[Illustration: Image of Book Cover
Fort Pulaski National Monument]
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[Illustration: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
March 3, 1849]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fred A. Seaton, _Secretary_
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Conrad L. Wirth, _Director_
_HISTORICAL HANDBOOK NUMBER EIGHTEEN_
This publication is one of a series of handbooks
describing the historical and archeological areas in
the National Park System administered by the National
Park Service of the United States Department of the
Interior. It is printed by the Government Printing
Office and may be purchased from the Superintendent of
Documents, Washington 25, D. C. Price 25 cents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FORT PULASKI
NATIONAL MONUMENT · _Georgia_
_by_
_Ralston B. Lattimore_
[Illustration: Portrait]
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HISTORICAL HANDBOOK SERIES No. 18
Washington, D.C., 1954
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_The National Park System, of which Fort Pulaski National
Monument is a unit, is dedicated to conserving the scenic,
scientific, and historic heritage of the United States for the
benefit and inspiration of its people._
[Illustration: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Contents_
COCKSPUR ISLAND, 1733-1829 1
THE NEW FORT ON COCKSPUR 4
“DON’T TREAD ON ME” 10
UNDER THE GEORGIA FLAG 14
THE GREAT EXPEDITION 17
GENERAL LEE RETURNS TO FORT PULASKI 19
INVESTMENT OF FORT PULASKI 22
THE NEW WEAPON 23
GILLMORE SETS THE STAGE 28
EVE OF BATTLE 29
BOMBARDMENT 31
SURRENDER 33
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SIEGE 35
“THE IMMORTAL SIX HUNDRED” 38
THE LAST SALUTE 40
COCKSPUR ISLAND AFTER 1865 42
GUIDE TO THE AREA 49
HOW TO REACH THE MONUMENT 55
ADMINISTRATION 55
ABOUT YOUR VISIT 56
RELATED AREAS 56
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[Illustration: _The walls and moat of Fort Pulaski_, Photo by Franklin
Dulany.]
FROM THE DAWN OF HISTORY _to the present, men have labored unceasingly
to surround their homes with impregnable fortifications while at the
same time they have tried to discover more powerful weapons to smash
through the defenses of other men. The Romans and the Chinese had their
great walls; the feudal lords of the Middle Ages had their moated
castles; and to modern times belong the Maginot and the Siegfried Lines
and the atom bombs. In these great efforts, and countless others like
them, man has confidently sought permanent security. But no man or
nation has yet devised a refuge safe against new weapons and new
tactics of a determined enemy. The age-old struggle between offense and
defense is the principal story of Fort Pulaski._
[Illustration: Sketch above: _Fort George, 1761._ From a drawing by de
Brahm.]
_Cockspur Island, 1733-1829_
After gathering its waters from the high valleys and slopes of the
Appalachian Mountains, the Savannah River follows a course
south-eastward 300 miles to the sea and forms a natural boundary
between South Carolina and Georgia. Plunging swiftly through narrow
gorges or drowsing through cypress swamps, this brown-red river moves
onward past pine-crested hills and smothered plains. Twelve miles from
the sea it leaves the firm land to sweep in lazy coils across a vast
and quivering marsh. Here the river splits into two channels divided by
low grassy islets almost completely submerged twice daily by the rising
of the tide. The easternmost of these islets, a mile long by less than
half a mile wide, is known as Cockspur Island from the shape of its
dangerous reef that juts out toward the open sound. Within sight of the
Atlantic Ocean, Cockspur guards the two entrances into the Savannah
River, one of the Nation’s great avenues of commerce. Despite the fact
that very few of its hundred or more acres lie above the highwater
mark, this island has played a significant role in the economic
development and military defense of coastal Georgia throughout the
history of colony and state. The island was considered so important
that one Royal Governor called it the “Key to Our Province,” and 20
acres on the eastern point were permanently set aside by the Crown and
later by the State as a site for harbor fortifications.
To the north and south of Cockspur lie the barrier islands of the
Carolina and Georgia coasts. On these great islands, and on mainland
plantations across the marshes, aristocratic planters with many slaves
developed the culture of rice, indigo, and cotton and helped to lay the
foundation of an agrarian economy in the South, a factor which was to
play a leading role in the controversies which divided the Nation in
the 19th century and led to civil war.
Past Cockspur Island, then called “The Peeper,” in February 1733 sailed
the pioneer band of English settlers under Gen. James Edward
Oglethorpe. At Yamacraw Bluff, 20 miles up the river, they established
Savannah, the small settlement which was the beginning of Georgia, the
13th American colony. To Cockspur Island, John Wesley, founder of
Methodism, made a momentous visit 3 years later. Here, his journal
records, he “... first set ... foot on American ground.” More important
in the history of religion, Wesley, during this sojourn at Cockspur,
engaged in serious theological discussions which seem to have implanted
in his mind the basic idea of Methodism.
[Illustration: _John Wesley._ Engraving by John Faber, Jr., from a
portrait by John Michael Williams. Courtesy Mrs. Craig Barrow.]
A few years later Colonial leaders, fearing an attack by their
perennial enemies at Spanish St. Augustine, advocated the construction
of a fort on Cockspur Island to protect the growing port of Savannah.
