Charleston MIS Group Get Together

[NH Civil War Gal]

We flew in on Thursday and met up with Rebel Brit and his wife and the rest of the group to tour Fort Sumter. UCVrelics picked us up and our host was SBC.

I've never been here so this was all new to me.

Matthew Locke, the author of "Holding Charleston By The Bridle" lives in the area and is an expert on Castle Pinckney and Sumter. Fortunately I know him and even more fortunately he graciously agreed to give us a tour of Sumter when we got out there.

So we took the ferry out and the fun began.

You start at the wharf and learn you are on hallowed ground.

This is Castle Pickney. Now during the Civil War this was a 240 acre island. Modern dredging in the 20th century has eroded most of the land.

Not the original entrance. The Confederates made this entrance.

 

[John Winn]

I hope you love Charleston; it's one of my favorite places. I've got old family history in Charleston including a gg grandfather who was a founding member of the Importing & Exporting Co. which was one of the three major blockade running outfits. His two houses still exist and his furniture store building on King St. is now the Charles Birlant antique store (and has been for several generations). When I was there I got a private tour by the owner as he knew the history of the building (and even had some original, signed, paperwork).

Enjoy (and be sure to eat well; won't be disappointed).

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Fort Sumter is big yet smaller than you would think. No fresh water so water was brought in with tarred barrels. Yummy.

 

[bdtex]

Looks like a good time. Wish I could've been there. Ain't seen Ken in a while.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

This is really interesting and important to understand about the harbor defense in Charleston. Look at the map and see how shallow the water depth is. Ships coming in had to really really know the harbor because they had to do constant dog legs to get in or out. No room for error.

This book is very interesting. Abner Doubleday was second in command of Sumter. He published a book of his memoirs and some of the very first editions (but not all) have this shadow box thing where he included scraps of the flag mast of Sumter and bits of the American flag.

His very first editions without the relics are currently going for over 2K.

Matthew Locke and Richard.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

We flew in on Thursday and met up with Rebel Brit and his wife and the rest of the group to tour Fort Sumter. UCVrelics picked us up and our host was SBC.

I've never been here so this was all new to me.

Matthew Locke, the author of "Holding Charleston By The Bridle" lives in the area and is an expert on Castle Pinckney and Sumter. Fortunately I know him and even more fortunately he graciously agreed to give us a tour of Sumter when we got out there.

So we took the ferry out and the fun began.

You start at the wharf and learn you are on hallowed ground.

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This is Castle Pickney. Now during the Civil War this was a 240 acre island. Modern dredging in the 20th century has eroded most of the land.
View attachment 580000View attachment 580001

Not the original entrance. The Confederates made this entrance.
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What a good outing!

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

To finish off Friday we went to Fort Moultrie. Much older and smaller. Original fort during the Revolutionary War was a log cabin.

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

Thanks @NH Civil War Gal
For anyone else who is interested - here are some free online copies of the books by Abner Doubleday and Jacob Stroyer. My reading list keeps growing!

Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61 : Doubleday, Abner, 1819-1893 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

184 p. : 20 cm

archive.org

My life in the South : Stroyer, Jacob, 1849-1908 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

100 p. : 19 cm

archive.org

 

[bdtex]

To finish off Friday we went to Fort Moultrie. Much older and smaller. Original fort during the Revolutionary War was a log cabin.

Retirement looks good on @Drew

 

[7th Texas Mounted Rifles]

No fresh water so water was brought in with tarred barrels.

Wait, really?

I guess i need to do some more reading!

I thought Sumter (like all third system forts) had both rainwater cisterns and desalination boilers?

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Well, they would have cisterns but if water gets low the only thing to do is to bring it in by tarred barrels. Fort Gaines had the same problem.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Great tour @NH Civil War Gal !
Thanks for bringing us along.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Today we went to see the Hunley. It was a great day to do museum stuff because it poured all day. The Blue Angels show was even canceled and they don't cancel very often.

We learn something new everyday. I had no idea that Robert Fulton was asked to design a submarine.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

This is the Pioneer and wasn't actually used. It is a working prototype.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

These are GORGEOUS! Now I want to explain the coin to you. The coin did a bullet at Shiloh but… it still injured Dixon. It stopped the bullet from shattering his femur but the coin, absorbing the velocity of the bullet nicked his femur and he was injured from that. So by the time he was leading the crew on the Hunley he was still walking with a limp.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

For some reason I can't edit the photos. The Hunley sits in a vat of sodium hydroxide which pulls the salts out of the iron.

If you look closely you can see the cranking mechanism through the openings.

The plan is to move the Hunley when the museum is built in the next two or three years.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

These strike me as a bit creepy but are part of the facial reconstruction they did. In some of the cases they were able to get family DNA from great-granddaughters etc.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

The MIS (Muster Improvement Society) looks like the most fun group of forum members to ever "get together" ... and have the best time !!!

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

These strike me as a bit creepy but are part of the facial reconstruction they did. In some of the cases they were able to get family DNA from great-granddaughters etc.

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Lawd ... yes !


Those mannequins are very creepy !

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

And this is where the Hunley crews are buried. At the old Magnolia Cemetery