Charles Towne Landing, What Charleston was in 1670

Traitor!

We went to Charles Towne Landing today.  It was built by the Lords Proprietors and it was the first permanent European settlement. Charles Towne wasn’t built in the exact place were Charleston is today, because when the English built it they were afraid of being attacked by the Indians and the Spanish.  They built Charles Towne near marshes, were they could  defend it better.  The English wanted to go to Charleston, because they could trade easier because the water was deeper than Charles Towne. Ten years later, in 1680 they moved it to where Charleston stands today, in South Carolina.

Crew at Work

The Adventure

When we went there, we walked along the historical site.  A man dressed in colonial clothes made some children and me haul up a sail on a model ship.  Then we went on a real ship named the Adventure.  It was a replica of an English trading vessel. After the historical site, we went to an animal site.  We saw sea birds, elk, a bobcat, a puma, a bear, and deer.  It was really fun going to Charles Towne Landing!  I hope you will go there too!

Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC

Fort Sumter is a man-made island.  Construction on Fort Sumter began in 1829 but was not finished by 1860.  It was never finished. It was occupied by Union forces.  On April 12, 1861, Fort Johnson opened fire on Fort Sumter. No one was killed during the battle, but during the surrender ceremony for the Union, Private Howell lost his life when a cannon misfired. This was the beginning of the Civil War.         

Fort Sumter is surrounded by water, so we had to take a ferry to get there.  Inside the fort were many cannons and the walls were very thick and high!  There were steps that led up to a large rock that was way up from the sea and it was very windy!  We went into another part of the fort and there were more cannons.  Some of the cannons were bigger than Cooper and me!  We also found cannon balls embedded in the walls of the fort! Then we took the ferry home as a souvenir!

A Visit to Yorktown Battlefield, Yorktown, VA

Cornwallis, the British general, was fighting the American and French forces. The French had joined the American Revolution to help the Americans.  Cornwallis was trapped by the French fleet and also trapped by an American army in Yorktown. After the siege, Cornwallis surrendered.  This happened in 1781.

     

When we went to Yorktown Battlefield, they were reenacting the firing of British and American cannons.  The British cannons were small, but the American/French cannons were very large.  On average, the French and American crews fired 1,929 cannon balls per day.  The firing lasted over 8 days.                                                                    

   

We saw redoubts on the battlefield.  Redoubts are a type of earthwork.  Earthworks are kind of like a trench.  There were redoubts 9 and 10, which were British, but were captured by American\French forces.  We learned about redoubts in a movie about the battle of Yorktown.  While 400 French men attacked one of the redoubts, 400 Americans attacked the other.  

My favorite thing I learned about the siege of Yorktown was when Cornwallis surrendered, and the Americans got guns, cannons, troops and flags.  The Americans did not kill the troops, they only sent them to prisons.  Cornwallis probably felt very ashamed because he had been defeated.   This was the last major battle of the American Revolution.