Park Archives: Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

Here, at the fort named for South Carolina Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Sumter, the opening shots of the Civil War were fired on April 12, 1861. The fort was begun in 1829, one of a series of coastal fortifications built by the United States after the War of 1812. As with many Federal projects, enslaved laborers and craftsmen were among those who worked on this structure. The fort was still unfinished when Maj. Robert Anderson moved his 85-man garrison into it the day after Christmas 1860, setting in motion events that would tear the nation asunder four months later.

Brig. Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard commanded Confederate forces at Charleston, S.C., in March and April 1861 and again from August 1862 to May 1864. He had been one of Anderson's artillery students at West Point in 1837 and, while determined to evict the Federal troops from Fort Sumter, did not welcome the prospect of firing on his old friend and former instructor. After Anderson surrendered on April 14, 1861, Pvt. John S. Bird Jr. of the Palmetto Guards raised the unit's six- by nine-foot flag over the captured fort.

On December 20, 1860, South Carolina delegates to a special secession convention voted unanimously to secede from the Federal Union. In November, Abraham Lincoln had been elected President of the United States with no support from southern states. The critical significance of this election was expressed in South Carolina's Declaration of the Immediate Causes [of] Secession: "A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." The Declaration claimed that secession was justified because the Federal Government had violated the Constitutional compact by encroaching upon the rights of the sovereign states. As the primary violation, the Declaration listed the failure of 14 northern states to enforce the Federal Fugitive Slave Act or to restrict the actions of antislavery organizations. "Thus the constituted compact [the U.S. Constitution] has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation." The Declaration expressed South Carolina's fear that "The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy."

The South Carolina Declaration shows how national arguments related to state sovereignty arose from questions about the nature and expansion of slavery. Competing interests were evident at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 when the Founding Fathers were unable to effectively deal with the national problem of slavery. Unable to resolve the issue, it was put off for future generations. The lack of either a clear Constitutional recognition of chattel slavery or a provision for leaving the Union meant that both issues would be passionately debated. In the early years of the republic slavery became more entrenched and vital to the southern economy even as it was slowly dying out in the northern states.

As the country expanded, regional conflict centered on the extension of slavery into new American territories. Included in the arguments was the fate of enslaved African Americans fleeing from the South. Over decades. North and South tried and failed to reach agreements on geographic boundaries for slavery, the recapture of runaways, and the status of free blacks living throughout the nation. National political party, religious denominations, and even families divided over these issues.

In the months between Lincoln's election and his inauguration, as Lower South states proclaimed secession, efforts at compromise continued. Southern Unionists and their northern supporters believed that the Union could be restored without war if only the southern states had guarantees that the Federal Government would not interfere with their slave property. A Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the rights of slave owners was suggested, but Lincoln concluded that no plan of compromise would ever fully satisfy South Carolina, the state that led the South in defense of the rights of slaveholders and the right of secession.

Within six weeks after South Carolina's secession, five other states—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana—followed its example. Early in February 1861, delegates met in Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution, set up a provisional government—the Confederate States of America—and elected Jefferson Davis as their president. By March 2, when Texas officially joined the Confederacy, nearly all the Federal forts and navy yards in the seven seceding states had been seized by the new government. Fort Sumter was one of the few that remained in Federal hands.

When South Carolina seceded, there were four Federal installations around Charleston Harbor: Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, Castle Pinckney on Shute's Folly Island near the city, Fort Johnson on James Island across from Moultrie, and Fort Sumter at the harbor entrance. The only post garrisoned by more than a nominal number of soldiers was Fort Moultrie, where Maj. Robert Anderson commanded two companies, 85 men, of the First U.S. Artillery. Six days after South Carolina seceded, Anderson concluded that Moultrie was indefensible and secretly transferred his command to Fort Sumter a mile away. On December 27 South Carolina volunteers occupied Forts Moultrie and Johnson and Castle Pinckney, and began erecting batteries elsewhere around the harbor.

