SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, South Carolina, United States — The site of the former Battery Capron/Pierce Butler, now a community park known as "the mound." This location, once home to sixteen twelve-inch coastal mortars, represents the evolution of US coastal defenses from the late 19th century through World War II and beyond.
Photograph by David Coleman. The park on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, known locally as "the mound," marks the site of the former Battery Capron/Pierce Butler, a significant coastal defense installation that played a role in American military history from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century. Battery Capron/Pierce Butler was part of the "Endicott System" of coastal defenses, initiated in 1885 under President Grover Cleveland's administration. This system, developed in response to fears of increasing European naval power, led to the construction of seven artillery batteries on Sullivan's Island. Battery Capron/Pierce Butler, housing sixteen twelve-inch coastal mortars, was the first of these batteries to be constructed. Construction of the battery began in 1896, spurred by rising tensions between the United States and Spain. The battery was completed and turned over to the command of Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Originally named for Captain Allyn K. Capron, who was killed in Cuba during that conflict, it was later divided into two sections, with one part renamed for Colonel Pierce Butler, who died in the Mexican War of 1847. The battery's construction involved significant engineering feats. Period photographs show the use of a narrow-gauge railway to transport fill sand, creating the distinctive hill-like appearance that earned it the local nickname "the mound." The battery consisted of four mortar pits, each containing four of the massive twelve-inch mortars. Battery Capron/Pierce Butler remained an active part of Charleston's harbor defenses until 1942 when it was deactivated and its guns removed as part of the evolving strategies of World War II. After the war, the battery found new purpose. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, it served as a potential fallout shelter, demonstrating how military installations can be repurposed in response to changing threats. In the decades that followed, the abandoned bat
Size: 8256px × 5504px
Location: Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, United States
Photo credit: © David Coleman | Have Camera Will Travel / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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