Fort Sumter National Monument

Fort Sumter National Monument occupies a man-made island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and marks the site where Confederate artillery fired the opening shots of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861. The pentagonal masonry fortification was designed in 1829 and constructed over decades on a shoal of granite and shells; it was still incomplete when Union Major Robert Anderson garrisoned it with 80 soldiers in December 1860. After a 34-hour bombardment, Anderson surrendered on April 14, 1861. Confederate forces held the fort for nearly four years, enduring sustained Union bombardment that reduced the original three-story walls to rubble mounds. The fort was retaken by Union forces in February 1865. Today the masonry walls stand to about five feet in the areas most heavily damaged; two gun casemates have been restored to convey the scale of the original three-story structure. A National Park Service museum inside the fort covers the antebellum construction, the 1861 bombardment, and the fort's role through 1865 with original artillery pieces, military artifacts, and interpretive panels. The full experience — ferry crossing from Liberty Square Visitor Center or Patriots Point, time at the fort with ranger programs, and the return crossing — takes three to four hours. The ferry ride itself offers excellent views of the Charleston skyline, Castle Pinckney, and the harbor fortification system. Rangers deliver interpretive talks on the gun deck; the frequency varies by season. The fort exterior affords unobstructed harbor views in all directions. Binoculars are useful for spotting dolphins in the harbor on the crossing.