The state regarded Anderson's move as a breach of faith and demanded that the U.S. Government evacuate Charleston Harbor. President James Buchanan refused and in January attempted a relief expedition. South Carolina shore batteries, however, turned back the unarmed merchant vessel Star of the West, carrying 200 men and several months' provisions, as it tried to enter the harbor. Early in March, Brig. Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard took command of the Confederate troops at Charleston and pushed work on fortifying the harbor. As the weeks passed, Fort Sumter gradually became the focal point of tensions between North and South. When Abraham Lincoln assumed office as President of the United States on March 4, 1861, he vowed in a firm but conciliatory address to uphold the national authority. The Government, he said, would not assail anyone, but neither would it consent to a division of the Union. "The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government."

By April 4 Lincoln believed that a relief expedition was feasible and ordered merchant steamers, protected by ships of war, to carry "subsistence and other supplies" to Anderson. He also notified Governor Francis W. Pickens of South Carolina that an attempt would be made to resupply the fort. After debate—and some disagreement—the Confederate secretary of war telegraphed Beauregard on April 10 that if he were certain Sumter was to be supplied by force "you will at once demand its evacuation, and if this is refused proceed, in such manner as you may determine, to reduce it."

On April 11 Beauregard demanded that Anderson surrender Sumter. Anderson refused. At 3:20 a.m., April 12, the Confederates informed Anderson that their batteries would open fire in one hour. At ten minutes past the allotted hour, Capt. George S. James, commanding Fort Johnson's east mortar battery, ordered the firing of a signal shell. Within moments Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, firebrand and hero of the secessionist movement, touched off a gun in the ironclad battery at Cummings Point. By daybreak batteries at Forts Johnson and Moultrie, Cummings Point, and elsewhere were assailing Fort Sumter.

Major Anderson withheld his fire until 7 o'clock. Though some 60 guns stood ready for action, most never got into the fight. Nine or ten casemate guns returned fire, but by noon only six remained in action. At no time during the battle did the guns of Fort Sumter greatly damage Confederate positions. The cannonade continued throughout the night. The next morning a hot shot from Fort Moultrie set fire to the officers' quarters. In early afternoon the flagstaff was shot away. About 2 p.m., Anderson agreed to a truce. That evening he surrendered his garrison. Miraculously, no one on either side had been killed during the engagement. Only five Federal soldiers suffered injuries.

On Sunday, April 14, Major Anderson and his garrison marched out of the fort and boarded ship for transport to New York. They had defended Sumter for 34 hours, until "the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazines surrounded by flames." Civil war, so long dreaded, had begun.

With Fort Sumter in Confederate hands, the port of Charleston became an irritating loophole in the Federal naval blockade of the Atlantic coast. In two months of 1863, 21 Confederate vessels cleared Charleston Harbor and 15 entered. Into Charleston came needed war supplies; out went cotton in payment. To close the port—and also capture the city—it was necessary first to seize Fort Sumter, now repaired and armed with some 95 guns. After an earlier Army attempt had failed on James Island, the job fell to the U.S. Navy, and Rear Adm. Samuel F. Du Pont was ordered to take the fort.

On the afternoon of April 7, 1863, nine armored vessels steamed slowly into the harbor and headed for Fort Sumter. For 216 hours the ironclads dueled with Confederate batteries in the forts and around the harbor. The naval attack only scarred and battered Sumter's walls, but the far more intense and accurate Confederate fire disabled five Federal ships, one of which, the Keokuk, sank the next morning.

When the ironclads failed, Federal strategy changed. Du Pont was removed from command and replaced by Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren, who planned to combine land and sea operations to seize nearby Morris Island and from there to demolish Fort Sumter. At a position secured by U.S. forces on Morris Island, Union troops under Maj. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore began to place rifled cannon powerful enough to breach Sumter's walls. Meanwhile, Confederate laborers and slaves inside Fort Sumter worked day and night with bales of cotton and sand to buttress the walls facing the Federal guns. The fort's garrison at this time consisted of five companies of the First South Carolina Artillery under Col. Alfred Rhett.

Federal troops fired a few experimental rounds at the fort in late July and early August. The bombardment began in earnest on August 17, with almost 1,000 shells fired the first day alone. Within a week, the fort's brick walls were shattered and reduced to rubble, but the garrison refused to surrender and continued to repair and strengthen the defenses.

