Photo of the Week #14 – Fort Sumter, South Carolina

I took this picture while standing on one of the look-out positions at Fort Sumter looking towards Charleston, South Carolina. Fort Sumter is located on Sullivan Island at the entrance to the Charleston Harbor. For those who know their U.S. history, this is where the first shots were fired beginning the bloody, U.S. Civil War, pitting the Union Army of the United States against the Confederate Army of the fledgling Confederate States that had seceded from the rest of the United States. The loss of life and destruction of property from the Civil War was more then horrendous as brothers fought against brothers and fathers fought against sons. There were several issues at stake, the mostly widely recognized being slavery.

The Union occupied Fort Sumter and the South had demanded that the fort be evacuated and turned over to them. When it hadn’t been turned over, the South opened fire on Fort Sumter from the mainland side of the island. All of the 60 cannon placements at the fort were aimed out to sea to protect the harbor, thus, they had no ability to fight back and the fort was surrendered after two days of continual assault. Thus, began one of the darkest times in U.S. history.