My great-great grandfather, Clarence Anthony Trouche, was a young private in the Confederate ranks who fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. He was stationed at the “Iron Battery” on Cummins(also known as Cummings) Point, which was unusual because it featured iron shutters built over the earth-and-wood barrier from which the cannons protruded. When retracted to load, the shutters were closed, then opened for the big Columbiads to fire at Fort Sumter.
We’ve always heard about the first shot that was fired at Fort Sumter at 4:30am from Fort Johnson on James Island, but few have ever read that the first answering shot from the Fort fired back at the Confederates was at the Iron Battery, which caused no damage. But later in the morning, a Federal shot did hit the battery squarely on its iron shutters, bending a shutter so that it could not be opened. Volunteers were called for and my great-great grandfather and two other soldiers rowed an open boat three miles to the city during the bombardment to have the shutter pounded back into shape by blacksmiths in Charleston.
For this bit of gallantry, Clarence is mentioned in the official records of the war. Later, he would join the famed “Siege Train”, which was a Confederate unit moved by rails to different locations along the South Carolina coast to combat the Federal siege. He was wounded several times during the war, but survived and died in 1897 within sight of the old Iron Battery from his home on Sullivan’s Island.