Fort Pulaski National Monument
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| Fort Pulaski National Monument | |
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| IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape) | |
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| Location: | Chatham County, Georgia, USA |
| Nearest city: | Savannah, Georgia |
| Coordinates: | |
| Area: | 5,623.10 acres (22.76 km²) |
| Established: | October 15, 1924 |
| Visitation: | 297,982 (in 2005) |
| Governing body: | National Park Service |
Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, notable as the place where, during the American Civil War, in 1862, the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon. The success of the test rendered brick fortifications obsolete. The fort was also used as a prisoner-of-war camp. The National Monument includes most of Cockspur Island (containing the fort) and all of adjacent McQueens Island.
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[edit] Construction
Following the War of 1812, President James Madison ordered a new system of coastal fortifications to protect the United States against foreign invasion. Construction of a fort to protect the port of Savannah began in 1829 under the direction of Major Gen. Babcock, and later Second Lieutenant Robert Edward Lee, a recent graduate of West Point. The new fort would be located on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River. In 1833, the new fort was named Fort Pulaski in honor of Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish soldier and military commander who fought in the American Revolution under the command of George Washington. Pulaski was a noted cavalryman and played a large role in training Revolutionary troops. He took part in the sieges of Charleston and of Savannah. Wooden pilings sunk up to 70ft into mud support an estimated 25,000,000 bricks. Fort Pulaski was finally completed in 1847 following 18 years of construction and nearly $1,000,000 in construction costs.
[edit] Civil War
Though completed in 1847, Fort Pulaski was under the control of only two caretakers until 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the United States and set in motion the Civil War. It was at this time that Georgia governor Joseph E. Brown ordered Fort Pulaski to be taken by the state of Georgia. A steamship carrying 110 men from Savannah traveled downriver and the fort was signed over and now belonged to the state of Georgia. Following the secession of Georgia in February 1861, the state joined the Confederate States of America. Confederate troops then moved into the fort.
By December 1861 Tybee Island was thought to be too isolated and unprepared for conflict and was abandoned by Confederate forces. This allowed Union troops to gain a foothold across the Savannah River from Fort Pulaski. Union forces began construction of batteries along the beaches of Tybee.
On the morning of April 10, 1861 Union forces asked for the surrender of the Fort to prevent needless loss of life. Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, commander of the Confederate garrison, rejected the offer.
[edit] Siege and reduction of Fort Pulaski
Fort Pulaski was prepared for a possible infantry attack. However, Fort Pulaski never endured a direct land assault. With 36 guns, including the new James Rifled Cannon, Union troops began a long sustained bombardment of Fort Pulaski. The new rifled cannon fired a rifled projectile that could go farther than the larger and heavier smoothbore cannonball. Within 30 hours, the use of the new rifled cannon had breached one of the fort's corner walls. Shells now passed through the fort dangerously close to the Fort's main powder magazine. Reluctantly, Col. Charles Olmstead surrendered the fort.
Within six weeks of the surrender, Union forces repaired the Fort and all shipping in and out of Savannah ceased. The loss of Savannah as a viable Confederate port crippled the Southern war effort. With the Fort securely in Union control, General David Hunter,commander of the Union garrison issued Gen. Order Number Seven, which stated that all slaves in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina were now free. President Abraham Lincoln quickly rescinded the order, but later issued his own Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. At this time, Fort Pulaski was made a final destination on the Underground Railroad as slaves throughout the area were freed upon arrival on Cockspur Island.
The garrison of Union soldiers reached 600 during the initial occupation, but as the War dragged on it became obvious the Southern forces would not be able to retake the Fort. The garrison was later reduced to around 250. Late in the War the Fort would be made into a prison for a group of captured Confederate officers known as "The Immortal Six Hundred." Thirteen of these men would die at the Fort of enforced ill treatment. After the War ended Fort Pulaski continued as a military and political prison for a short while. It would house a Confederate Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of War, Assistant Secretary of War as well as three state governors, a senator and the man who had commanded the Fort after it had been taken by the South.
[edit] Post war
Between 1869 and 1872 the demilune to the rear of the Fort was covered with powder magazines and the few gun positions left were enlarged for heavier guns.
By the turn of the 20th century, the fort beagn to fall into disrepair. In an effort to save the old fort, the War Department finally declared Fort Pulaski a National Monument in on October 15, 1924 by presidential proclamation of Calvin Coolidge. The monument was transferred from the War Department to the National Park Service on August 10, 1933. On that time repairs were not started, when members of the CCC arrived on Cockspur Island and began rehabilitation of the fort.
Fort Pulaski was opened to the public only for a short time before the beginning of World War II. This war would see further use of Cockspur Island as a section base for the U.S. Navy. Following WWII, Fort Pulaski reverted to the Park Service's control, and it was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. Fort Pulaski remains open to the public.
[edit] References
- The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
[edit] See also
- Cockspur Island Lighthouse, a lighthouse that is also housed in this National Monument.
- A marker commemorating a thanksgiving service which John Wesley gave after his first arrival in Georgia is also on the grounds.
[edit] External links
- Official NPS website: Fort Pulaski National Monument
- Bombardment of Fort Pulaski
Categories: IUCN Category V | 1924 establishments | American Civil War forts | American Civil War prison camps | Chatham County, Georgia | Forts in Georgia (U.S. state) | National Monuments of the United States | Registered Historic Places in Georgia | Georgia in the Civil War | Underground railroad locations
