Awake early. Yes, this is a theme of the trip, but another great day
ahead so we wanted to get started. What a way to spend a Sunday!
Today's main event was to get a good taste of Charleston, SC. The very
first thing we needed to do on our Civil War trek was to take the ferry out to
see
Fort Sumter. The firing on the fort, located at the mouth of the Charleston harbor, was the official beginning of the Civil War. The boat ride to the fort gave us the chance to have a harbor
tour of the beautiful Charleston area, which is filled with lots of interesting
history and lovely buildings.
The fort is on a man-made island, built as part of the coastal defense that was deemed necessary after the War of 1812. This fortification was just being completed in early1861. It was built to prevent an attack from the sea, not from the surrounding lands. A small contingent of Union troops were manning both Sumter and a nearby fort when South Carolina decided to leave the Union. Many of the fort's guns had not be assembled and most of those that were ready were aimed toward the ocean.
The North tried to reinforce the garrison prior to Lincoln taking office but the ships were turned back. The fort's commander then consolidated his force at Sumter, which really upset the Confederate leaders. Lincoln sent another supply ship, this one was not a war ship. The Confederacy demanded the surrender of the fort, which was refused. The South opened fire just before the supply ship arrived. Guns fired for 34 consecutive hours. Not much damage was done to the walls of the fort but many interior buildings were set ablaze, including one over the powder magazine. The fort's commander decided to surrender. Despite the shelling, no Union troops were killed but two were lost when one gun exploded during the surrender ceremony. The troops boarded the supply ship and sailed north. The battle was over and the war had begun.
The Union tried for the next several years to retake the fort. They landed a force on a nearby island and set up seize guns that were much more powerful than what the Confederate forces had used in the earlier battle. These guns reduced the brick fort from three stories to one. The fort held out until Sherman's Army approached from the South.. The fort was modified for coastal defense during the Spanish-American War, and again in World Wars I and II.
What we saw was quite different from the way it looked in 1861. It was still quite moving to be on this place where this war that would rage for four
years started. Everyone was quite subdued while visiting.
After returning to our car, we took a slow drive around the old part of the city. We liked the squares of Savannah better but the homes here, especially along the harbor, were very impressive. They have obviously done much to restore and maintain these grand old homes.
Patti was not in the mood to tour more
houses, like we had done yesterday in Savannah. She was quite pleased to
find the perfect afternoon activity: to visit The
Boone Hall Plantation
outside of Mt. Peasant. This was originally a plantation where they grew
indigo and later they raised pecans. They also were a major brick producer. Many of the homes in Charleston were built using these bricks. Enslaved
Africans who had been brought there to work did most of the work in the fields and in the brick plant.
The most moving part of the entire plantation was a new exhibit which was located in each of
nine of the original slave homes. These had exhibits, narration, and sometimes
video program on different aspects of African-American life including home and
family, religion, archeological finding about life for enslaved people on plantations,
emancipation, life after the war, the Civil Rights Movement, and a deeper political understanding
of the institution of slavery and its painful legacy.
There was
also a fine theatrical program on
The Gullah culture of the Carolinas, which
was a specific black culture that has its roots in Africa. As part of
this program, Patti got to go on stage and help to play along on a djembe
African drum. She was very pleased to be able to do this, because she
plays drums at home.
The remainder of the plantation was rather anticlimactic after these powerful
presentations. We did enjoy getting out of the heat to tour the bottom
floor of the plantation-style house, built in the 1930's. We got to hear
some more about the families who had lived in and owned this property.
One of the crafts that the blacks of the 1800s had done in this area, was to make
sweetgrassbaskets. This is something that continues on, and the highway we drove on
was called The Sweetgrass highway. We stopped and bought a lovely basket
from a woman who shared that she was the fifth generation in her family to be
making these baskets.
We made one more stop along the coast of South Carolina, we wanted to see a couple of lighthouses. We followed a number of small country roads to the shore where we found the Oak Island Lighthouse. It replaced a very old structure across the Fear River. We could see the old structure but could not get close to it. We enjoyed talking with two couples along the boardwalk to the beach. The second couple had only been married a few days and were on their honeymoon. We were happy to take their picture with the tall lighthouse in the background.
Then we had a long drive to Havelock, NC, near the Marine Base Camp Lejeune. We
were both glad to arrive and fell into bed.
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