As a result Fort George, a palisaded log blockhouse, was begun in 1761
under the supervision of His Majesty’s Surveyor-General John Gerar
William de Brahm. This pioneer fort on Cockspur Point provided a
measure of defense for the Savannah harbor, but principally enforced
quarantine and customs regulations, until the revolutionary activities
of 1776 when it was dismantled and abandoned by the Patriots, who knew
the fortification could not stand against a strong fleet.
Soon after Fort George was abandoned, two British warships, accompanied
by a transport, arrived in Tybee Roads bent on securing fresh
provisions and information regarding the uprising in Georgia. Under
their formidable guns Cockspur Island served as a haven for Loyalists
fleeing from Savannah. Among the refugees was the Royal Governor, Sir
James Wright, who escaped to the island on the night of February 11,
1776. As he carried with him the great seal of the Province, Cockspur
Island became briefly the capital of colonial Georgia. In March, the
British ships boldly sailed up the river to Savannah where they engaged
the Patriots in a brief clash of arms and made off with several ships
laden with rice. With these events the story of Cockspur Island in the
Revolution was virtually at an end. When the British returned in force
to reoccupy Savannah in December 1778, the great fleet rendezvoused at
the anchorage off Cockspur Point, but the island lay deserted and
undisturbed.
After the United States was established as a nation, new defenses were
needed to safeguard the young republic, and, in accord with President
Washington’s national defense policy, a second fort was built in
1794-95, on Cockspur Island. Named Fort Greene in honor of the
Revolutionary hero, Gen. Nathanael Greene, who after the war made his
home at Mulberry Grove Plantation near Savannah, this fortification
consisted of a battery designed for six guns, and was constructed of
timbers and earth enclosed behind pickets. There was also a guardhouse
for the garrison.
The history of Fort Greene was brief and tragic. Nine years after the
fort was built, it was totally destroyed and a part of the garrison was
drowned in the great hurricane that swept Cockspur in September 1804.
Huge sea waves raked the island from end to end until not a vestige of
the fort remained. A quarter of a century was then to elapse before
Cockspur Island was again to be selected as the site of a fortification
to command the Savannah River.
[Illustration: _Sketch of Cockspur Island by Lt. Robert E. Lee, 1830._]
_The New Fort on Cockspur_
The United States can be proud of her victories in the War of 1812, but
there were also defeats. It was fortunate that while England was
fighting on this side of the Atlantic, her principal forces were
engaged in a death struggle with Napoleon on the continent of Europe.
American defenses were deplorably weak. On thousands of miles of
coastline there was scarcely a fort to oppose the enemy. British troops
pillaged and burned the city of Washington and laid waste to many
sections along the Middle Atlantic States. This humiliating and tragic
lesson soon aroused public opinion to demand strong measures for
protection.
After the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, which terminated the war with
Britain, President James Madison urged Congress to appropriate funds to
complete all forts then under construction and to extend the system of
fortifications in order that the United States might at all times be
prepared to prevent or repel the danger of foreign invasion.
The task of developing entirely new and adequate fortifications along
the far-flung Atlantic and Gulf coasts was one which required the
direction of a military expert with special engineering abilities. The
Government’s search for a person peculiarly fitted for this position
resulted in securing the services of the distinguished French
fortification and military engineer, Gen. Simon Bernard, who was then
seeking employment in the United States.
A graduate of the École Polytechnique in Paris, Bernard had served with
distinction in many of the campaigns of Napoleon. He displayed such
outstanding abilities in fortification and engineering tactics that he
soon acquired an enviable reputation. In 1815, after the Battle of
Waterloo, he came to the United States at the suggestion of Joseph
Bonaparte, bearing high recommendations to government officials from
Lafayette and Albert Gallatin. With the consent of Congress, which had
authorized the employment of a “skillful assistant,” President Madison
commissioned Bernard in the Corps of Engineers with the rank of
brigadier general by brevet. Early in December 1816, by direct order of
the President, General Bernard, Col. William McRee, and Col. Joseph G.
Totten formed a new “Board of Engineers,” the duties of which were to
devise a system of seacoast defense for the entire country.
President Monroe, who succeeded Madison, was even more energetic than
his predecessor in promoting the construction of new defenses. During
his administration fortification policies were established, surveys
were completed, and funds were provided to start construction.
[Illustration: _Diamondback terrapin._ _Sketch by Robert E. Lee,
Cockspur Island, 1831._ Courtesy F. B. Screven.]
Cockspur Island was chosen as the site for a new fort in March 1821,
when the river approaches to Savannah were surveyed by Capt. John Le
Conte under the personal supervision of Bernard, but construction on
Cockspur was not begun until 1829. Plans approved by Bernard in 1827
proved to be unsuitable and a revised plan was prepared in 1831. The
fort, as originally designed, was a massive 2-story structure mounting
3 tiers of guns. The deep mud of Cockspur, however, offered no
foundation for so great a weight. In revising the plans, it was
necessary to reduce the height of the walls and to provide heavy wooden
piles and grillage to support the brick masonry.
