Existing comment:
This diagram shows how the walls were collapsed by continual shelling. The dotted lines indicate how tall the fort was originally and then the solid lines indicate what was left of it. The sign:
During the long siege, Union batteries and ironclads hurled an estimated 3,500 tons of ammunition at Fort Sumter but failed to capture it. With Sherman's troops in South Carolina and an end to the war in sight, the Confederate garrison left the fort during the night of February 17, 1865. Proudly, they chose to abandon Sumter rather than surrender it to the enemy. |