Announcer: A production of: The South Carolina Educational Television Network Mary Long: Su llivan's Island is quiet now.

It's a place of serenity, a place where the gentle lapping of waves at the ocean shore and the roiling cry of gulls puts the visitor at ease.

But in the not too distant past, the sounds of the ocean were stilled by the roar of cannon.

The cries of seabirds were eclipsed by the sobs of dying men, valiant soldiers whose blood stained these white sands red.

A mile away in Charleston Harbor, the frantic cries of men we re also heard in another war, another time.

Two forts, two wars... the "Guns of Revolution."

♪ ♪ ♪ In 1775, the British in Boston were under a state of siege.

General George Washington's Continental Army had blocked them at every turn.

To create a diversion, they decided to launch an offensive against the Southern colonies.

In January of 1776, General Henry Clinton left Boston with a force of 1200 men.

He went to the Cape Fear River to wait for a fleet from Ireland commanded by Sir Peter Parker.

By the time Parker arrived, having been delayed by dreadful storms, Clinton was about convinced he should give up the entire endeavor.

♪ But Parker convinced Clinton that the city of Charleston could easily by taken.

He was encouraged by reports he had of a small fort here on Sullivan's Island which was the key to Charleston Harbor.

The fort was unfinished, and seemed to offer little resistance to the mighty British warships.

♪ He didn't consider the talents of a brave South Carolinian who would become one of the greatest heroes of the American Revolution.

Commanding the original fort which occupied this site was a man whom some historians call the most slothful and laziest whoever lived.

Yet others called him a military genius.

Who was this man who could generate such conflicting emotions?

Who was Colonel William Moultrie?

We know little of William Moultrie's early life.

We know he was of Scottish ancestry and was born in 1730 in the vicinity of St. Helena Island.

He probably received a well-rounded education.

We think the family was somewhat wealthy and had a number of holdings in Beaufort County.

The first record we have of his military service was in the Cherokee Indian Wars in 1761.

William Moultrie returned from the Indian campaign hardened to battle.

He had achieved a coolness and a composure in battle that very few people ever had.

He returned to his home on St. Helena Island and resumed the life of a plantation owner.

He's described as being happy and carefree, very sensitive to the needs of others, particularly of his slaves, and very fond of good company and strong drink.

When the American Revolution began in 1775, Moultrie was one of the first South Carolinians to enlist.

He was elected Colonel of the Second Regiment of the South Carolina Militia.

When Governor John Rutledge heard of the impending British attack, he stationed Moultrie here on Sullivan's Island with instructions to build a fort which would repel the British advances.

The island was then a wilderness, covered with live oaks, dense thickets of myrtle, and sprinkled with palmetto trees.

Moultrie chose the palmetto for construction of the fort.

The trees were cut down and used as the outer walls of the fortress.

Sand and earth were thrown against the breastworks and in between the crevices of the logs, but the work went slowly.

Moultrie was criticized for not speeding things up, but calm and cool as always, the colonel could frequently be found in the shade of the fortifications enjoying a mint julep.

♪ In June, the British Armada arrived at the harbor of Charleston.

At the same time, continental troops sent by General George Washington were pouring into the city under the command of Major General Charles Lee.

Lee was considered one of the most able generals of the Continental Army.

Indeed, Moultrie said of him, "It was thought by many "that his coming among us was equal to a reinforcement of a thousand men."

The British dropped anchor 20 miles from the harbor and began to reconnoiter the area.

Lee began to survey the harbor defenses.

♪ When Lee saw the half-finished fort on Sullivan's Island, he was appalled!

Only two walls had been finished, those on the southern and eastern sides, facing the sea.

And the other two were only half completed, leaving the fort completely vulnerable.

He was especially unhappy with Moultrie, who was usually found relaxing in the shade.

Lee called the fort a "slaughter pen."

He called Moultrie a "half-baked country militiaman" and felt that the fort could be brought down about their ears in half an hour by a barrage from the enemy.

And indeed, he felt the enemy would be stupid to attack in the first place because it would serve no military objective whatsoever.

He ordered Moultrie to evacuate the fort immediately!

♪ Governor Rutledge, trusting in Moultrie's opinion, ordered him to stay.