Confederate guns at Fort Moultrie and other points now took up the defense of Sumter. Another Federal assault on September 9 fell short; this time the attackers lost five boats and 124 men trying to take the fort from Maj. Stephen Elliott and fresh Confederate troops under his command. Except for one 10-day period of heavy firing, the bombardment continued intermittently until the end of December. By then Sumter's cannon were severely damaged and dismounted and its defenders could respond with only "harmless musketry."

In the summer of 1864, after Maj. Gen. John G. Foster replaced Gillmore as commander of land operations, the Federals made one last attempt to take Sumter. Foster, a member of Anderson's 1861 garrison, believed that "with proper arrangements" the fort could be taken "at any time." A sustained two-month Union bombardment, however, failed to dislodge the 300-man Confederate garrison and Foster was ordered to send most of his remaining ammunition and several regiments of troops north to aid Grant's overland campaign against Richmond.

Desultory fire against the fort continued through January 1865. For 20 months Fort Sumter had withstood Federal siege and bombardment, and it no longer resembled a fort at all. But defensively it was stronger than ever. Big Federal guns had hurled seven million pounds of metal at it, yet the Confederate losses during this period had been only 52 killed and 267 wounded.

Gen. William T. Sherman's troops advancing north from Savannah, however, caused the Confederates to evacuate Fort Sumter on February 17, 1865. On April 14, with Charleston in Union hands, the U.S. flag that was lowered when the fort was surrendered in 1861 was once again raised above Sumter's battered ramparts.

When the Civil War ended, Fort Sumter presented a very desolate appearance. Only on the left flank, left face, and right face could any of the original scarp wall be seen. The right flank wall and the gorge wall, which had taken the brunt of the Federal bombardments, were now irregular mounds of earth, sand, and debris forming steep slopes down to the water's edge. The fort bore little resemblance to the impressive work that had stood there when the war began in 1861.

During the decade following the war, the Army attempted to put Fort Sumter back into shape as a military installation. The horizontal irregularity of the damaged or destroyed walls was gien some semblance of uniformity by levelling jagged portions and rebuilding others. A new sally port was cut through the left flank; storage magazines and cisterns were constructed; and gun emplacements were located. Eleven of the original first-tier gunrooms at the salient and along the right face were reclaimed and armed with 100-pounder Parrott guns.

From 1876 to 1897 Fort Sumter was not garrisoned and served mainly as a lighthouse station. During this period maintenance of the area was so poor that the gun platforms were allowed to rot, the guns to rust, and the area to erode. The impending Spanish-American War, however, prompted renewed activity that resulted in the construction of Battery Huger in 1898 and the installation of two long-range 12-inch rifles the following year. Fortunately, the war ended quickly and the guns were never fired in anger.

During World War I, a small garrison manned the rifles at Battery Huger. For the next 20 years, however, although maintained by the Army, the fort was not used as a military establishment. But it did become a destination for tourists until World War II brought about the fort's reactivation. The Battery Huger rifles, long since outmoded, were removed about 1943. During late World War II, 90-mm antiaircraft guns were installed along the fort's right flank and manned by a company of Coast Artillery. In 1948, transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service, Fort Sumter became a national monument. The guide below highlights the main historical portions of the fort today.

For those who wish to inspect the fort at their own pace, this text describes a short tour of both ruins and exhibits.

Sally Port The left-flank wall here is less than half its original height. This entryway was built in the 1870s and replaced a gun embrasure.

Confederate Defenders Plaque The Charleston Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, erected this plaque in 1929 to honor the Confederate defenders of Fort Sumter, 1861-65.

Left-Flank Casemates The first tier of casemates (gunrooms) was surmounted by a second tier similar in appearance but considerably taller. This pattern was also followed on the fort's right flank and on its right and left faces.

Enlisted Men's Barracks Ruins Paralleling the left-flank casemates, this three-story building had a mess hall on the first floor and sleeping quarters on the upper floors. There was another barracks for enlisted men on the right flank.

Officers' Quarters Ruins Three stories high, this building extended the entire length of the gorge. In it were lodgings for officers, administrative offices, storerooms, a guardhouse, and powder magazines. For an unknown reason, the powder magazine in this corner of the barracks exploded on December 11, 1863, killing 11 and wounding 41 Confederates. The explosion also tilted the arch over the entrance to the magazine.

