It was both a relocation day and a touring day. We set out early from New Bern to Charleston, SC. Our touring site today was Fort Moultrie. There is lots of history there. It was lost to the British (along with all of Charleston) in 1780. During the Civil War, it was abandoned and the garrison retreated to Fort Sumter just before the shelling began at the start of the Civil War.

The Fort was interesting as it evolved from the Revolutionary war period to World War II when it commanded defenses of Charleston Harbor.

There was an interesting display of early breach loading artillery. They have quite a few in other areas of the fort. The most interesting were the Rodman guns, most of which were constructed at Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh. Rodman developed a casting method whereby the bore of the mold was cooled as it was poured making a much stronger tube. I just can't imagine what it would be like as a man on the gun crew when those things were fired. The second and third from the right are the Rodman guns. BTW, the second and third from the left are Parrott rifles which are very interesting in their own right.