Exterior View of Fort Moultrie, On Sullivan’s Island, in the Harbor of Charleston, S.C. as it Appeared Previous to the Evacuation.—from a Photograph by __Luce, Esq.1,2,3
This is an artist’s imagined rendering of an actual event.
Fort Moultrie 1809-19304
Wood engraving of Moultrie’s southern rampart, barracks, and inner parade-ground as seen from atop the nearby harbor-beacon, with the City of Charleston hazily visible in the far distance. Although originally published in the January 5, 1861 issue of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper in New York City — by which date Fort Moultrie had already undergone significant alterations, and been strengthened through erection of additional defenses by its beleaguered Federal garrison, before being abandoned to South Carolinian forces — this peaceful scene depicts the antebellum fort as it had appeared prior to the Secession Crisis and threat of war.
Note: the civilian gentleman strolling Moultrie’s rampart unconcernedly under a parasol, while two women gaze out to sea in the company of a waiting officer — one of these ladies seated comfortably atop the muzzle of a cannon-barrel. All the fort’s artillery have their tompions inserted, and only a half-dozen or so of these pieces are not further encased in wooden gun-covers, as protection against the elements. The large sand-dune so prominently featured in Harper’s Weekly contemporaneous engraving [see preceding entry], is not shown here at all. Instead, two fishermen can be discerned on the beach at left, returning from the Grillage — the rocky shore-side breakwater erected twenty years previously by the U.S. military engineer, Captain Alexander H. Bowman, a spot still well-known today as abounding in flounder, sheephead, and feeding porpoises.
- “Exterior View of Fort Moultrie.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. January 5, 1891.
- Special handed-tinted off-prints were also sold separately. Numerous originals held today by public institutions and in private collections.
- This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject - Battlefields in Motion – Fort Moultrie 1809-1930 – A Chronological List of Maps & Photos. Accessed December 25, 2020. http://moultrie.battlefieldsinmotion.com/Old-Photos-and-Maps.html.