Union Garrison Monument The U.S. Government erected this monument in 1932 in memory of the Union defenders during the opening bombardment of the Civil War.

Parade Ground When Battery Huger was built in 1899, the remainder of the parade was filled with sand. The National Park Service removed fill 20 feet deep from this area in the 1950s.

Left-Face Casemate Ruins The left-face casemates were destroyed by the fire of Union guns on Morris Island, 1863-1865. Several of the projectiles still protrude from the wall. Outside the casemate ruins are two 15-inch Rodman guns, an eight-inch Columbiad, and a 10-inch mortar.

Right Face Union forces on Morris Island fired these 11 100-pounder Parrott guns against Fort Sumter. The Army moved them to the fort in the 1870s.

Right-Gorge Angle From a gun in the first-tier casemates, Capt. Abner Doubleday fired the first shot from Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861.

Mountain Howitzer Confederates used light field pieces like this 12-pounder mountain howitzer to defend against a surprise landing by Union forces.

Esplanade and Granite Wharf Site A 25½-foot-wide promenade ran the full length of the gorge exterior, and a 171-foot wharf extended out from the sally port. This was the original entrance to the fort.

To help preserve the fort, we ask that you not climb or sit on cannons or brickwork. Do not disturb or remove artifacts.

Fort Sumter National Monument is in Charleston Harbor and can be reached only by boat. The fort is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily between April 1 and Labor Day. At other times of the year the hours vary.

Tour boats operated by a National Park Service concessionaire leave from the Fort Sumter Tour Boat Facility at Liberty Square in downtown Charleston. Liberty Square is located on the Cooper River at the eastern end of Calhoun Street and includes the South Carolina Aquarium.

For Your Safety
While every effort has been made to make your visit safe and enjoyable, you must remain alert and cautious in all areas of the fort. Be especially careful on stairways and uneven surfaces.

From the time of the earliest European settlements to the end of World War II, coastal fortifications guarded the harbors and shores of the United States. Here at Fort Moultrie the story of two centuries of seacoast defense is told through a unique plan of restoration. Five sections of the fort and two outlying areas, each mounting typical weapons, represent a different historical period in the life of the three Fort Moultries.

The first fort on Sullivans Island was still incomplete when Adm. Sir Peter Parker and nine warships attacked it on June 28, 1776. After a nine-hour battle, the ships were forced to retire. Charleston was saved from British occupation, and the fort was named in honor of its commander, William Moultrie. In 1780 the British finally captured Charleston, abandoning it only with the advent of peace. After the Revolution Fort Moultrie was neglected, and by 1791 little of it remained. Then, in 1793, war broke out between England and France. The next year Congress, seeking to safeguard American shores, authorized the First American System of nationwide coastal fortifications. A second Fort Moultrie, one of 20 new forts along the Atlantic Coast, was completed in 1798. It too suffered from neglect and was finally destroyed by a hurricane in 1804. By 1807 many of the other First System fortifications were in need of extensive repair. Congress responded by authorizing funds for a Second American System, which included a third Fort Moultrie. By 1809 a new brick fort stood on Sullivans Island.

Between 1809 and 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little. The parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but the big improvement in Charleston's defenses during this period was the construction of Fort Sumter at the entrance of the harbor. The forts ringing Charleston Harbor—Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney—were meant to complement each other, but ironically they received their baptism of fire as opponents. In December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the Federal garrison abandoned Fort Moultrie for the stronger Sumter. Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Sumter into submission, plunging the nation into civil war. In April 1863 Federal ironclads and shore batteries began a 20-month bombardment of Sumter and Moultrie, yet Charleston's defenses held. When the Confederate army evacuated the city in February 1865, Fort Sumter was little more than a pile of rubble and Fort Moultrie lay hidden under the bank of sand that protected its walls from Federal shells. The new rifled cannon used during the Civil War had demolished the brick-walled fortifications.

