Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor (1991-2) - James supervised a summer field
recording project at Fort Sumter for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
which documented the historic monument. The set of 24 drawings, 170 black and
white photographs, 54 data sheets, and extensive field notes is on file in the HABS
Collection at the Library of Congress. While surveying the site James noticed that
subsidence was occurring to the windward side of the fort. In his research he
discovered that subsidence had been a constant problem since the foundations were
laid in the 1830's. Engineering reports published in the 1951 further verified the fort
was sinking dramatically, over 4 feet between 1901, the time of its reconstruction, and
1951. James subsequently published an article on his findings in the Cultural
Resource Management Magazine (CRM) of the National Park Service, which can be
linked below. He also prepared a Historic Structures Report of the national monument
for the National Park Service. The report which documents the construction history of
the site, pulling together the extensive body of engineering records on the fort, and
included annotated drawings of the site, noting the damage it sustained during the Civil
War and the subsequent reconstruction of the fort during the Spanish Civil War, at
which time the massive concrete Battery Huger was constructed. James also served
as a consultant when one of the casemates was dismantled to reveal its construction.
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recording project at Fort Sumter for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
which documented the historic monument. The set of 24 drawings, 170 black and
white photographs, 54 data sheets, and extensive field notes is on file in the HABS
Collection at the Library of Congress. While surveying the site James noticed that
subsidence was occurring to the windward side of the fort. In his research he
discovered that subsidence had been a constant problem since the foundations were
laid in the 1830's. Engineering reports published in the 1951 further verified the fort
was sinking dramatically, over 4 feet between 1901, the time of its reconstruction, and
1951. James subsequently published an article on his findings in the Cultural
Resource Management Magazine (CRM) of the National Park Service, which can be
linked below. He also prepared a Historic Structures Report of the national monument
for the National Park Service. The report which documents the construction history of
the site, pulling together the extensive body of engineering records on the fort, and
included annotated drawings of the site, noting the damage it sustained during the Civil
War and the subsequent reconstruction of the fort during the Spanish Civil War, at
which time the massive concrete Battery Huger was constructed. James also served
as a consultant when one of the casemates was dismantled to reveal its construction.
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Fort Sumter
Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
Historic annotated drawing by James Ferguson (HABS-1991)