Technical
Report:
Frames
version
No frames version:
Report
Cover
Abstract
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Significance
of Battery Halleck
Chapter 3: 1990
Archaeological
Investigations
Chapter 4: Conclusions
References Cited
Appendix 1: Primary
Documents
Appendix 2:
Assemblage and
Cataloging Data
Related
web site and book:
Echoes from the Past: Archeology
at Fort Pulaski
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In
the fall of 1990, employees of the National Park Service's Southeast
Archeological Center and Fort
Pulaski National Monument began digging archeological tests
at the site of the Union's Battery Halleck on Big Tybee Island,
Georgia.
One hundred
and twenty-eight years earlier, on April 10 and 11, 1862, this Union Civil
War battery, consisting of two mortars (see sidebar to the right), shot
220 shells at nearby Confederate-held Fort Pulaski. The bombardment ended
after 30 hours with the surrender of the Confederate troops in the fort
and would provide military strategists in the Western world with an innovative
and reliable means of destroying masonry fortifications such as the type
seen at Fort Pulaski.
The technical
report describing the excavations provides archeologists, historians, and
anyone else interested in the past with a resource for learning about
the techniques and procedures that go along with an archeological investigation
of historic significance. It provides readers with maps, diagrams, and
tables from the Civil War era and from the relatively recent excavations.
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| Above
is a photo of the "Dictator," a 13-inch mortar. Two of these huge
mortars were positioned by Union forces at Battery Halleck in April 1862.
Due to their large size and massive weight (more than 17,000 pounds), they
were used only in instances where the demolition of fortification walls
was necessary.
Mortars
such as this lobbed heavy shells distances up to 2.5 miles (4.0 km) by
shooting at angles higher than those of other artillery (55 degrees for
the mortars used at Battery Halleck).
To
find out how the Union troops transported these 8.5 ton artillery pieces
through the marshes around Big Tybee Island click on the icon above to
read the report . |
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