Where the Civil War Began

On the advice of a fellow "resorter" we decided to make our one stop in Charleston South Carolina at Fort Sumter where the opening shot of the Civil War was fired. We drove to Patriots Point and boarded a boat that took us out to the fort. During our half hour boat ride we learned as much as we could about its history.

Fort Sumter sits at the entrance of Charleston Harbor and is one of a series of coastal fortifications built by the US after the War of 1812. In the early years of the republic slavery became entrenched and vital to the southern economy. The is issue of slavery was dividing the nation and on December 20, 1860, South Carolina delegates to a special secession convention voted unanimously to secede from the Federal Union. The day after Christmas Major Robert Anderson moved his 85 man garrison to Fort Sumter.

The South demanded that Fort Sumter be vacated. The North refused so on April 12, 1861 the South Carolina troops of the Confederacy fired on the fort. This began a two day bombardment that resulted in the surrender of Fort Sumter by Union Troops.

The South held the Fort and endured one of the longest sieges in modern warfare - for almost two years 46,00 shells [over 7 million lbs of metal] were fired on the fort. It was the arrival of General Sherman's troops from Savannah that caused the Confederates to finally evacuate Fort Sumter on February 17, 1865.

On April 14, 1865, with Charleston now in Union hands, the U.S. flag that was lowered in 1861 was once again raised over Fort Sumters battered ramparts. We saw that flag in Fort Sumter's Museum. You can also still see civil war artillery shells embedded in the fort walls. It was all a most impressive tour that we enjoyed very much.

Leaving Charleston we continued to make our way up the coast towards Myrtle Beach. Because we had such an abbreviated time at Daytona Beach we had promised Taryn some time at a South Carolina beach. Gary had one in mind - Huntington Beach State Park - and it was a winner. It is also a nature preserve and we crosses over a rather large alligator swamp but didn't see any. We enjoyed about 3 hrs of sun, sand and surf. The water was incredibly warm and Taryn had such fun with her board. She's getting quite good at this.

On our way out of the park we checked for alligators and were treated to seeing at least 11 of them ranging in size from 4 to about 10 feet. They came out when the heat of the day was past. Some were swimming, some were sitting on a sand bar, and Gary watched one enjoying a crab for dinner. What fun to see them.

Leaving there at 7:30 pm and knew we had a long drive ahead of us. Our goal was to get as far up the coast of North Carolina as possible. Taking Hwy 17 we drove late into the nite. On our way we passed thru Wilmington NC and it was a most incredible city with grand southern homes and wonderful architecture. We put put it on our "want to explore this more" list. Our next trip! In Jackson we drove next to the Marine Corp Base Camp LeJeune.

New Bern was our stop for the night at 1 AM.