Maj. Samuel Babcock, of the Corps of Engineers, was placed in charge of
construction in December 1828, and work got under way early in the
following year. Difficulty was encountered almost immediately in
establishing title to the island, ownership of which was divided
between private interests and the State of Georgia. In colonial days,
from 4 to 20 acres on Cockspur Point had been reserved by the Crown for
public use, and after the Revolution title to the Crown land became
vested in the State. The two earlier forts, George and Greene, had been
erected within this special reserve. The western portion of Cockspur,
embracing approximately 150 acres, was granted in 1759 by George II to
Jonathan Bryan, Esq., from whom it passed, through several hands, to
the heirs of Edward Telfair, Governor of Georgia. On March 15, 1830,
the Telfair interests were purchased by the United States for $5,000,
and 15 years later the State of Georgia ceded the public lands on
Cockspur Point to the Federal Government.
Late in 1829, Robert E. Lee, newly graduated from the United States
Military Academy at West Point, was appointed to duty under Babcock. It
was his first military assignment. Young Lee had the title of “acting
assistant commissary of subsistence,” but, because of his superior
officer’s ill health, he actually ran the job for more than a year
until Babcock was succeeded by Lt. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. Lee began
the system of drainage and dikes for the island. He made numerous
surveys and located the permanent site for the fort. To Mansfield,
however, who served on Cockspur from 1831 to 1845, belongs chief credit
for construction. His great engineering ability, combined with a
passionate devotion to duty, enabled him to overcome almost
insurmountable difficulties to complete the fort.
[Illustration: _Brig. Gen. Joseph K. F. Mansfield, builder of Fort
Pulaski._ From The Photographic History of the Civil War.]
In 1833, the new fort was named 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 on October 9, 1779. While
rallying French and American forces in an attack on a strong British
redoubt, Pulaski was struck in the thigh by a grape shot. He died 2
days later, and, according to tradition, was buried at sea near the
mouth of the Savannah River.
[Illustration: _Savannah, 1837._ Tempera painting by F. Cerveau.
Courtesy Georgia Historical Society.]
Work progressed at Fort Pulaski more or less continuously from 1829 to
1847, the year in which construction was essentially completed. It was
an enormous project. Bricks were bought in lots of from 1 to 7 million,
and it is probable that as many as 25,000,000 were put into the
structure. Lumber, lime, lead, iron, and many other supplies were
bought in proportionately large quantities. The rose-brown bricks, of
which the walls are largely built, were manufactured at the old
Hermitage Plantation 2 miles west of Savannah. The much harder,
rose-red bricks in the embrasures, arches, and the walls facing the
parade ground were purchased in Baltimore, Md., and Alexandria, Va. The
granite was quarried in New York State and the brown sandstone in the
valley of the Connecticut River. Negro slaves, rented from the owners
of neighboring rice plantations, performed many of the hard labor jobs,
while skilled masons and carpenters were recruited not only in Savannah
but were also brought down each fall from Northern States.
[Illustration: _Fort Pulaski plan._ Courtesy National Archives.]
[Illustration: _Fort Pulaski drawbridge plan._ Courtesy National
Archives.]
Throughout the long years of Mansfield’s service on Cockspur Island
there were many frustrating delays. There were summers in which all
work had to stop because of the danger from malaria, yellow fever,
typhoid, and dysentery. There were periods when Congress failed to
appropriate funds. At least once, Mansfield continued to build on
credit—a bold expedient, which no Government servant today would dare
to follow. There were also destructive hurricanes and bone-chilling
winter gales. By the end of his tour of duty Mansfield was thoroughly
discouraged, but through his determined perseverance he has left an
enduring monument.
Nearly a million dollars had been spent on Fort Pulaski by the end of
1860, but in one respect it was not yet finished. Its armament was to
include 146 guns, but only 20 guns had been mounted. Nor had the fort
yet been garrisoned. At the end of 1860, its entire complement included
a caretaker and an ordnance sergeant. For three decades, however, the
project on Cockspur Island had served as a training ground for the
Corps of Engineers, and with the exception of Major Babcock, who died
in 1831, every engineer officer employed on the construction of the
fort finally achieved the distinction of becoming a general in either
the Confederate or the Union armies.
“_Don’t Tread on Me_”
When Abraham Lincoln won the national presidential election on November
6, 1860, relations between North and South, already dangerously
strained, reached the breaking point. Lincoln, candidate of the
Republican Party, was supported also by a radical element in the North
and West that was demanding the abolition of slavery. Reaction in the
South to the result of the election was immediate. Southern
secessionists stirred the people of their section with fiery speeches
and sought to withdraw their States from the Union. Southern
conservatives tried to find a way out of political chaos by compromise,
but their task was hopeless. A whole generation had failed to discover
a successful plan by which the two sections of the country could live
at peace. The struggle had now gone beyond the bounds of a political
campaign; two divergent cultures stood face to face on the threshold of
war.
With remarkable clarity of vision Gov. Joseph E. Brown of Georgia began
to put his State in a condition of defense many months in advance of
hostilities. The State volunteer military forces were reorganized and
strengthened, and many new volunteer companies were formed. On his
recommendation the legislature appropriated a million dollars for State
defense, authorized the acceptance of 10,000 troops, and provided for a
convention on January 16, 1861, to determine the future course of
Georgia.
Meanwhile, Governor Brown continued to rush preparations for defense.
