on Sullivan's Island became a landmark of the American Revolution. Named Fort Moultrie in honor of the brave colonel who had defended it in 1776, it is a place of honor for South Carolinians. Moultrie's blue flag with a white crescent in the corner - with the addition of a palmetto tree - was adopted as South Carolina's official state flag.

The original fort was replaced by a newer work in 1798, but that Fort Moultrie was destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. Work on the present structure was completed in 1809.

Held by the U.S. Army for the next fifty years, Fort Moultrie served as a prison for the great Seminole Chief Osceola. He died there and is buried just outside the gate.

Other prominent 19th century individuals who spent time as soldiers at Fort Moultrie included General William Tecumseh Sherman and the noted writer, Edgar Allen Poe.

Evacuated by U.S. troops on December 26, 1860, Fort Moultrie was quickly occupied by Southern forces. Confederate gunners here fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, and the fort was one of the few points around the harbor that received return fire from Sumter.

Confederate engineers covered the old brick walls with massive embankments of sand. This proved to be a good tactic when Fort Moultrie, along with nearby Fort Sumter, was bombarded for 20 straight months by Union forces. Unlike Fort Sumter, which was wrecked by the bombardment, Fort Moultrie remains in excellent condition today.

The fort remained an important U.S. military post until the end of World War II and was modernized with each new generation. Today it preserves an array of fortifications ranging from the original brick walls of the 1809 fort to concrete batteries and observation posts used through World War II.

Today Fort Moultrie is the only unit in the National Park system where the entire 190 year history of the U.S. military's coastal defense efforts can be explored.

Part of Fort Sumter National Monument, the fort is located on Sullivan's Island near Charleston, South Carolina.