William Moultrie

This 1782 portrait of William Moultrie by Charles Willson Peale hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"In June 1776, as eight British warships stood poised to put a quick end to the rebellion in the South, William Moultrie, a planter with some experience as a militia captain, was in charge of the hastily built fort on Sullivan's Island in Charles Town harbor. The soft palmetto logs of the fort successfully absorbed bombardment from one hundred guns, whereas Moultrie's men discharged their twenty-five guns with a deliberation that demolished ship rigging and slaughtered enemy sailors. After eleven and a half hours, the British slipped away, giving South Carolina a three-year respite from war.

In the background of this portrait showing Moultrie, risen to a general in the Continental army can be glimpsed the famous fort, renamed in Moultrie's honor." -- National Portrait Gallery

Fort Moultrie

Moultrie, Knox and Gates