Accordingly, in january, Mr Dewees, who owned the Sea Island above Long island, was instructed to furnish Palmetto logs until further orders ” not less than 10 inches diameter in the middle. One third are to be 18 ft long, and the other two thirds 20 ft long and “he was to be allowed one shilling per foot for all such logs as delivered in which delivery the utmost expedition must be used.”
Of these logs and the sand of the island, with the help of a few other timbers and some iron bolts, the fort on Sullivan’s Island was built. The site chosen for the structure was the narrow southwest end of the island where a wide shallow Cove separated the island from the mainland… the design of the fort was simple indeed. a plain rectangular structure…
The strength of the work was to be in the double walls, sixteen feet apart built of Dewees’ palmetto logs securely bolted together with the space between filled with sand. Inside, ten feet from the top, the gun platforms were to be built of heavy oak timber.