Between 1776 and 1947, Fort Moultrie served as the guardian of Charleston Harbor. The defensive work endured a baptism by fire during the Battle of Sullivan\u2019s Island, where Patriot militia successfully fended off the predominant British Navy\u2014an emboldened victory that helped legitimize the American Revolution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Fort Moultrie is located on the southwestern tip of Sullivan\u2019s Island, which is named after Captain Florence O\u2019Sullivan, one of South Carolina\u2019s first settlers and a Deputy to the Lords Proprietors. This was a most strategic and defensible position\u2014given the contemporary hydrographic features of the Charleston Harbor estuary\u2014since ships had to navigate alongside Sullivan\u2019s shores to avoid hazardous shoals. Beyond military defense, Sullivan\u2019s Island was utilized as a quarantine station for African slaves afflicted by the extreme conditions of human bondage. Between 1707 and 1799, Sullivan\u2019s Island received and processed nearly half of North America\u2019s captive Africans.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Battle of Sullivan\u2019s Island \u2013 June 28, 1776<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In 1775, embittered Anglo-American relations reached a critical juncture. Years of punitive legislation and repressive economic sanctions amplified revolutionary rhetoric among the American populace, directly challenging Britain\u2019s governmental powers. This tumultuous powder keg of sociopolitical discontent erupted at the Battles of Lexington and Concord\u2014the proverbial \u201cShot Heard \u2018Round the World\u201d\u2014where Patriot forces secured an astonishing victory over beleaguered British troops, effectuating the Siege of Boston. The subsequent Battle of Bunker Hill, a pyrrhic victory for the Redcoats, further underscored the rebellion\u2019s volatility and signaled to British authorities the impracticality of New England\u2019s immediate reclamation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Britain\u2019s strategy of suppression turned towards the southern colonies, where Loyalist (Tory) sympathies were supposedly strong. According to Josiah Martin and Sir William Campbell\u2014the deposed Royal Governors of North and South Carolina, respectively\u2014the fires of independence could be easily extinguished with the assistance of British regulars. Encouraged by these optimistic reports, Major General Sir William Howe, the British Commander-in-Chief of North America, directed his second-in-command, Major General Henry Clinton, to organize an auspicious Southern Expedition that would \u201crestore the authority of the King\u2019s government in the four southern provinces.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On January 20, 1776, General Clinton departed Boston Harbor with fifteen hundred enlisted men, intending to rendezvous with Commodore Sir Peter Parker\u2014whose squadron carried seven additional regiments under Lord General Charles Cornwallis\u2014along North Carolina\u2019s Cape Fear River. Clinton expected the Royal Navy to arrive around mid-March; however, logistical complications and violent storms delayed Parker\u2019s deployment by nearly two months. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n While awaiting Parker\u2019s arrival, Clinton received troubling news from the North Carolina interior. On February 27, Loyalist forces under Brigadier General Donald MacDonald suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Moore\u2019s Creek Bridge\u2014nearly nine hundred Tory sympathizers were killed, wounded, or captured during the three-minute melee with Colonel Richard Caswell\u2019s Patriot militia, who sustained only two total casualties. This untimely loss forced Clinton to rethink his campaign strategy. After conferring with Commodore Parker, Clinton endeavored to capture Charleston, South Carolina\u2014the largest port city in the southern colonies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Since early 1776, Patriot leaders had anticipated the spread of British militance into South Carolina. Accordingly, under the direction of John Rutledge\u2014a Continental Congressman and President of the South Carolina General Assembly\u2014colonists arrayed \u201ca vigorous defense\u201d of Charleston Harbor and its environs. The 2nd South Carolina Infantry, commanded by Colonel William Moultrie, garrisoned Sullivan\u2019s Island inside an unfinished palmetto-log fortress.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The British fleet appeared off the South Carolina coast on June 1, 1776. After surveying Charleston’s defenses, the Redcoats devised a bipartite battle strategy: Clinton’s infantry would conduct an amphibious landing on Long Island (modern-day Isle of Palms) and flank Moultrie’s rear while Parker’s naval forces simultaneously bombarded the untested beachfront fortress. On June 8, British warships proceeded to cross Charleston Bar\u2014a series of submerged sand banks eight miles southeast of the city. However, Parker\u2019s inexperienced pilots had tremendous difficulty maneuvering through the hazardous shallows without reputable estuary charts and navigation aids. British sailors spent precious time taking bathymetric measurements and replacing vandalized nautical markers while Clinton\u2019s 2,200 infantrymen landed unopposed on Long Island.