He obtained from the War Department sample sets of U. S. Army infantry
and cavalry equipment, which he proposed to manufacture in Georgia. The
Secretary of War also described, on request, the type of rifled cannons
and projectiles which the War Department had found superior. Orders for
cannon and arms were placed in Northern States, and a bonus of $10,000
was offered by the State to anyone setting up a cannon factory in
Georgia which could make 3 guns a week and could cast a 10-inch
columbiad.
[Illustration: _Georgia troops on parade before the Pulaski Monument in
Savannah._ _Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly, 1861._]
In the midst of these preparations came the announcement that South
Carolina had seceded from the Union on December 20. The news of this
action was received in Georgia with demonstrations of wild excitement.
In Savannah, people wearing secession cockades made of palmetto leaves
erected a platform in one of the principal squares on which they placed
a large picture of a rattlesnake with the inscription, “Don’t Tread on
Me.” On the evening of December 26, companies of militia and citizens
marched with torch lights and transparencies through the streets of
Savannah in honor of South Carolina, and houses all over the community
were brilliantly illuminated.
Simultaneously an event was taking place in Charleston, S. C., that was
to have an almost immediate effect on the course of action in Georgia,
and, in fact, on the destiny of the entire South.
On that same evening, Maj. Robert Anderson, in command of the United
States troops stationed in Charleston Harbor, moved his small garrison
from an insecure position at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, to
Fort Sumter, a strong fortification in the middle of the harbor. This
unexpected move enraged not only the people of Charleston, but of all
the slave-holding States. President James Buchanan, it was understood,
had assured the Government of South Carolina that no change in the
status of the United States forces at Charleston would be made until
the difficulties between the State and Federal Governments had been
settled. Major Anderson, however, fearing that an attack was imminent,
evacuated Fort Moultrie with great secrecy, spiked the cannons and
burned most of the gun carriages.
The news of the occupation of Fort Sumter, which reached Savannah by
telegraph early Thursday morning, December 27, stunned the people, it
is said, like “an electric shock.” Groups of angry citizens gathered on
the streets to discuss the news and to give vent to their feelings.
“There is but one sentiment on the question,” announced the Savannah
_Republican_, “and that is of indignation and resistance.... We might
have been quieted by a milder course, but there are none of us so
degraded as to submit to being whipped into submission.”
Federal forces in possession of Fort Sumter had Charleston Harbor
blocked. The same danger, it was argued at a meeting of civil and
military leaders, threatened the Georgia seaport, for, if it was the
policy of the United States to provoke a war, the Federal Government,
in furtherance of that policy, would occupy and hold all forts
commanding the harbors of the Southern States. For their own safety,
therefore, the people of Savannah determined to seize Fort Pulaski
before the Federal Government had time to send a garrison to defend it.
Military men in Savannah realized the gravity of taking so serious a
step toward revolution as, no doubt, did thoughtful civilians, but the
popular spirit of the mob had been stirred to the point of spontaneous
action. On the night of December 31, the Savannah _Republican_ received
a copy of an ominous telegram to Alexander H. Stephens from United
States Senator Robert Toombs, of Georgia. In this telegram Toombs
warned the State of Georgia that a policy of coercion had been adopted
by the Administration, that Joseph Holt, a bitter foe of the South, had
been made Secretary of War, that the abolitionists were defiant, and
that, in consequence, Fort Pulaski was in danger. The time had come for
action.
[Illustration: _Gov. Joseph E. Brown, who ordered the seizure of Fort
Pulaski._ From Avery’s _History of Georgia_.]
Early next morning, Col. Alexander R. Lawton, in command of the 1st
Volunteer Regiment of Georgia, telegraphed Governor Brown requesting
him to come to Savannah at once. The Governor arrived about 9 p. m.,
and, after several meetings with leading citizens and military men,
ordered the State militia to seize Fort Pulaski.
As there were no Federal troops garrisoned at Fort Pulaski, no
difficulty was anticipated in seizing it, but the task of preparing an
expedition in 24 hours for the purpose of occupying the stronghold was
not a small matter. Arms, ammunition, and equipment had to be provided,
commissary supplies purchased, and a steamboat for the transportation
of men and baggage to Cockspur Island had to be secured. Detachments of
50 men each from the Savannah Volunteer Guards and the Oglethorpe Light
Infantry and 34 men from the Chatham Artillery were selected to make
the expedition. Each man was instructed to carry with him a knapsack
containing a change of clothing, iron spoon, knife, fork, tin cup,
clothesbrush, shoebrush, box of blacking, and a comb and brush.
[Illustration: _Col. Alexander R. Lawton, who seized Fort Pulaski._
Courtesy the late Mrs. A. R. Lawton, Sr.]
Early next morning, January 3, 1861, the troops assembled in a pouring
rain and marched through streets lined with cheering citizens to the
wharf at the foot of West Broad Street, where they embarked on the U.
S. Government sidewheel steamboat, _Ida_, for the journey down the
river. In personal command was Colonel Lawton. This small expeditionary
force is said to have carried enough baggage to have served a division
later in the war. Every soldier had a trunk, a cot, and a roll of
bedding, while to every 3 or 4 men there was a huge mess chest large
enough for the cooking outfit of a full regiment. Aboard also was the
battery of the Chatham Artillery, which consisted of two 12-pounder
howitzers and four 6-pounder field guns, all bronze.
