SC National Heritage Corridor

Fort Moultrie National Monument

Revolutionary War
On June 28, 1776, the British Navy was defeated by an unfinished palmetto log and sand Patriot fort, on Sullivan’s Island at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. Completed after the battle and named for its commander, Colonel William Moultrie, it was replaced by a new Ft. Moultrie in 1798. Destroyed by a hurricane in 1804, a third Ft. Moultrie was completed in 1809.

On the night of December 26, 1860, six days after South Carolina’s secession, U.S. forces moved from Ft. Moultrie to Ft. Sumter. The fort played a major role in Fort Sumter’s bombardment on April 12-13, 1861. Heavily damaged by U.S. artillery in the 1863-65 Siege Charleston, Ft. Moultrie was a key fortification in Charleston’s Confederate defenses. Repaired in 1876, concrete batteries and other improvements were made to the fort during the Spanish-American War.