Fort Moultrie was modernized in the 1870s, employing concepts developed during the war. Huge new cannon were installed, and magazines and bombproofs were built of thick concrete, then buried under tons of earth to absorb the explosion of heavy shells. In 1885 President Grover Cleveland appointed Secretary of War William C. Endicott to head a board to review the coastal defenses of the United States and recommend how they might be improved in light of newly developing weapons technology. The system that emerged, named for Endicott, again modernized the nation's fortifications. New batteries of concrete and steel were constructed in Fort Moultrie. Larger weapons were emplaced elsewhere on Sullivans Island, and the old fort became just a small part of the Fort Moultrie reservation that covered much of the island.

As technology changed, harbor defense became more complex. The world wars brought new threats of submarine and aerial attack and required new means of defense at Moultrie. Yet these armaments also became obsolete as nuclear weapons and guided missiles altered the entire concept of national defense. Today Fort Moultrie has been restored to highlight the major periods of its history. At the fort you move steadily back in time from the World War II Harbor Entrance Control Post to the site of the palmetto-log fort of 1776.

Revolutionary War
In its 171-year history, Fort Moultrie has defended Charleston Harbor twice. The first time, on June 28, 1776, during the Revolutionary War, the 30 smoothbore cannon of the original fort drove off a British fleet mounting 200 guns. Despite its lack of use in combat, the fort was maintained until 1947 to provide a ready, and inexpensive, deterrent to any prospective enemy.

Civil War
By the 1860s, seacoast weapons like this rifled and banded 32-pounder used by Confederates at Fort Moultrie stood side by side with older. heavy caliber, smoothbore cannon. For nearly two years, Federal forces bombarded the Charleston forts from land and sea, and though the masonry walls of Forts Sumter and Moultrie crumbled under the shelling, both forts were able to hold back the Union attacks.

World War I
The technology of weaponry advanced rapidly after the Civil War. Some huge smoothbore cannon were still in use in 1900, but by World War I many seacoast forts, such as Battery Thomson a mile east of Moultrie, were mounting breech-loading disappearing rifles like the 10-inch model. Upon firing, the rifle pivoted down so it could be reloaded in safety behind the protection of tons of earth and concrete.

World War II
The 1940s brought new challenges for seacoast defenses. Submarines and airplanes joined battleships as security threats. As a result, anti-aircraft guns were added to the fort's armament, and mines were laid in Charleston Harbor. In 1944 a new Harbor Entrance Control Post was built, from which all the city's harbor defenses were coordinated.

Harbor Defense
Fort Moultrie was well situated to guard Charleston Harbor. Shoals at the harbor entrance forced ships to enter the harbor from the south and sail toward the fort on Sullivans Island. In this position ships could not fire on the fort until they turned into the harbor. In the mid-19th century Fort Sumter added its firepower to keep ships out of the harbor.

Moultrie I
The first fort on Sullivans Island was hastily built in 1776 to protect Charleston from an attack by the British. The fort was constructed by raising two palmetto-log walls 16 feet apart and filling the space between with sand. The spongy palmetto and yielding sand readily absorbed shot and shell from the British ships and protected American defenders.

Moultrie II
In 1794 Charleston became one of 16 ports to receive the new defenses of the First American System of fortifications. The second Fort Moultrie, part of this system, was a five-sided structure with earth and timber walls 17 feet high. The fort was completed in 1798, but soon fell into ruin from lack of upkeep. A hurricane in 1804 destroyed the fort.

Moultrie III
Throughout its long history the third Fort Moultrie has undergone modification. The fort's walls have often been covered with sand to protect them from artillery shells, and the interior of the fort has been filled with earth and concrete to mount new weapons. Its armament, too, has changed, from smooth-bore cannon to disappearing rifles to anti-aircraft and anti-submarine weapons.

Throughout its long history. Fort Moultrie has undergone many changes as improving military and engineering technologies made harbor defense more complex. Instead of looking as it did at any one period, the fort has been restored to reflect these changes from the camouflaged Harbor Entrance Control Post of World War II to the site of the palmetto-log fort of 1776. Near the fort's entrance are the graves of Osceola, celebrated Seminole leader who died here in 1838, and five of 62 seamen who lost their lives when the US monitor Patapsco was sunk midway between Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1865.

World War II
This Harbor Entrance Control Post/Harbor Defense Command Post, completed in 1944, coordinated all of the harbor defenses around Charleston. Several of the downstairs rooms are furnished.