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n As the Redcoats converged on Charleston, Major General Charles Lee\u2014an eccentric former British officer who commanded the Continental Army\u2019s Southern Department\u2014entered the city with two thousand American soldiers. Three North Carolina regiments under Brigadier General John Armstrong (approximately 1,400 men) followed close behind. Lee hastily inspected Patriot installations around the harbor and found particular mediocrity on Sullivan\u2019s Island. The palmetto fort was still incomplete along its northern fa\u00e7ade and lacked any direct means of retreat. Lee chastised the defensive structure as a \u201cslaughter pen\u201d and demanded its immediate abandonment. However, President Rutledge disagreed with Lee\u2019s directive, instructing Moultrie \u201cnot [to evacuate] the fort without an order from me. I would sooner cut off my right hand than write one.\u201d This circumvention placed Moultrie at odds with Lee, a strict disciplinarian who was already troubled by the colonel\u2019s lax command style. Frustrated, Lee sought to replace Moultrie with Colonel Francis Nash by the end of June.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On June 17, British regulars mobilized towards Sullivan\u2019s Island, intending to march across a partially-submerged sandbar known as Breach Inlet. Though initially estimated to be eighteen inches underwater during low tide, the channel\u2019s true depth measured nearly seven feet\u2014much too deep to wade across and too shallow for man-of-war transportation. General Clinton spent the next several days reconnoitering the surrounding landscape, but the tidal swamps and marshlands proved impenetrable. While the British idled, General Lee hurried eight hundred troops under Colonel William Thomson to the northside of Sullivan\u2019s Island, which made Clinton\u2019s anticipated crossing all the more daunting.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The combined British offensive commenced on the morning of June 28. British infantry attempted to deploy across Breach Inlet using flatboats, but the tactic was quickly abandoned due to disruptive fire from Thomson\u2019s entrenched troops. Despite Clinton\u2019s inability to invade Sullivan\u2019s Island, Commodore Parker was confident that a ferocious naval bombardment would compel the Americans to surrender. Cannonades began at 11:30 am, when the bomb ketch <\/span>Thunder<\/span><\/em>\u00a0launched mortar rounds into the Patriot stronghold. One shell struck the fort\u2019s magazine, but failed to detonate. Additional warships joined the barrage with thunderous broadsides, but the fort\u2019s spongy palmetto walls\u2014sixteen-feet-thick and filled with sand\u2014absorbed or deflected each hit. One British projectile snapped the fort\u2019s flagstaff and brought down the garrison\u2019s colors\u2014a blue ensign with a white crescent moon in its upper left corner emblazoned with the word \u201cLIBERTY.\u201d Acting with instinctive bravery, Sergeant William Jasper jumped over the bastion, retrieved the flag, and replanted it upon the parapet, all while being exposed to enemy fire.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n After an hour of ineffective shelling, Parker ordered his second line of ships\u2014<\/span>Actaeon<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>Sphinx<\/span><\/em>, and <\/span>Syren<\/span><\/em>\u2014to swing around Sullivan\u2019s southern headland and enfilade the fort against its unfinished portions. Unfortunately, British pilots stranded their vessels against the Lower Middle Ground\u2014a shoal that later developed into <\/span>Fort Sumter<\/span><\/u><\/a>. The <\/span>Sphinx <\/span><\/em>and <\/span>Syren <\/span><\/em>were eventually freed, but <\/span>Actaeon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0remained stuck in the sand.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n While the British bungled their assault, Moultrie\u2019s garrison faced a mounting gunpowder shortage. Patriot defenders prepared to evacuate Sullivan\u2019s Island as artillery charges neared critical lows. The dire situation was conveyed to President Rutledge, who promptly delivered five hundred pounds of gunpowder to the embattled palmetto fort. Upon doing so, Rutledge cautioned Colonel Moultrie, “Do not make too free with your cannon. Cool and do mischief.\u201d Generously resupplied, Moultrie instructed his artillerists to concentrate their fire around frigates closest to shore and wait ten minutes between each round.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n American gunners took deliberate aim, striking British warships with regular frequency. The Royal Navy\u2019s two largest vessels\u2014the HMS <\/span>Experiment<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and flagship HMS <\/span>Bristol<\/span><\/em>\u2014sustained the most damage from Moultrie\u2019s guns. Around seventy shots struck <\/span>Bristol<\/span><\/em>, destroying many of her riggings and masts. John Morris, the flagship\u2019s captain, and 39 other crew members were killed, along with 71 wounded, including Commodore Parker, who \u201csuffered the indignity of having the hind part of his breeches shot away, laying bare his backsides.\u201d William Campbell, the former Royal Governor of South Carolina who volunteered to fight on <\/span>Bristol<\/span><\/em>\u2019s quarterdeck, took a splinter to his left side, a wound that ultimately contributed to his death two years later. Captain Alexander Scott of <\/span>Experiment<\/span><\/em> lost an arm and 78 crew members (23 killed and 55 wounded).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Over the course of battle, Parker\u2019s armada fired seven thousand rounds and burned more than twelve tons of gunpowder\u2014compared to 960 projectiles and 4,800 pounds for the Patriots\u2014yet sustained an overwhelming share of damage. \u201cWe are in a shattered condition,\u201d an officer wrote. \u201cNo slaughterhouse could present so bad a sight, with blood and entrails lying about, as our ships did.