The next day Lee arrived and found Moultrie relaxing as usual in the west-wall shade with a mint julep in his hand, supervising the placement of the guns.

Lee was absolutely furious and demanded to know why Moultrie and the troops had not left.

Moultrie explained they had no boats to get from the island to the mainland.

Lee demanded that he find the boats and evacuate immediately!

But Moultrie, calm and cool as usual, went right ahead supervising the emplacement of the guns.

There was nothing Charles Lee could do.

Even though he was in command of the Continental soldiers, he had no jurisdiction over the South Carolina Militia.

Governor John Rutledge was their commander in chief.

♪ Lee was determined to get Moultrie to the mainland.

The whole thing had become a point of honor with him.

On the night of June 27, he told his officers to go to the fort and dismantle it.

When Rutledge heard of this, he sent the following message... "To Colonel William Moultrie, "in chief command of Fort Sullivan, "Sir, General Lee wishes you to evacuate the fort.

"You will not without order from me.

"I would sooner cut off my hand than write one... J.

Rutledge."

The next morning, June 28, 1776, Lee had expected to dismantle the fort, but instead, he was completely distracted because the British Armada was approaching the harbor.

Sir Peter Parker would attack Charleston.

From a window in the Exchange Building, Governor Rutledge watched anxiously with a spyglass, trying to determine where the enemy would attack.

His greatest fear was that th ey would bypass the tiny fort on Sullivan's Island and bombard the city.

Leading the fleet was a bomb thrower, the "Thunder."

At 10:15 a.m., it stopped across from Sullivan's Island, exactly where Charles Lee said it wouldn't, and started throwing bombs into the interior of the fort.

The guns answered with four shots.

The bomb thrower kept throwing bombs into the interior.

But Moultrie's guns remained silent.

Finally, two British frigates drew up within 300 feet of Sullivan's Island, each bearing 28 guns.

Meanwhile, Moultrie just watched and waited.

♪ The ships were anchored firmly, easy targets for the fort's guns, but still, Moultrie wouldn't let his guns return the enemy fire.

Watching from the mainland, Rutledge and Lee thought that Moultrie must have lost his mind, offering no resistance whatsoever to the enemy's gunfire.

But cool and calm as always behind his log wall, Moultrie was waiting for bigger game.

♪ He was waiting for the "Bristol" and "Experiment," both 50-gun ships, the mightiest warships of the British Navy.

When the commanders didn't see return fire from the fort, they felt it was an easy target, so they moved in for the kill.

But still, Moultrie waited.

He ignored the fire from the smaller ships.

He waited until the "Bristol" and "Experiment" were firmly anchored to the ocean floor, then he fired.

Immediately all the British ships fired simultaneously.

Seventy-two cannonballs hit the walls of the small fort!

They reloaded and fired, reloaded and fired again!

To the amazement of everyone on both sides, with the possible exception of William Moultrie, the cannonballs simply bounced off the walls of the fort or fell to the ground with a thud.

William Moultrie had chosen his building materials well because the palmetto tree, with its fibrous, spongy interior, couldn't be penetrated by the British fire.

That is why today, due to the material of the fort, that the palmetto tree was selected, and South Carolina is known as the "Palmetto State."

♪ The fire of the South Carolina Second Regiment was sporadic.

At one time, Moultrie ran out of powder and had to wait an hour for more to be delivered from the mainland, but his shots were accurate.

Throughout the day his fire demolished the British fleet.

The return fire from the British was so heavy that he ended with more cannonball than when he began.

Late in the evening, the "Experiment" began to list badly and had to withdraw.

Sir Peter Parker, onboard his flagship "Bristol," had to cut his anchor and leave it in order to get out of the line of fire.

About 5:00 in the afternoon, Major General Sir Charles Lee came to the fort, inspected it, and said to Moultrie, "You are doing very well, sir.

You may remain."

Moultrie saluted smartly and said, "Thank you, sir."

Evidently, Charles Lee had rescinded his order of evacuation.

♪ After about 12 hours of constant barrage, the British fleet limped out of Charleston Harbor.

They had pitted the force of a giant British Armada against a tiny, half-completed fort, and they had lost.

The mightiest war fleet in the world had been defeated by 435 men and about 20 cannon.