[Illustration: _U. S. Government sidewheel steamboat, Ida_]
At noon, the Savannah troops reached Cockspur Island and marched into
Fort Pulaski with drums beating and colors flying. Colonel Lawton took
formal possession of the fortification and the flag of Georgia was
raised above the ramparts and saluted. No resistance was encountered.
As the troops marched out on the parade ground of the fort, clouds
which had obscured the sky for nearly a week broke away and the sun
shone brightly. This was taken as a good omen. Georgia was now in
possession of the strong fortification at the mouth of the Savannah
River. The Governor’s orders were to hold it against all persons and to
abandon it only under new orders from him or under compulsion by an
overpowering hostile force.
_Under the Georgia Flag_
Fort Pulaski was in no condition for defense on January 3 nor for many
weeks thereafter. Had the Federal Government taken immediate and
effective action, the incident on Cockspur Island might have ended
quickly in complete fiasco. When Capt. Francis S. Bartow of the
Oglethorpe Light Infantry took command of the post there was not a
single serviceable gun in the fort. The moat was filled with mud and
overgrown with marsh grass. Furthermore, the military experience of the
members of his garrison had been limited to armory drill and dress
parade.
During the first weeks after the seizure there was feverish activity to
put the fort in condition required to withstand attack. Twenty
32-pounder naval guns, which had been mounted in 1840, were remounted
in the casemates and on the ramparts. More than 100 rice-field slaves
were engaged to dig the mud from the moat, and daily boat service was
established between Savannah and Cockspur Island.
For a few days the garrison was in a state of great confusion. Baggage,
which had preceded the troops, was hopelessly mixed up. Some squads
with food had no pots to cook it in, while other squads with an
abundance of pots and pans had no knives or forks with which to eat.
Strict discipline, however, soon brought order out of chaos. All day
the men were kept busy. They drilled in the manual of arms and learned
to handle artillery. They sorted and redistributed equipment, filled
mattress covers with hay, made cartridge bags, and stowed their
ammunition in the magazines. Spirits were high and the men worked with
a will.
As additional guns were secured they were mounted and others were
ordered from the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. A telegraph line was
erected between Savannah and Cockspur Island. Earthworks were
constructed and manned on Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina, Tybee
Island, and other islands southward along the Georgia coast. Fort
Jackson, 5 miles below Savannah, was placed in order and work was begun
on an interior line of defenses from Red Bluff on the north bank of the
Savannah River delta to Genesis Point on the south bank of the Great
Ogeechee.
The land defenses were supplemented by a small fleet of river boats on
which guns had been mounted. This motley collection of side-wheelers,
known as the Georgia Navy, was under the command of Commodore Josiah
Tattnall, famous old naval officer, who years before had brought United
States ships to the rescue of the British in China waters with the
battle cry “Blood is thicker than water.”
In the late spring of 1861, the defenses of Savannah were not yet
perfect but they were rapidly gaining in strength. In company with
Commodore Tattnall and General Lawton, William Howard Russell,
correspondent of the _London Times_, inspected these defenses on May 1.
At Cockspur Island, Russell found a guard on duty at the landing,
“tall, stout young fellows in various uniforms or in rude mufti, in
which the Garibaldian red shirt and felt slouched hats predominated.
They were armed with smoothbore muskets (date 1851), quite new; and
their bayonets, barrels and locks were quite bright and clean. The
officer on duty was dressed in blue frock coat with brass buttons
emblazoned with the arms of the State, a red silk sash, and glazed
kepi, and straw colored gauntlets.”
[Illustration: _The Republican Blues of Savannah._ _Harper’s Weekly,
1860._]
Russell was impressed by the strength and solidity of the fort and by
the preparations being made for its defense. He found its garrison of
650 men hard at work. Tents were pitched in the demilune and on the
terreplein, and the parade ground presented a scene of life and
animation. Men were building sandbag traverses to guard the magazine
doors. Other were rolling away stores and casks of ammunition and
provisions, while still others were mounting 10-inch columbiads on the
ramparts.
Notwithstanding the praise he gave to Fort Pulaski at the conclusion of
his tour, Correspondent Russell was not convinced that Savannah was
safe from invasion. He pointed out to General Lawton the weaknesses of
the fort. The lowland, he said, made it accessible to boats, and it was
open to approach from the rear.
“True enough,” Lawton agreed, but added boastfully, “the Commodore will
take care of the Yankees at sea and we shall manage them on land!”
Tattnall smiled. “I have no fleet,” he said, “and long before the
Southern Confederacy has a fleet that can cope with the Stars and
Stripes, my bones will be white in the grave.”
That night Russell recorded in his diary: “These people all make a
mistake in referring to the events of the old war. ‘We beat off the
British fleet at Charleston by the militia—ergo, we’ll sink the
Yankees now.’ They do not understand the nature of the new shells and
heavy vertical fire, or the effect of projectiles from great distances
falling into works.... We got back by eight o’clock p. m. after a
pleasant day. What I saw did not satisfy me that Pulaski was strong, or
Savannah very safe.”
