Fort Pulaski, Tybee Island Georgia
Fort Pulaski is a Civil War fort that is now a National Monument run by the National Parks Service. It was commissioned by President James Madison as part of the coastal fortification system shortly after the War of 1812. Construction started in 1829 and they were still working on the armament in 1860. As it turned out, before United States troops could occupy the fort, they had to conquer it.
On January 3, 1861, 2 weeks after South Carolina seceded from the Union, and one week after Federal troops occupied Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbour, Georgia Governor Joseph Brown ordered state militia to seize Fort Pulaski for the Confederate States of America.
When it was constructed, people felt that it was “un-takeable” as it had 7.5 foot walls and was located over 1,000 yards away from the closest firm ground. This was based on the usage of smooth bore heavy artillery. When the Union came to attack in February 1862, they spent 2 months hauling heavy artillery across the sand and marsh of Tybee Island at night. They brought with them 5 experimental rifled cannons and it was these cannons that successfully penetrated the fort walls and resulted in the Confederates surrender after only 30 hours. The union then took over the fort, repaired the breached wall (notice the red bricks) and used it as a base to attack Savannah and a prison for Confederate soldiers.
The entire fort area is incredibly well maintained. It felt like we were in England looking at old forts and castles there, with the green grass, large moats and solid fort walls.
They had a great interpretive program and junior ranger program. We all learn so much from these and Hunter is so proud of the badges that he gets. Because we are doing this as part of our school curriculum, Hunter has to complete all pages of each book vs the minimum to get the badge. We learned all about firing a musket and about the transition from smooth bore to rifled artillery.
