Fort Pulaski Part Two: History

This is the second of a three-part blog on Fort Pulaski. Here is blog 1, in case you missed it.

Why Was Fort Pulaski Built?

After the War of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, President James Madison initiated a plan to build a series of Third System seacoast forts from New England to the Gulf Coast. The war had exposed United States vulnerabilities in coastal defense and the inadequacy of our older First and Second System forts.

The seacoast fort program began on November 16, 1816 when Madison created the Board of Engineers for Fortifications through a War Department order. Between 1816 and 1867, the U.S. Army built 42 Third System Forts. Work on Fort Pulaski did not begin until 1829. Due to many factors (see blog) the fort was not completed until 1847.

What Is Fort Pulaski Known For?

Fort Pulaski is known for the 30-hour battle that took place there during the American Civil War. Here is a rundown:

After South Carolina declared secession on December 20, 1860, a small Union army under the command of Major Robert Anderson, quietly moved in and took over Fort Sumter. (The battle that followed–the first of the Civil War–is another story that won’t be covered here.)  The governor of Georgia, Joseph Brown, worried that the North might do the same at Fort Pulaski. So, on January 3, 1861, a force of less than 150 men arrived via steamship and claimed Fort Pulaski for the South. Since there were only two U.S. Army personnel living at the fort, they quickly surrendered.

On January 19, 1861 Georgia seceded from the United States. In May 1861, the US Navy began a blockade of Southern ports. Then they got ready to take back Fort Pulaski.

On November 24, 1861, Union soldiers under the command of Captain Quincy Gillmore, moved in and occupied Tybee Island.  Just one mile across the Savannah River stood Fort Pulaski on Cockspur Island.  Building at night and using camouflage by day, Union soldiers set up eleven batteries containing 36 cannon on Tybee Island.

On April 10, 1862 Gilmore demanded the surrender of Fort Pulaski from Colonel Charles H. Olmstead. Olmstead, confident in his soldiers, defensive fort, and 48 mounted guns, refused: ““I am here to defend the fort, not to surrender it.”

The Parrott Rifle

Unknown to Colonel Olmstead, Gillmore had a secret weapon: rifled guns, specifically Parrott Rifles, patented in 1861 by Captain Robert Parker Parrott. Gilmore had five 30-pounder Parrott Rifles on Tybee Island. These were a huge advance over the smoothbore cannon traditionally used.

Smoothbore cannon fired round iron balls that were only effective up to 1000 yards. They often missed their target and could not penetrate far into thick masonry walls. In contrast, the Parrott Rifle had a barrel with spiral grooves. This caused its pointed cylinder projectiles to spin as they flew, straight through the air. They could hit targets up to a mile away. Due to its pointed, aerodynamic design, Parrott shells could penetrate deep into brick walls and shatter them. In essence, Parrott Rifles were much more accurate and lethal than traditional cannon.

Captain Quincy Gillmore’s Other Secret Weapon

. . . was his own engineering knowledge of Fort Pulaski! Fort Pulaski was a Third System Fort built by the U.S. Army. All Third System Forts had the same engineering standards. Gillmore had an extensive engineering background, including serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and assisting in the construction of two other Third System forts: Fort Calhoun and Fort Monroe.

Gillmore knew the layout of Fort Pulaski, including where the powder magazines were located. He was convinced that the new Parrott Rifles could penetrate the fort’s 7.5-foot-thick brick walls and open up a path across the fort’s interior to the powder magazines.

The Battle

On April 10, 1862, after Colonel Olmstead refused to surrender, Captain Gillmore ordered his men to begin firing. Gillmore had them concentrate their fire on the fort’s southeast angle. By the next morning, the  Confederates guns were in shambles and the southeast wall had been heavily damaged. By noon, soldiers on Tybee Island could see the interior parade ground of Fort Pulaski through two huge holes in the fort’s brick walls.

By 2 pm, Colonel Olmstead knew the danger to the fort was too great. Gun shot was flying across the interior and landing dangerously close to the north magazine casemates, where stacked wooden barrels, weighing 100 lbs each, held 40,000 pounds of black cannon powder. If this powder blew up, every man in the fort would be killed.

Colonel Olmstead surrendered.

After Fort Pulaski was surrendered to the North, it was used as a blockade outpost for the purpose of stopping trade to and from Savannah.

The fort was also used as a military prison, and became a stop for escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. I’ll cover more of this in my last installment of Fort Pulaski blog posts entitled Ghosts.

If you want to know more about the battle for Fort Pulaski, read this article by the National Park Service.