\u201d Around 9 pm, with the tide ebbing and darkness falling, Commodore Parker withdrew into the Atlantic Ocean. The marooned frigate <\/span>Actaeon<\/span><\/em>\u00a0was abandoned and set ablaze. The fire eventually reached the powder magazine, causing an explosion that \u201cissued a grand pillar of smoke, which soon expanded itself at the top, and to appearance, formed the figure of a palmetto tree.” General Clinton evacuated Long Island the following day, thus concluding his unsuccessful Southern Expedition.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Battle of Sullivan\u2019s Island was the first decisive Patriot victory over the Royal Navy\u2014British forces lost 219 men while the Americans sustained 38 casualties. Colonel Moultrie\u2019s successful defense of Charleston forestalled British subjugation of the southern colonies, increased aspirations for liberty, and raised confidence in Continental endeavors. To commemorate this heroic triumph, the palmetto fortress on Sullivan\u2019s Island was dubbed Fort Moultrie.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Siege of Charleston: February \u2013 May 1780<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Following the failed Franco-American Siege of Savannah in October 1779, Major General Henry Clinton (now the British Commander-in-Chief of North America) found favorable opportunity to exact retribution for his preliminary setbacks in the southern theater. On December 26, from his headquarters in New York City, Clinton launched another massive expedition\u2014consisting of 8,500 British and Hessian soldiers under Lord General Charles Cornwallis and over one hundred ships commanded by Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot\u2014to capture Charleston and reclaim the Southern Colonies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n What was expected to be a ten-day voyage turned into a perilous five-week affair. Freezing temperatures and severe storms ravaged Arbuthnot\u2019s fleet, which nearly wrecked off the coast of Cape Hatteras. On February 12, the British army finally landed at North Edisto Inlet (thirty miles south of Charleston). From there, Clinton and Cornwallis marched through the South Carolina Lowcountry, crossing the Ashley River at <\/span>Drayton Hall<\/span><\/u><\/a>\u00a0six weeks later. By April 1, the British had installed their first siege parallel around Charleston. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On April 8, Arbuthnot\u2019s fleet infiltrated Charleston Harbor, skirting around Fort Moultrie\u2019s guns. With its defensive value significantly reduced, the Moultrie garrison was broken up by Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commander of the Continental Army\u2019s Southern Department. He recalled Colonel Charles Pinckney and the 1st\u00a0South Carolina Infantry to reinforce the city\u2019s defenses, leaving Lieutenant Colonel William Scott and 160 militiamen on Sullivan\u2019s Island.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n On April 13, the British began bombarding Charleston from behind their siege lines. The following morning, Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton defeated Brigadier General Isaac Huger\u2019s cavalry at the Battle of Monck\u2019s Corner, which effectively isolated Lincoln\u2019s army on the Charleston Peninsula. At dawn on May 3, Captain Charles Hudson and two hundred British regulars from the HMS <\/span>Richmond<\/span><\/em> made on unopposed landing on Sullivan\u2019s Island. The Redcoats subsequently encircled Fort Moultrie, forcing Lieutenant Colonel Scott to surrender four days later. On May 12, General Lincoln unconditionally surrendered to British forces; his command denied the customary honors of war. Over five thousand American troops were captured\u2014the greatest loss of Continental forces during the Revolution\u2014many of whom did not survive their imprisonment. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Siege of Charleston served as an impetus for Britain\u2019s Southern Strategy. General Lincoln\u2019s capitulation virtually eliminated any immediate Patriot resistance and allowed the Redcoats to conduct subsequent campaigns further into the Carolinas. In June 1780, General Clinton triumphantly returned to New York City, leaving Lord Cornwallis in command of the Southern Theater. However, prior to his departure, the British Commander-in-Chief issued a series of controversial proclamations that compelled all paroled civilians to swear an oath of allegiance to the Crown and serve in Loyalist militias when mandated\u2014conditions that contradicted earlier pardon agreements\u2014which inadvertently proliferated partisan warfare across the South. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/wow-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/wow-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/wow-image><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/span>The converging British threat compelled General Lincoln to call a council of war. Many military personnel, including now-Brigadier General William Moultrie, favored the army\u2019s evacuation due to dwindling provisions and compromised defensive positions. But civilian officials\u2014namely Lieutenant Governor Christopher Gadsden and Thomas Ferguson of the Privy Council\u2014convinced Lincoln otherwise, stating it was his \u201cduty and inclination [to defend Charleston] to the last extremity.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n