In the chap­ter titled “To Lift a Columbi­ad,” the focus is on the prepa­ra­tions and chal­lenges faced by the sol­diers at Fort Sumter under the super­vi­sion of Major Ander­son. The pri­ma­ry goal was to posi­tion ten-inch columbiads—massive fif­teen-thou­sand-pound guns—on the fort’s high­est tier for opti­mal effec­tive­ness. The engi­neer­ing team craft­ed a block-and-tack­le appa­ra­tus to facil­i­tate the lift­ing of these heavy weapons. Despite their efforts, lift­ing the first columbi­ad demand­ed sig­nif­i­cant brute strength, but the crew suc­cess­ful­ly posi­tioned it atop the fort.

How­ev­er, the instal­la­tion of the sec­ond gun encoun­tered a set­back when a cru­cial ele­ment of the lift­ing mech­a­nism failed, caus­ing the gun to crash into the ground and par­tial­ly bury itself. Thank­ful­ly, no one was injured, and the sol­diers inge­nious­ly repur­posed the sunken gun as an impro­vised mor­tar capa­ble of fir­ing pro­jec­tiles at steep angles, thus over­com­ing obsta­cles.

Unde­terred, the crew repaired the lift­ing appa­ra­tus and pro­ceed­ed with hoist­ing a third columbi­ad, which ascend­ed with­out inci­dent. Mean­while, Cap­tain Fos­ter, the chief engi­neer, rein­forced the fort’s defens­es by seal­ing the main gate and con­struct­ing a for­mi­da­ble six-foot-high bar­ri­er known as the “man­hole,” allow­ing only one sol­dier to pass at a time. This gate led to an eight-inch how­itzer point­ed direct­ly at any invad­er.

Fos­ter’s imag­i­na­tive defens­es includ­ed the strate­gic place­ment of 225 explo­sive shells along the para­pet, primed to fall onto ene­my sol­diers. Addi­tion­al traps like “thun­der bar­rels” and hid­den pits filled with explo­sives, dubbed “fougasses,” were cre­ative­ly uti­lized to enhance the fort’s strength. He even incor­po­rat­ed mines beneath the wharf to bol­ster pro­tec­tion.

Despite the grim prepa­ra­tions for war­fare, life at Fort Sumter was not sole­ly focused on com­bat. The sol­diers engaged in leisure activ­i­ties, play­ing games, fish­ing, and enjoy­ing Sun­day out­ings on a six-oared barge. How­ev­er, their liv­ing con­di­tions were chal­leng­ing, marked by a short­age of can­dles and soap, forc­ing them to resort to inno­v­a­tive solu­tions for light­ing and clean­li­ness as they pre­pared for the uncer­tain­ties of war ahead.