On April 9, a private in Company D, 1st Regiment of Georgia, wrote to
his mother, “We look for a fight every day. We are well prepared, and
the boys are in good spirits ‘Spilin’ for a fight.”
People in the South who were spoiling for a fight did not have long to
wait. In Charleston Harbor, at 4:30 on the morning of April 12, 1861, a
Confederate mortar at Fort Johnson fired a shell which arched across
the sky and burst almost directly over Fort Sumter. With this shot, the
tragedy of civil war began.
On May 21, Francis S. Bartow, who had opposed the seizure of Fort
Pulaski and yet had served as its first commanding officer under the
Georgia flag, led the Oglethorpe Light Infantry to the railroad station
to entrain for Virginia. The streets were lined with cheering citizens;
the band played “Bold Soldier Boy.” Two months later, in a gallant
charge on the Federal batteries at Manassas, Bartow, now a brigadier,
was shot through the heart.
[Illustration: _Blockade of the Savannah River._ From _Harper’s
Pictorial History of the War of 1861_.]
_The Great Expedition_
By midsummer, 1861, the North had already planned the strategy that led
to the fall of Fort Pulaski. This plan included a naval blockade of the
South and the recapture of the southern seacoast fortifications. On
October 29, a combined Army and Navy expedition sailed under sealed
orders from Hampton Roads. The great convoy, composed of 51 vessels,
moved out to sea in 3 columns—an impressive sight that foreshadowed
the amphibious movements of World War II. Twenty-five colliers under
gunboat escort had sailed the day before. Army forces numbering more
than 12,500 men were under the command of Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman,
while the naval squadron and the convoy were commanded by Capt. Samuel
F. Du Pont.
At destination, the invading troops were to land in three waves by
means of surf boats capable of carrying from 70 to 100 men each. These
boats were to approach the beach abreast in line of battle. Infantry,
light artillery, and engineers with entrenching tools and sandbags were
to go in on the first wave and were expected to overcome initial enemy
resistance and dig in on the beach. Heavy field artillery would move in
on the second wave and reserves on the third. As soon as the landing
had been effected, all boats were to report to the chief quartermaster
for unloading supplies.
[Illustration: _Federal troops land on Hilton Head Island, November 7,
1861._ Sketch by W. T. Crane in _The Soldier in Our Civil War_.]
This plan of battle was never executed, for a few days after sailing
the expedition ran into a terrific storm off Cape Hatteras. Several
vessels and many of the landing craft were lost. Thus handicapped,
General Sherman might have had grave difficulty in securing the
beachhead. When the convoy finally reassembled off Port Royal Sound, S.
C., the Navy took the initiative. On November 7, Flag Officer Du Pont
led his squadron of steam-propelled vessels to the entrance of the
sound where he formed a great oval between the two Confederate forts on
Hilton Head and Bay Point. Steaming continuously each vessel fired a
broadside as it came opposite one of the forts. So punishing was the
effect of this naval bombardment that the Confederates abandoned both
fortifications, and the landings on Hilton Head and Bay Point were
unopposed. A few days after this initial battle, the town of Port Royal
on the mainland fell to the expeditionary force. From these vantage
points within sight of Cockspur Island, the Federal troops were made
ready to strike at Fort Pulaski.
_General Lee Returns to Fort Pulaski_
The fall of the forts at Hilton Head and Bay Point and the complete
rout of the Confederate forces defending them brought panic to Savannah
and the adjacent countryside. It was assumed that the Georgia seaport
was the real objective of the Federal expedition, and many people, who
could afford it, fled to towns and cities in the interior of the State.
At this critical moment Robert E. Lee arrived in Savannah to take
charge of the defense. Lee, who had resigned his commission in the
United States Army when Virginia seceded from the Union, was now a
brigadier general under Confederate colors and had been given command
of the forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and east Florida.
The Battle of Port Royal Sound demonstrated to Lee that without
adequate naval support it would be impossible to defend the small
batteries and forts on the seacoast islands which were all within range
of the powerful guns of the Federal fleet. Nor would it be possible to
prevent enemy landings on these beach islands without immobilizing
thousands of troops for garrison duty, troops that were badly needed in
other theaters of war. Even if the manpower could have been spared for
island defense, the logistical difficulties of arming and supplying
isolated and remote outposts were beyond the capacities of the State or
Confederate Governments.
With these considerations in mind, Lee ordered the abandonment of the
sea islands of Georgia, the removal of the guns from the batteries, and
the withdrawal of the troops to the inner line of defenses on the
mainland. This strategy was later confirmed and made the policy of the
Confederate Department of War.
On November 10, Tybee Island was abandoned. All batteries were leveled
and the heavy guns were ferried across the South Channel to Fort
Pulaski. Two companies of infantry from the Tybee garrison were added
to the complement at the fort and the remaining troops were withdrawn
to Savannah. This was a fateful move for it directly affected the
destiny of Fort Pulaski.
At the time, however, no new danger to the fortification on Cockspur
Island was anticipated through the abandonment of Tybee Island. It was
expected that the fort could defend itself successfully against a naval
attack and it was also considered safe from land bombardment. To keep
open a line of communications and supply, all side channels leading
into the Savannah River above the fort were barred by obstructions.
