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Special Feature: Large brick coast-defense fort which was subjected to a terrific bombardment during the War.

Fort Pulaski.
(Photo by Rinehart)

FORT PULASKI, on Cockspur Island, at the mouth of the Savannah River, was proclaimed a national monument by the President on October 15, 1924. The monument area contains one of the best preserved of the chain of large brick fortresses constructed for coast defense by die United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Near the fort is a wooded park in which are found many varieties of birds and subtropical plants.

Cockspur Island has played a significant role in the commercial and military history of Georgia. In the past 200 years three forts have been built on this island. Fort George, a small block structure, was erected in 1761 by the Colonial Government to defend the harbor and enforce customs and quarantine laws. It was partially destroyed by storms, and completely dismantled in 1776 by American patriots when the British fleet approached. New defenses were needed and the United States in 1794 erected Fort Green. The life of this fort was short, for the great hurricane of 1804 swept away its batteries and barracks. The present structure, begun in 1829, was named Fort Pulaski in honor of the Polish hero, Count Casimir Pulaski, who fought in the American Revolution and was mortally wounded at the battle of Savannah in 1779.

Gen. Simon Bernard, who at one time had been Napoleon's chief engineer, made a preliminary survey of the island in 1827 and work was begun on Fort Pulaski 2 years later. Robert E. Lee's first appointment after his graduation from West Point was to this post. Approximately 1 million dollars was spent on the construction of the fort.

The completed fort is a five-sided brick work, 1,580 feet in circumference, enclosing a parade ground 2-1/2 acres in extent, and designed to mount 140 guns in two tiers, one in the casemates or bomb-proof chambers, the other en barbette or on the open platform on top of the fort. Its solid brick walls, from 7 to 11 feet thick and 32 feet high, are surrounded by a wide moat crossed by drawbridges. Its long casemated galleries are examples of some of the finest brick arch masonry in America. As the structure was located on a marshy island 1 mile from the mainland, it was long believed that the fort could never be taken. The test came in 1862.

In the tumultuous days that preceded the Civil War, Fort Pulaski, commanding the approach to Savannah, was not garrisoned. To prevent Union troops from occupying it, Governor Brown of Georgia ordered it seized on January 3, 1861. Georgia seceded on January 19, 1861, and the fort was then taken over by the Government of the Confederacy, which held it until April 11, 1862. On that day it was surrendered by its youthful commandant, Col. Charles H. Olmstead, to Northern forces after a bombardment of 30 hours. Captured with the fort were 385 officers and men, 47 cannon, and about 40,000 pounds of powder, ammunition, and supplies. The fort was used as a military prison in 1864 and as a political prison in 1865.

The siege of Fort Pulaski is significant in the history of warfare for it was dramatically demonstrated here that the old type of brick and masonry fortifications could not withstand the fire of modern artillery. It took 2 months of hard work by the Union forces to place the breaching batteries on the muddy shore of nearby Tybee Island without being seen by the Confederates. Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, commander of the Union forces, reported later that had he previously known the terrific effect of fire from rifled cannon, he might have finished preparations in a week. The newly invented James and Parrott rifled cannon used together with the old smooth-bore guns breached the walls of the fort and were pounding against the powder magazine when the surrender took place. Projectiles fired at the fort during the siege are still to be seen embedded in its shell-torn walls.

In the past few years the National Park Service has carried out an extensive program of renovation and repair at Fort Pulaski in order to prevent deterioration of the structure and make it accessible to visitors.

Fort Pulaski is located 17-1/2 miles from Savannah on the Tybee Road. A new bridge connecting Cockspur Island with the mainland is now under construction.

NEXT> Fort Jefferson National Monument

Last Modified: Thurs, Nov 23 2000 10:00:00 pm PDT
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