In its 170-year history of defending our coast, Fort Moultrie has been the home of a number of well-known US Army officers including General William Moultrie, its namesake, General Robert Anderson, and General George C. Marshall. Most of enlisted men stationed at Fort Moultrie have been forgotten. However, Private Edgar Allan Poe, the preeminent American poet and author, still resonates in the fort’s history.
#1: Poe’s family and early education
Edgar was born in Boston on January 19, 1809 to actors David and Eliza Poe. Tragically, at the age of three he became an orphan along with two siblings. He was taken in but never legally adopted by Richmond Virginia merchant John Allan and his wife Frances. He moved to the United Kingdom with his foster parents and attended several schools there before returning to Richmond in 1820 where he continued his education. At age 17, with his family’s influence, he was admitted in 1826 to the University of Virgina, which had been founded only seven years earlier by Thomas Jefferson.
#2: Poe’s tenure at the University
Poe’s tenure at the University started favorably with his earning honors in Latin and French. His professors recognized genius in the young student with a near photographic memory. Poe was known for capturing the rapt attention of his roommates with his dramatic reading of stories he had written.
According to Poe, his foster father did not fully fund his expenses at the University. Poe turned to borrowing money, then gambling, in an attempt to provide necessary funds. When he reported his gambling debts to his foster father, John Allan forced him to withdraw from the University in December of 1826 after only 10 months. Poe had amassed debts of about $80,000 in today’s money.
#3: Poe’s estrangement from his foster family
Disagreements with his wealthy foster father soon led him to leave his comfortable home in Richmond and seek opportunity on his own in Boston. He tried to support himself as a newspaper contributor, but his literary efforts could not pay his bills or settle his gambling debts. While taking odd jobs and trying to decide his next venture, he seized on the idea of joining the military.
#4: Enlistment in the Army
The Army in the early nineteenth century was attractive to Poe because it could provide accommodation, uniforms and food in addition to a modest base pay. According to his May 26, 1827 enlistment records, Poe claimed he was 22 and used the name of Edgar Allan Perry, possibly to escape his debtors. The 18-year-old recruit was assigned to the 1st US Artillery Regiment in Battery H, which was posted at Fort Independence in Boston Harbor.
#5: Poe’s transfer to Fort Moultrie
Five months after he enlisted, his company was transferred to Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. Poe and his unit arrived in South Carolina by ship on November 18, 1827. The 11-day journey was nearly Poe’s last as the ship almost foundered off of Cape Cod. When Poe arrived in Charleston, the city was one of the East Coast’s most prosperous ports with hundreds of sailing ships carrying imported and exported goods. The invention of the cotton gin had added sea island and upland cotton to rice produced on coastal plantations. The slave-produced bounty and Charleston’s latitude made it one of the busiest and easiest US ports to reach by sail from Europe.
#6: Fort Moultrie during Poe’s time
The Revolutionary War and replacement fortifications on Sullivan’s Island had not stood the test of time. Alexander Macomb, a young US Army engineer destined to later head the Army, was sent to Charleston to build more permanent fortifications. In 1809 he completed a brick-and-mortar fort which, in part, has survived to this day. The low multi-sided structure with cannons mounted on thick walls guarded the shipping channel. Within the walls where three building. One building was the officers’ quarters, one the enlisted barracks, and the third included: the sallyport (guard/sentry post above), officer of the day office, commanding officer’s office, quartermaster, commissary, ordnance, and hospital. Because the quarters were taller than the surrounding brick parapets they were destroyed during the Civil War. Of the original interior buildings, only the outline of the foundation for the enlisted barracks remains for visitors to see.
#7: Poe’s demonstrated potential at Fort Moultrie
The principal role of Fort Moultrie’s garrison was to keep the fort’s cannons ready to repel seaborne invaders. Readiness depended on all cannon carriage being in good working order, and it took a mechanically skilled soldier, known as an artificer, to maintain the gun carriage’s moveable parts. Pvt. Edgar Perry (aka Poe) was classified as the unit’s artificer at Fort Moultrie but he does not appear to have performed the duties of an artificer.
At a time when most recruits were immigrants who could hardly read and write, Poe’s intellect gained him the recognition of his company commander Lieutenant Joshua Howard. Howard was so impressed by Poe that he introduced him to Col. James House, the regimental commander. House was equally impressed with Poe’s abilities and the two of them came up with a plan to advance his Army career.
#8: Poe’s exploration of Sullivan’s Island
Garrison duty in peace time left abundant time for Poe to explore his surroundings. By the time Poe arrived at Fort Moultrie, a small town called Moultrieville had been established around the fort. Some of the residents were employed at the fort to provide food, fuel, mail and laundry services. Though Charlestonians found the island a delightful escape from summertime heat, Poe, accustomed to city life, was not particularly enamored with sleepy Moultrieville. The environs further afield clearly made an impression on the young soldier as later revealed in his writings.
Sullivan’s Island’s exposed position along the Atlantic Ocean and its sandy soil were conditions in which the sabal palmetto and fragrant wax myrtle thrive. A vast grove of dense myrtles extended eastward behind Fort Moultrie and provided a shadowy home to hordes of mosquitos. The venerable palmetto was abundant but gave little shade. Wide sandy beaches provided an avenue for contemplative walks, and it was perhaps on Sullivan’s that Poe learned of the legendary pirates that once frequented the Charleston area.
#9: The abrupt end of Poe’s military career
Poe’s stay at Fort Moultrie end on December 11, 1828 when his company was ordered to Fort Monroe in Virginia. There, Lt. Howard and Col. House determined that Poe’s career in the Army would be better served by his becoming an officer. They promoted Poe to the highest enlisted rank, Sergeant Major, on the basis of his performance at Fort Moultrie and had him hire a replacement for the remainder of his commitment. With excellent recommendations, Poe was discharged on April 15, 1829. He applied for and was accepted to the US Military Academy at West Point. He reported there about June 20, 1830 to begin enrollment.
Poe did not find the Academy to his liking and quit attending classes. Accordingly, on March 6, 1831, he was court-martialed, found guilty and dismissed from the Academy. Thus ended the military career of the young soldier who had shown so much potential at Fort Moultrie. One wonders what would have become of Poe had he succeeded at the Academy and become an army officer.
#10: Poe’s writing career and death
The years after leaving the Academy were Poe’s most prolific as he struggled to win acclaim as a writer. In 1843, inspired by his time at Fort Moultrie, Poe published the short story The Goldbug. Fitting of his dark and macabre writing, Poe’s life would not end well. He was found delirious in a Baltimore tavern on October 3, 1849 and died four days later at age 40 of unknown causes. Poe left us with about 70 short stories and 50 poems – none read more widely during his lifetime than his story set on Sullivan’s Island -The Gold-Bug.