These obstructions, in turn, were protected by floating mines activated
by galvanic batteries. The mines, or “infernal machines” as they were
called in the naval report, were a new invention which the Confederates
borrowed from the Russians. The responsibility for denying the Federal
gunboats an opportunity to force a passage through the obstructed side
channels into the Savannah River was assigned to Tattnall’s flotilla.
In theory, at least, it should have been possible to hold out at Fort
Pulaski indefinitely. When the supply line was finally cut, it was not
due to any failure in the plan for the protection of the river, but
rather to a lack of vigilance on the part of the Georgia Navy, which
permitted the Federals to construct strong batteries in the marshes on
the north and south banks of the Savannah between the fort and the city.
Twice during November, General Lee inspected the fort on Cockspur
Island and gave minute instructions regarding the manner in which it
was to be defended. He foresaw the danger of attack from the rear and
ordered certain guns to be mounted on the ramparts above the gorge.
Fort Pulaski celebrated Christmas, 1861, in a big way. The men of the
garrison felt snug and secure. In the messes, the tables groaned under
the weight of delicacies sent down by friends in Savannah. Eggnog
parties were held in many of the casemates. Pvt. John Hart of the Irish
Jasper Greens wrote exuberantly in his diary: “Fine day here. Plenty of
fighting and whisky drinking.”
Ten miles away, in the Federal camp on Hilton Head Island, Christmas
was not quite so pleasant. The men were kept hard at work digging
entrenchments and unloading captured cotton from a steamboat. When the
troops were finally released to enjoy themselves, they had to find
their own entertainment. Pvt. Charles Lafferty, of the 48th Regiment of
New York Volunteers, wrote his sister: “We had a merry Christmas down
hear. We bought sassiges of the nigers and hoe cake and build a fir and
cooked our sassiages. That is the way we spent our Christmas.”
_Investment of Fort Pulaski_
In the summer of 1861, President Lincoln proclaimed a naval blockade of
the South, but it was not until after the Battle of Port Royal Sound,
when Flag Officer Du Pont took direct command, that the Union patrols
on the Carolina and Georgia coasts became effective. The British
Steamer _Fingal_, with munitions, ordnance, and other supplies, got
through to Savannah on November 13 and had the distinction of being the
last ship to run the blockade into that port. Pulaski’s share of the
cargo was two 24-pounder Blakely rifles and a large number of Enfields.
Early in December, Du Pont tightened the stranglehold he already had on
the commerce of Savannah by sinking vessels loaded with stone across
the channel of the river, and by placing gunboats in Ossabaw and Warsaw
Sounds to prevent entrance or escape through these back doors to the
port.
After setting up headquarters on Hilton Head Island on the north shore
of Tybee Roads, General Sherman kept his men busy repairing and
strengthening the fortifications on Port Royal Sound. He constructed an
extensive base for operations and established a hospital. On December 4
he requisitioned siege guns for the proposed attack on Fort Pulaski and
not long after he landed a permanent garrison on Tybee Island.
[Illustration: _Occupation of Tybee Island by Federal troops brings
panic to Savannah._ Contemporary sketch from _The Soldier in Our Civil
War_.]
While engaged in these activities Sherman conceived the idea that it
might be more advantageous to by-pass Fort Pulaski and make a direct
attack on the city of Savannah. He tried to sell this plan to the
commander of the naval forces on whom he would have to depend for
transport, protection, and assistance in the siege operations he had in
mind. Du Pont obligingly ordered a reconnaissance of the winding
waterways that led into the Savannah River above Fort Pulaski, but when
he discovered how shallow these waterways were at certain stages of the
tide, he pronounced the whole scheme impractical and dangerous. This
difference of opinion between the Army and Navy commanders on the
conduct of the campaign finally led to the removal of Sherman, but in
the meantime the general ordered a tight noose of batteries and
gunboats to be thrown around Fort Pulaski.
When the Confederate supply ship, _Ida_, came down the Savannah River
on the morning of February 13 on one of her regular trips to the fort,
a battery of heavy guns, which the Federals had secretly constructed at
Venus Point on the north bank of the river, opened up. The old
sidewheeler ran the gauntlet under full steam with shots splashing in
her wake. Luck was with her, for the Federal guns, after firing nine
shots, recoiled off their platforms. It was the _Ida’s_ last trip to
Pulaski. Two days later she slipped her moorings, ran down the South
Channel under the guns of the fort, rounded the point at Lazaretto, and
returned to Savannah through Tybee Creek and the Wilmington Narrows.
During the following week the Federals completed the absolute
investment or blockade of Fort Pulaski. They built another strong
battery on the south bank of the Savannah River opposite Venus Point
and threw a boom across Tybee Creek. To seal this waterway they
entrenched two companies of infantry along its bank and assigned a
gunboat to patrol the channel. At the same time they destroyed the
telegraph line between Savannah and Cockspur Island. From now on
neither supplies nor reinforcements could be brought to the fort, nor
could the Confederate garrison escape to the mainland. After February
15 the only communication with Savannah was by courier who came and
went by night through the marshes, often having to swim the creeks and
rivers to avoid the Federal pickets.