The entire plan for the Southern Campaign was broken.

General Washington was to say that the success of the Battle of Fort Sullivan would give heart to the progress of the Patriot cause through the dark and desperate hours ahead.

So Colonel Moultrie gave the first decisive victory to the Patriot cause.

After the battle, the fort was renamed in his honor, but he left us another legacy.

In 1775, he had designed a flag for his regimental unit.

He chose for that flag a field of dark blue, the same color as his men's uniforms.

In the corner of that blue expanse, he placed a silver crescent, like the one that adorned the hats of his troops.

After the battle, the palmetto tree was added to symbolize the logs which were used in the construction of the fort.

William Moultrie's flag was adopted as the state flag.

♪ According to Moultrie's war recollections, the only time during the battle when he became deeply concerned was when the British sent three ships to outflank the unprotected side of his fort.

However, the ships never finished their maneuver.

They became stuck on a sandbar in the harbor.

Eighty-five years later, that sandbar was to play a role in another war.

In the 1800s, the federal government built a fort on it.

They named it Sumter.

♪ Some historians say that if President James Buchanan had withdrawn federal troops from this fort, there would never have been a war.

Others say that if he had reinforced the fort, there would not have been a war, but he did neither.

Still others state that if Lincoln had not been elected President, South Carolina would not have seceded from the Union, and there would've been no war.

However, these are only "ifs."

There was a war, and it began here.

♪ It's not the Battle of Fort Sumter with which we are primarily concerned here.

We all know what happened.

Instead, we want to look at two men, two soldiers, who had the utmost respect for each other.

Both were students of war, both were teachers of war.

Robert Anderson was born at Soldier's Retreat near Louisville, Kentucky.

He was destined for a military career.

His father, Richard Anderson, was active throughout the American Revolution and had served valiantly during the British siege of Charleston.

Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was also destined for the military.

Born a Creole in Louisiana, he was the great-grandson of Jacques Toutant Beauregard, who, under Louis XIV, had been in command of the first French ships to reach Louisiana.

Robert Anderson was graduated from West Point in 1821.

He served in the Black Hawk Indian Wars.

During those wars, he mustered a little-known soldier named Abraham Lincoln twice into the army, and mustered him out once.

He later served at West Point, and after a distinguished career, was made major.

In 1860, he was put in charge of Charleston Harbor defenses and was stationed at Fort Moultrie.

♪ Pierre G. T. Beauregard also attended West Point.

After graduation he also became an instructor of artillery upon the recommendation of his teacher.

In the 1850s, he became commander of the United States Military Academy at West Point and held this position until South Carolina seceded from the Union.

♪ In December of 1859, Anderson evacuated Fort Moultrie, which he felt was indefensible, moving his command under cover of darkness to Fort Sumter.

This fort was incompleted at the time.

Anderson immediately set about placing his cannon and strengthening his defenses.

He was extremely concerned ab out provisions and ammunition, as this isolated position made it difficult to reach by supply ship.

In February of 1860, President Jefferson Davis, determined to remove all federal troops from Southern soil, assigned General Pierre G. T. Beauregard to the Confederate command in Charleston.

Beauregard arrived in March.

♪ We can only imagine how Beauregard felt, standing on the Battery in Charleston, three and a half miles away, and seeing Fort Sumter for the first time.

As an able and distinguished officer, he was planning his battle strategy, but how did he feel as a man?

What were his personal feelings when he realized the commander of this fort, Major Robert Anderson, had been his favorite teacher at West Point, had recommended him for the post of artillery instructor and later, for commander, and had for years been a close, personal friend?

♪ While Major Anderson waited inside the walls of this fort, General Beauregard was capturing the hearts and the minds of the people of Charleston.

All Charlestonians were anxiously awaiting to see what the handsome general would do.

He became the idol of the young la dies of Charleston society and a stirring example to the men also.

Beauregard was the epitome of the Southern gentleman.

His manners and dress were soon copied by the younger men.

It's said that after his arrival, all the men with beards had had them shaven to a mustache and goatee like the General's.

♪ Anderson was sure he'd be withdrawn from the fort.

He'd informed the government he had neither ammunition nor provisions to withstand a long bombardment.

Meanwhile, Beauregard was doing everything possible to strengthen his defenses.

