Sonya's Blog - Day 177 - Fort Sumter

Sonya’s Blog - Day 177 - December 16th - Fort Sumter

I had booked tickets on Sunday to go on a tour of Fort Sumter, to see the place where the first shots of the Civil War rang out. This fort was built in the Charleston Harbour and can only be accessed by boat. It is run by the National Park Service today. Our tour starts in Charleston at Liberty Square at 11 AM and we were supposed to check in about 1/2 hour before the tour started. I wanted to leave by 9:30 to make sure we had lots of time to get there and find parking.

We managed to get out on time and our commute to Liberty Square didn’t take very long, plus we managed to find parking right away. It was because we left early that everything worked out so well for us, if we had left late it would have been a scramble. We had time to get checked in and get our tickets for boarding and walk down to get a coffee from Starbucks. We got back and still had lots of time so we read the plaques in Liberty Square about important people in Charleston.

It was time to get on the boat. We headed over, had to get the obligatory picture before boarding. I cannot believe how many of these pictures we have had taken, and we have refused plenty of them as well. They get really offended if you refuse to have your picture taken and sometimes it is easier to just let them take it. We never buy the package, so it seems like such a waste. It bugs me.

The boat wasn’t full, but there was a school group that was on board for a field trip. There was a lot of room, so they occupied the lower portion of the boat. Most people wanted to ride up top in the open air part so they had good views and this is where we took our seats. It was a lovely day, but a little windy. I was happy I brought my extra jacket for the boat ride. It took about 1/2 hour to get out to the Island. The Ranger gave us a little history lesson about Fort Sumter on our way out. We arrived at Fort Sumter and were allowed to explore on our own, we had just over an hour until the boat left. It is not very large, so we had lots of time. There were lots of information boards throughout the Fort that expanded on the history lesson that we had just received. There was also a museum that detailed the history of the fort and it’s particular importance in the Civil War.

After the war of 1812 it was determined that the American defences on the coast were inadequate. Construction started in 1829 on Sandbars in the harbour. First they had to build up the foundation on the sandbars, so that they could build a fort. The foundation took 10 years to build. They faced the problem of obtaining enough bricks to build the fort and getting them out to the location for construction. Construction was slow going, ground to a halt at one point and after 30 years Fort Sumter was still not finished completely. The outer fortifications and island were complete, but not the interior and armaments. South Carolina was the first State to secede from the Union on December 20th, 1860. At this time Fort Sumter was still under construction and did not have a garrison on site. Fort Moultrie also defends the Charleston Harbour and is in Mt. Pleasant. There was a small company of Union soldiers stationed at Fort Moultrie. After South Carolina seceded the commander, Major Robert Anderson, was nervous of an attack and quietly moved his men over to Fort Sumter under the cover of darkness on December 26th. There was a months long standoff where tensions continued to rise. By April, the new president (Lincoln) knew the men were running out of supplies and sent three unarmed ships to re-supply the fort. South Carolina had already made it clear that they would see a re-supplying of the fort as an act of aggression. They demanded that Anderson surrender on April 11th, which Anderson refused to do. The supply ships arrived on April 12th and at 4:30 AM shots were fired on Fort Sumter. After 34 hours Anderson’s ammunition supplies were depleted and he was forced to surrender on April 14th, 1861. Anderson was allowed to lower the United States flags and take them with him upon his surrender. This was the trigger for the Civil War. Lincoln called for Union volunteers to help quash the rebellion and Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee joined the Confederacy.

The Confederacy held Fort Sumter for the next two years without being attacked. The first assault came in April of 1863, but it was poorly coordinated and the weather did not cooperate and the Union ships had to turn back after suffering a lot of damage. After a couple more failed attempts the Union Army set up a post on Morris Island and laid siege to Fort Sumter starting in September of 1863. After months of bombardment Fort Sumter was essentially levelled by Union artillery and the Confederates finally surrendered on February 22nd, 1865. Anderson returned to Fort Sumter on April 14th of 1865 (exactly 4 years after he surrendered and lowered the flag) and proudly raised the United States flags that he had taken with him upon his surrender in 1861. The Fort was essentially destroyed in the Civil War, 30 years to build and 15 months to destroy. It was partially rebuilt after the Civil War, but was not rearmed until the start of the Spanish American War in 1898. At this time a battery was installed inside the fort and it was used for coastal defence. It would be used in both World War I and World War II and was decommissioned in 1948 and turned over to the National Park Service.

After our hour on the Island it was time to get back on the boat and head back to Liberty Square. We popped into the museum that the NPS has at Liberty Square, but a lot of the information was a repeat of what we had learned on the Island. There were a few other interesting things in there. We were all hungry by this time as it was well after 1 so we decided to head back to the RV. We had to stop at the grocery store on the way, which took forever and we didn’t end up having lunch until after 2.

After a little bit of a break, Blake and I went on a bike ride around James County Park. They have several bike paths that go around the park and we got on the one right outside the campground and did a loop. It was a lovely night and we had a good ride.

Blake and the kids enjoyed a campfire once it was dark. We then had a late supper and Blake and the kids watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. I finished my blog from yesterday and wrote up this one. We experienced a lot of history in the last two days.

Sonya