Five companies formed the garrison of Fort Pulaski when the fort was
cut off. Company B of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, the German
Volunteers, the Washington Volunteers, and the Montgomery Guards were
members of the 1st Regiment of Georgia Volunteers. The Macon Wise
Guards was accredited to the 25th Regiment of Georgia Regulars. The
total strength of the garrison was 385 officers and men. In command was
Charles H. Olmstead, who had been elected colonel of the 1st Volunteer
Regiment on December 26. To defend the fort there were 48 guns.
[Illustration: _Col. Charles H. Olmstead, who defended Fort Pulaski._
Courtesy Miss Florence Olmstead.]
The armament was distributed evenly to command all approaches. On the
ramparts facing Tybee Island were five 8-inch and four 10-inch
columbiads, one 24-pounder Blakely rifle, and two 10-inch seacoast
mortars. In the casemates bearing on Tybee were one 8-inch columbiad
and four 32-pounder guns, while in batteries outside the fort were two
12-inch and one 10-inch seacoast mortars. The remaining guns were
mounted to command the North Channel of the Savannah River and the
sweeping marshes to the west.
_The New Weapon_
The time had come to decide whether to take Fort Pulaski by force or to
wait for the garrison to starve. The fort had been provisioned on
January 28 with a 6 months’ supply of food, which might have been made
to last, by careful rationing, to mid-August or even September.
Eventually, however, surrender would have been inevitable. Sherman was
undoubtedly aware of these circumstances, but he does not seem to have
given serious thought to playing a waiting game. The Northern press was
clamoring for action, and Sherman, himself, was still bent on the quick
capture of Savannah. Whatever merit this dream may have had will never
be known, for on February 14 the Commanding General of the United
States Army ordered the entire effort of the expeditionary force to be
expended on the reduction of Fort Pulaski.
Long before this order reached headquarters on Hilton Head Island,
Sherman had taken decisive action. On February 19 he sent his Chief
Engineer, Capt. Quincy A. Gillmore, to take command of all troops on
Tybee Island and to prepare for the bombardment of Fort Pulaski.
Gillmore was destined to play the leading role in the Fort Pulaski
story and win for the fort a permanent niche in the military annals of
the United States. A brilliant member of the Corps of Engineers, he is
described by the newspaper correspondent, Whitelaw Reid, as “a
quick-speaking, quick-moving, soldierly man ... a fine, wholesome
looking, solid six footer, with big head, broad, good humored face, and
a high forehead faintly elongated by a suspicion of baldness, curly
brown hair and beard, and a frank open face.” His greatest attribute as
a soldier was a fearless disregard for tradition. At the Battle of Fort
Pulaski, Gillmore was breveted a brigadier and later he became a major
general of volunteers.
[Illustration: _Brig. Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, who captured Fort Pulaski._
_Harper’s Weekly_, September 12, 1863. Courtesy Gen. Quincy A.
Gillmore.]
In 1862, Fort Pulaski was considered invincible. Its 7½-foot solid
brick walls were backed with massive piers of masonry. The broad waters
of the Savannah River and wide swampy marshes surrounded the fort on
all sides. Ships of the Navy could not safely come within effective
range of this citadel, and there was no firm ground on which land
batteries could be erected nearer than Tybee Island, from 1 to 2½ miles
away. All previous military experience had taught that beyond a
distance of 700 yards smoothbore guns and mortars would have little
chance to break through heavy masonry walls, and beyond 1,000 yards no
chance at all.
In referring to Fort Pulaski, the United States Chief of Engineers,
General Totten, said “you might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains.”
General Lee, himself, standing on the parapet of the fort with Colonel
Olmstead, pointed to the shore of Tybee Island and remarked, “Colonel,
they will make it pretty warm for you here with shells, but they cannot
breach your walls at that distance.” In the minds of the experts a
long-range bombardment would merely serve to pave the way for a direct
assault.
[Illustration: _Air view of Fort Pulaski._]
Gillmore held a different opinion. He was familiar with the test
records of a new weapon, the rifled gun, with which the Army had begun
to experiment in 1859, and, on December 1, 1861, he broke with
tradition and risked the laughter of his superiors. After a careful
reconnaissance he reported to Sherman that it would be possible to
reduce Fort Pulaski with mortars and rifled guns from Tybee Island. On
this basis he submitted a complete plan for the attack on Fort Pulaski.
Sherman approved the plan, but he made it clear that he doubted the
usefulness of the rifled guns. In concluding his endorsement he wrote,
“All that can be done with guns is to shake the walls in a random
manner.”
[Illustration: _Gillmore’s plan for the bombardment._ Courtesy National
Archives.]
_Gillmore Sets the Stage_
From the 21st of February, when ordnance and ordnance stores began to
arrive in Tybee Roads, until April 9th, Gillmore gave the men of his
command no rest. To put his plan for the siege into effect was a
Herculean task. Materials, supplies, ammunition, and guns had to be
unloaded through the surf and then transported long distances across
sand and marsh. Gun emplacements, magazines, bomb-proof shelters, and
roads had to be constructed. And last, but not least, gun crews had to
be trained.
Detailed to this back-breaking assignment were the 7th Regiment
Connecticut Volunteers, the 46th New York Volunteers, two companies of
the Volunteer Engineers, and, for most of the time, two companies of
the 3rd Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery.