Reminicences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-61

Abner Doubleday was an 1842 graduate of the U. S. Military

Academy at West Point and a veteran of the Mexican war

when he was assigned to Fort Moultrie

in the summer of 1860. A Captain of Artillery, he served as second in command

of the garrison at the historic fort when the curtain rose on the dramatic

events leading to the outbreak of the War Between the States. Doubleday also

had the distinction of aiming the first cannon fired in response to the

bombardment of Fort Sumter.