Like many Third System fortifications, Fort Sumter proved a costly endeavor, and construction slowed again in 1859 due to lack of funding. Building ground to a halt in the 1830s amid a dispute over ownership of the stretch of the harbor, and did not resume until 1841. The only Union deaths came during the evacuation: One soldier was killed and another mortally wounded in an accidental explosion during a planned 100-gun salute.Ĭonstruction of Fort Sumter first began in 1829 in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on a manmade island built from thousands of tons of granite. While the island itself was only 2.4 acres in size, the fort was built to accommodate a garrison of 650 soldiers and 135 artillery pieces.ĭid you know? There were no casualties during the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter at the start of the Civil War. The three-tiered, five-sided fort’s coastal placement was designed to allow it to control access to the vital Charleston Harbor. Named for Revolutionary War general and South Carolina native Thomas Sumter, the fortification was one of nearly 50 forts built as part of the so-called Third System, a coastal defense program implemented by Congress in 1817. Fort Sumter was first built in the wake of the War of 1812, which had highlighted the United States’ lack of strong coastal defenses.
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