Holding CHARLESTON by the Bridle
Holding Charleston by the Bridle: Castle Pinckney and the Civil War, by W. Clifford Roberts, Jr. and Matthew A. M. Locke, is the first book on the subject.
Castle Pinckney was constructed as a state-of-the-art seacoast fortress c. 1810 prior to the War of 1812 on a Shute’s Folly, a marshy island in the center of Charleston’s magnificent harbor. The large cannons on the ramparts of this horseshoe-shaped masonry fort had the ability to command downtown Charleston and the busy wharves along East Bay Street.
Luminaries — including President James Monroe and Gens. Winfield Scott, Robert E. Lee, and P. G. T. Beauregard — inspected its casemates and barracks. In fact, Castle Pinckney is as impressive as its list of visiting VIPs.
Defending Castle Pinckney became one of Gen. Winfield Scott’s major concerns during the Nullification Crisis of 1832 and 1850, and an important chess piece in the secession turmoil leading up to the 1861 bombardment of Fort Sumter. Seminole Indians and Africans from the illegal slave ship Echo were held there. On the eve of the Civil War, the London Times informed its readers that Castle Pinckney has “been kept garrisoned, not to protect Charleston from naval attack from the ocean, but to serve as a bridle upon the city.”
In 1860, Maj. Robert Anderson knew Pinckney was the key to protecting his small Federal garrison at Fort Moultrie, but his requests to Washington for troops to hold it went unheeded. That December, three companies of Charleston militia scaled Pinckney’s walls and seized the fort in a daring act that pushed the nation to the edge of civil war.
After First Manassas (Bull Run), 156 captured Yankee officers and enlisted men were sent to the island, and in 1863, members of the famous 54th Massachusetts were held there as POWs. The fort’s guns helped defend Charleston during the war’s longest siege. By 1865, the old fortress had been transformed into an earthen barbette battery with a Brooke Rifle and three giant 10-inch Columbiads. During Reconstruction Pinckney became an “American Bastille” for Southerners accused of crimes against the government.
Authors Roberts and Locke rely on extensive primary research and archaeological evidence to tell the full story of Castle Pinckney. They explain everything, from the fort’s innovative design as part of America’s “Second System” of coastal fortifications to the modern challenges of preserving its weathered brick walls against rising sea levels. Given its importance to America’s history, this book is long overdue. Considering current efforts to protect and restore the historic fort, this book is a must-read. For Sale Online