Fort Pulaski (Chatham County, Georgia)
Chatham County · Georgia · Civil War
History & Significance
Construction began in 1829 on the fort, named for Count Casimir Pulaski, a Polish immigrant who fought during the American Revolution. Robert E. Lee, recently graduated from West Point, oversaw preliminary construction, choosing the site and designing a system of drains and dikes to support the weight of the masonry fort.
In 1831 Lieutenant Joseph K. Mansfield took charge of Pulaski's construction and oversaw the project for the next fourteen years. When finished in 1847, the fort could mount 146 cannons, some on the parapet atop the 7.5-foot-wide walls and others in casemates inside the walls.
In January 1861, shortly before Georgia seceded from the Union, state troops occupied Pulaski to keep Union forces from garrisoning it. Union forces on Tybee Island and naval operations conducted a 112-day siege, then captured the Confederate-held Fort Pulaski after a 30-hour bombardment.
Within hours, Gillmore's rifled artillery had breached the southeast scarp of the fort. With the Fort securely in Union control, General David Hunter issued General Order Number 7 on April 16, 1862, which stated that all enslaved at the fort and on Cockspur Island were now free, and Fort Pulaski was made a final destination on the Underground Railroad. In October 1864, the fort became a prison for captured Confederate soldiers, mostly officers, known as "The Immortal Six Hundred."
Key Facts
Map
View larger map ↗ · © OpenStreetMap contributors
🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Pre-Civil War brick fort with intact moat on Cockspur Island
- Rifled cannon breach through fort wall demonstrated artillery's evolution
- Civil War battle artifacts and exhibits
- Surrounding coastal marshland landscape
- Magazine and barracks structures open to exploration
Sources
- https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/fort-pulaski/
- https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-pulaski
- https://www.nps.gov/places/fort-pulaski.htm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Pulaski
- https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/robert-e-lee-and-fort-pulaski.htm