Fort Facts

• Fort Pulaski took 18 years to build, from 1829-1847.
• Around 13,000,000 bricks were used to construct Fort Pulaski.
• Many of the bricks were locally made in Savannah. Known as "Savannah Grey." Other bricks were shipped in from Maryland and Virginia.
• Granite and sandstone blocks arrived from New York and Connecticut.
• The United States government spent nearly $1,000,000 in construction costs.
• A labor force of skilled workers, both free and slave under the supervision of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the fort.
• A young Second Lt. Robert E. Lee was in charge of subsistence and other planning during early construction.
• Fort Pulaski's moat average seven to eight feet deep.
• Fort Pulaski's walls tower 22 feet high inside, and 32 feet up from the outside moat.
• The parade ground inside Fort Pulaski stretches out over two acres.
• The fort's walls average between five and eleven feet thick of solid brick.
• Fort Pulaski was claimed by the State of Georgia before the Civil War.
• After the outbreak of war, Confederate troops occupied Fort Pulaski from January, 1861 to April, 1862.
• The only battle at Fort Pulaski occurred on April 10th & 11th, 1862 between Union forces on Tybee Island and Confederate troops inside the fort.
• Union troops occupied Fort Pulaski from April, 1862 until the end of the Civil War.
• After 1862, Fort Pulaski was used as a military and political prison.
• Union General David Hunter issued Gen. Order No. 7 freeing area slaves, predating Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
• Fort Pulaski became a destination on the Underground Railroad for slaves searching for freedom.