Iron cannons greet you along the Battery, Charleston's seawall where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet the harbor. The iron cannons you see here are relics of a city that spent three centuries fortifying itself against attack. During the colonial era, this point was fortified against Spanish and pirate raids.
During the Civil War, Charlestonians crowded onto these promenades on the morning of April 12, 1861, to watch Confederate shore batteries fire on Fort Sumter across the water. For many, it must have felt like a spectacle — a demonstration of Southern defiance. They could not have known they were watching the opening act of a war that would kill 620,000 Americans.
Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard coordinated the bombardment from nearby. The seawall you stand on is also a practical structure — Charleston sits barely above sea level, and the Battery protects the city from storm surges. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 sent floodwaters over these walls.
As climate change raises sea levels, the Battery faces its greatest long-term test. The harbor where the Civil War began stretches before you, its water's edge still reshaped by history.