The original plan was to come from Arizona directly East and wait for warmer weather in the Northeast to catchup. Well, that was followed more or less, but what is always the unknown is Mother Nature. When crossing the midwest, you are ahead or behind a storm usually from the Gulf of Mexico, in this time of year.
With the above in mind, we have been hovering around Savannah. The parks and or squares are wonderful, but what else could we visit?
Fort Pulaski ~ The complete change in defensive tactics!
In the second quarter of the 19th century, U.S. military engineers built Fort Pulaski on marshy Cockspur Island to guard the river approaches to Savannah, GA. It was designed by Gen. Simon Bernard, a distinguished French military engineer, as part of a coastal fortification system adopted by James Madison, after the War of 1812. Construction began in 1829 and required One Million dollars, 25 million bricks, and 18 years of toil to finish. Its admirers (and there were many ) considered it invincible and armament was still not completed and it was not yet garrisoned. As it turned out, before United States troops could occupy the fort, they had to conquer it.
On January 3, 1861, two weeks after South Carolina seceded from the Union and one week after Federal troops occupied Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Georgia, Gov. Joseph E. Brown ordered state militia to seize Fort Pulaski. At this time Savannah was a city of about 20,000 inhabitants and a rich seaport trading in cotton, naval stores and timber. Though many disagreed on the wisdom of seizing the Federal fort, people of all classes joined in preparations for its defense following the state transferred Fort Pulaski to the Confederate States of America.
By the end of April 1861, 11 Southern states had left the Union and were at war with the United States. Before the end of the summer, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the U.S. Navy to blockade Southern ports. As the blockade tightened it strangled the Confederate economy. On November 7, 1861, a combined Army and Navy expedition struck at Port Royal Sound, S.C., about 15 miles north of Fort Pulaski. Confederate troops fled as Federal warships bombarded Forts Walker and Beauregard, allowing Union forces to land unopposed on Hilton Head Island. From this beachhead, the Federals established a base for operations against Fort Pulaski and the whole southern Atlantic Coast.
On November 10, intimidated by the Federal presence at Hilton Head, the Confederates abandoned Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah, unknowingly giving the enemy the only site from which Fort Pulaski could be taken. The Federals acted quickly to take advantage of the break. Early in December, they cut the fort’s communications with the mainland, then moved troops to Tybee Island to prepare for siege operations.
Engineer Capt. Quincy A Gilmore, who assumed command of all troops on Tybee Island in February 1862, believed that an overwhelming bombardment would force the Confederates to give up the fort. Accordingly, he erected 11 artillery batteries containing 36 guns and mortars along the northwest shore of Tybee Island. On April 10, after the Confederates refused Gillmore’s formal demand to surrender, the Federals opened fire. The Confederates were not particularly alarmed; the Union guns were a mile away, more than twice the effective range for heavy ordnance of that day. But what the fort’s garrison did not know was that the Federal armament included 10 new experimental rifled cannons, whose projectiles began to bore through Pulaski’s walls with shattering effect. By noon of the second day the bombardment had opened wide gaps in the southeast angle, and explosive shells, passing through the holes and over the walls, threatened the main powder magazines. Impressed by the hopelessness of the situation and concerned about the lives of his men, the Confederate commander, Col. Charles H. Olmstead, surrendered only 30 hours after the bombardment began.
Gilmore was the hero of the day. For his boldness in using a new weapon and for the victory won, he was breveted a brigadier general. Olmstead, along with the other 384 officers and men in Pulaski’s garrison, were sent north and imprisoned at Governor’s Island in New York. When he was exchanged in the autumn of 1862, he resumed command of his regiment and served with distinction for the remainder of the Civil War. Federal troops garrisoned Fort Pulaski until war’s end, when it was used to house several political prisoners. After 1880, a caretaker and lighthouse keeper were the fort’s only occupants. They too were soon removed, leaving the place to the ever-encroaching vegetation and animal life. The island was made a national monument in 1924; restoration of the fort began in earnest about 1933. Today the fort serves not only as a memorial to the valor and dedication of those connected with its construction, bombardment, and defense, but in a larger sense as history lesson on the elusiveness of invincibility.
National Park Services U.S. Department of the Interior
So, with description of events above what changed the defense tactics? The answer is Rifled Cannon (30-Pounder Parrott) No other defensive fortifications made of brick and mortar were ever built on the east coast from that point on! Many considered the fort’s 7 1/2-foot solid brick walls backed with massive masonry piers unbreachable! U.S. Chief of Engineers Joseph G. Totten once said, “You might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains” was how he summed it up!
Third System Forts
Fort Pulaski belonged to what is known as the Third System of coastal fortifications, developed during the first half of the 19th century and characterized by greater structural durability than earlier works. Nearly all of the 30-plus Thrid System forts built after 1816 still exist. The locations of the principal works along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts on the eve of war are shown below!
That is what we saw and did
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I’m not sure of the so-called “Third System Forts” located in Maine. I’ve visited several but associated them with the term Third System Forts. A good expedition for this summer’s adventures! 🇺🇸
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