You could pass such incidents as the Moultrie House Hotel off as just bad aim. But then again when you consider the training of these crews to miss your target by 100 yards is somewhat unthinkable when you think about how heavy those guns were to move into position in the first place.
The Confederate situation at Fort Sumter was very much the same as the United States today trying to deal with a country like Iran or North Korea building a nuclear bomb. We have a pretty good idea what they would do with it once they get it built. The South was trying to use sanctions against Fort Sumter to nullify those preparations that Anderson and Doubleday were making. But knew that if those sanctions were broken, like Iran and North Korea, Fort Sumter would be a greater threat in the future. And like Iran and North Korea, who claim that they are building their weapons of mass destruction for peaceful or defensive reasons, to say that Fort Sumters preparations were solely for defensive uses is being dishonest with the reality of the situation as far as the southerners were concerned.
What use would Iran have for One Nuclear Bomb? Ask Isreal.
What use has North Korea for having nuclear weapons? Ask South Korea and Japan.
What use would Major Anderson have for mounting a 10 inch columbiad gun as a mortar aimed at Charleston? Ask the people of Charleston. How concerned would you be about Iran having Nuclear weapons if you lived in Isreal? One bomb is not going to destroy the whole nation of Isreal, just as that one gun in that fort would not destroy all of the city of Charleston. But YOU might be the one person that this bomb lands on.