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Coastal Defense: The Endicott System
1898 - 1943
Battery Jasper, the black, concrete structure in front of you, was built in 1898 as part of the Endicott System - a series of concrete and steel fortifications armed with heavy-caliber guns, along the U.S. coastline. With the support of smaller batteries nearby, Battery Jasper was designed to protect Charleston Harbor.
The Endicott System developed from America's need to modernize coastal defenses in the 1880s. The system coordinated cannon, mortars, rapid-fire weapons, electrically controlled minefields, and round-the-clock coastal surveillance to protect against enemy attack. By World War II, the Endicott System was obsolete. In 1943 it was replaced here at Fort Moultrie by a new system of harbor defense. The HECP (Harbor Entrance Control Post) inside the fort remains from that new system.
Four 12-inch mortars, like those below, were positioned on each of the four emplacements of Battery Capron on Sullivans Island. They were grouped to fire 700-pound shells simultaneously at an enemy ship.
One of four "disappearing" rifles at Battery Jasper, WWI-WWII. These guns fired 10-inch 571-pound shells.
Nitroglycerine-based powder replaced black powder and breech-loading rifles replaced muzzle-loading cannon, increasing range and destructive power of shells.
Mines controlled by electric cables were placed at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Mine fields were protected by batteries of rapid-fire 4.7 inch guns. |