Harbor Defense, 1898-1939
These two batteries were designed to protect the mine field at the entrance to Charleston Harbor and to act in conjunction with other batteries on Sullivans Island and at Fort Sumter.

1870s Modernization
After the Civil War the fort was renovated applying concepts learned during that conflict. These two weapons represent Fort Moultrie in the period from 1873 to 1898.

Civil War
Great technological changes in coastal defense weapons occurred during this era. Confederate defenders made many alterations in the fort and its armament to cope with these changes, including removing the barracks.

Fort Moultrie III
From 1809 to 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little, except for replacing old smoothbore cannon with new. This section represents the third fort from its construction to the eve of the Civil War.

Fort Moultrie II (site)
Built in response to disagreements with France, the second Fort Moultrie had a brief life. Though short-lived, the fort was important as a part of the First American System of seacoast defenses (1794-1801).

Fort Moultrie I (site)
Though not part of a defense system, the first Fort Moultrie represents the beginnings of harbor defense in the United States.

Cannon Walk
The artillery pieces along this walk date from the Civil War and after, a period of rapid technological development. These pieces tell the story of the evolution of seacoast defense weaponry.

Battery Jasper
This battery was part of an effective coastal defense system that integrated heavy coastal artillery, minefields, and rapid-fire guns. One of its gun positions is open and explained by numerous interpretive exhibits. Battery Logan, beyond Jasper, and Batteries Bingham and McCorkle inside Fort Moultrie were also parts of this system.

Fort Moultrie is open 9 am to 5 pm daily, except Thanksgiving Day, December 25, and January 1. Groups should make reservations for guided tours. Pets are not allowed inside the fort.

Safety
Watch your step and use caution in the fort. Please use the paths and do not climb on mounds or cannon.

Getting Here
The fort is on Sullivans Island, SC. Coming from Charleston, take US 17 (business) to Mt. Pleasant; turn right on SC 703. At Sullivans Island, turn right onto Middle Street. The fort is 1.5 miles from the intersection.

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

Fort Moultrie
1970	1972	1975	1976	cover only 1977
1979-1996		cover only 1998-2005		cover only 2006-2017
cover only 2021
Fort Sumter
1961		cover only 1967	1969	1973	1975
1977	1982	cover only 1983	1984	1985	1989
1990	1991
1992-2000		2001-2005		cover only 2006-2017
cover only 2021

Flags of Fort Sumter August 2006		Flags of Fort Sumter August 2008		Robert Smalls Date Unknown
The 54th Massachusetts and Battery Wagner Date Unknown		African Passages Date Unknown		African Passages Date Unknown
Edgar Allan Poe Date Unknown		Edgar Allan Poe Date Unknown		Battery Jasper Date Unknown
How Does A Cannon Work? Date Unknown		How Does A Cannon Work? 11/2005		How Does A Cannon Work? 07/2010
Charleston Light - Sullivan's Island Date Unknown		General William Moultrie 07/2010		Osceola Date Unknown
18-pounder Revolutionary War Cannon 2005		Fort Moultrie Reservation Date Unknown		Volunteer in your Charleston, South Carolina National Parks 2008
Fort Moultrie 06/2012	History Can Hurt 05/2009	Fort Sumter Tours Date Unknown	Fort Sumter Tours 2011	Fort Sumter Tours 2018
Trading Cards

The following visual bibliography is just a sampling of the handbooks and books which have been published for this park. NPSHistory.com does not endorse these, but are merely presenting them for informational purposes only. As most are copyrighted, we are only able to provide the covers, and not contents, of these publications.

Handbook #12 1952	Handbook #12 1952, reprint 1961	cover only Constant Defender: The Story of Fort Moultrie Jim Stokely 1978	Handbook #127 Fort Sumter: Anvil of War 1984
Handbook #136 Fort Moultrie: Constant Defender 1985	Famous People at Fort Moultrie Robert Bradley and Robert Hart Date Unknown	cover only Fort Sumter National Monument: Where the Civil War Began Douglas W. Bostick 2011	cover only Thunder in the Harbor: Fort Sumter and the Civil War Richard W. Hatcher, III 2023