He'd placed additional batteries on Sullivan's Island, Morris Island, and at Fort Johnson on James Island.

His greatest fear was of a naval attack by federal forces.

He wasn't sure Confederate forces could repel it.

♪ On April 7, Major Anderson received a message from President Lincoln which set the course he was to follow.

Lincoln told him to hold the fort at any cost and that reinforcements were on the way.

On April 8, an emissary from the United States State Department met with Governor Pickens and General Beauregard and told them the fort would be reprovisioned and reinforced.

He also said that there would be no armed conflict unless Confederate forces struck first.

This information was quickly transmitted to President Jefferson Davis.

♪ On April 9, Confederate forces stopped the federal mail boat in Charleston Harbor and confiscated Major Anderson's mail.

In it, they found a letter which describes his confusion over the matter.

(male voiceover) "I trust this matter "will at once be put in a correct light, "as a movement made now "when the South has been erroneously informed "that nonesuch will be attempted "would produce most disastrous re sults throughout the country.

"I ought to have been informed "that this expedition was to come.

"We shall strive to do our duty, "though I frankly say that my heart is not in the war "which I see is to be thus commenced.

"That God will still avert it, is my ardent prayer."

In Montgomery, Alabama, President Jefferson Davis considered the attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter as an act of war.

He sent the following message to General Beauregard... (male voiceover) "If you have no doubt "of the authorized character of the agent "who communicated to you "the intention of the Washington government to supply Fort Sumter by force, "you will at once demand its evacuation.

"If this is refused, proceed in such a manner as you may determine to reduce it."

Mary: Beauregard, evidently as unwilling as Anderson to start a major conflict, answered.

(male voiceover) "Ought not demand of Sumter be made by commissioners at Washington for its evacuation?"

Mary: President Davis considered Beauregard's telegram, then replied.

(male voiceover) "Unless there are special reasons connected with your own condition, "it is considered proper that you should make the demand at an early hour."

Mary: Beauregard replied that he needed 24 hours to prepare his defenses but that he would demand from Anderson that he evacuate the fort on April 11 at noon.

However, he waited until 3:30 on April 11 to write to Anderson.

(male voiceover) "All proper facilities will be afforded "for the removal of yourself and command, "together with company arms, and property, and all private property, "to any post in the United States you may select.

"The flag which you have upheld so long, an d with so much fortitude, "under the most trying circumstances, may be saluted by you on taking it down."

Mary: Major Anderson quietly read his former student's terms of surrender, and then replied.

(male voiceover) "General, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt "of your communication demanding th e evacuation of the fort, and the same reply there too, that "It is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor and my obligations to my government prevent my compliance.

"Thank you for the fair and courteous terms which you have proposed."

Mary: Beauregard, still hesitant to begin what he knew would be a major conflict, sent Anderson another request for surrender on April 12.

(male voiceover) "If you will state the time "at which you will evacuate Fort Sumter "and agree that in the meantime yo u will not use your guns ag ainst us "unless ours shall be employed against Fort Sumter, we will abstain from firing upon you."

Mary: Knowing that federal reinforcements were on the way and hoping to stall for time, Anderson replied that he would evacuate the fort on the 15th.

This was totally unacceptable to Beauregard.

So, his messenger handed Anderson a second message which had been prepared.

"Sir, by authority of Brigadier General Beauregard, "commanding the provisional forces of the Confederate States "we have the honor to notify you "that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter one hour from this time."

Anderson thanked the messengers, shook their hands, escorted them to the boats, and sadly said... (male voiceover) "If we never meet in this world again, God grant that we meet in the next."

Mary: So, on April 12, 1861, a mortar shell fired from Fort Johnson on James Island lit up the skies of Charleston Harbor.

[cannon firing] [cannon firing] There were only two casualties in the Battle of Fort Sumter.

Two Union soldiers were killed after the battle while firing a gun salute during the lowering of the American flag.

Isn't it ironic that in the first battle of what would be the bloodiest war in American history, the only two deaths were accidental.

The fame of Charleston Harbor and Fort Sumter still lingers.

But there are two forts... one a symbol of victory in the fight for American independence, and the other a symbol of defeat when American fought American.

The "Guns of Revolution."

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