Fort Sumter is located in the harbor of Charleston and a boat ride and the accompanying fee is required to visit the fort, which is part of the Federal park system. Twenty-two months of Federal bombardment through January of 1865 destroyed much of the four-story fort but failed to dislodge the Confederate garrison.

This is a photograph from Charleston with Fort Sumter in the middle of the frame, Fort Moultrie, a masonry fort on Sullivan Island is on the left, and to the right is James Island, where the Confederacy had forts. This ring of forts protected Charleston and its harbor.

This photo is of Fort Sumter and taken from the vicinity of Fort Moultrie.

This photograph shows that much of the four-story fort had been reduced due to Federal bombardment to rubble and in the distance is James Island, where the Confederates had constructed earthen forts.