Seeing Civil War History at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia
by a.d. elliott |Take the Back Roads – Art and Other Odd Facts
Dear Henry,
When I visited Savannah a while ago, I made a stop at Fort Pulaski, the old Civil War fort that once guarded the mouth of the Savannah River. It’s an impressive place with a long and often somber history. Let me tell you all about it.
Construction of Fort Pulaski began in 1829 as part of a national effort to strengthen America’s coastal defenses after the War of 1812. The fort was named in honor of General Casimir Pulaski, the Polish cavalryman who fought alongside George Washington and is celebrated as the father of the U.S. Cavalry. He distinguished himself at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, endured the winter at Valley Forge, and was mortally wounded during the Siege of Savannah. Like Lafayette and Bernardo de Gálvez, Pulaski is one of the few foreign nationals granted honorary U.S. citizenship.
The fort’s construction was supervised by Major General Babcock and a young West Point graduate named Robert E. Lee. Built to be impenetrable to the cannons of its day, Fort Pulaski’s walls stand 11 feet thick and 32 feet high, and its creation relied heavily on enslaved labor. Construction was completed in 1847.
“Let guns alone salute the wisdom of our age with dusty powder marks on yet another page of history.”
— Langston Hughes
Initially, Fort Pulaski sat largely empty, maintained only by a few caretakers. That changed in February 1861 when Georgia seceded from the Union, and Governor Joseph E. Brown ordered Confederate troops to occupy the site. But by year’s end, Confederate command deemed the fort too remote and understaffed to hold, leaving only a small contingent behind.
Union forces quickly recognized its strategic value. By April 10, 1862, Union troops surrounded the fort and requested its surrender, politely but firmly. The Confederate garrison refused, and the Union army brought out a new weapon: the James rifled cannon. Within thirty hours, the supposedly impregnable walls were breached. The fall of Fort Pulaski proved that masonry forts were no match for modern artillery.
Once captured, Union forces repaired the fort and used it to blockade the Savannah River, cutting off Confederate supply routes. Yet Fort Pulaski’s most somber chapter came later, when it was used as a wartime prison for Confederate officers, the “Immortal 600.”
“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.”
— Stephen Crane
.png "Stephen Crane on Desperation and Courage – Fort Pulaski Reflections")
The “Immortal 600” were Confederate officers used as retaliation when the South began using Union prisoners as human shields. In September 1864, 600 Confederate officers were brought to Morris Island, South Carolina, where they endured starvation rations. After an outbreak of yellow fever, they were relocated to Fort Pulaski in October, then to Hilton Head, and finally to Fort Delaware, where they remained until the war’s end. Forty-one men died from malnutrition and dysentery. Despite their suffering, many refused to renounce their allegiance, a decision that still divides opinion today.
Standing in the small brick jail, it’s impossible to imagine six hundred men packed into that space. The whole episode is a chilling reminder of the cruelty of war and the high price of conviction.
After the Civil War, Fort Pulaski briefly saw use during the Spanish–American War but soon fell into disrepair. It was declared a National Monument in 1924 and later restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. During World War II, it again came under military control as a naval section base before being returned to the National Park Service.
Today, Fort Pulaski is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed on major holidays). The $10 admission helps preserve the site and its stories.
It’s a quiet, reflective place, one that holds both the scars and lessons of history. If you ever find yourself in Savannah, it’s well worth the visit.
xoxo,
a.d. elliott
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a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia.
.png "Stephen Crane on Desperation and Courage – Fort Pulaski Reflections")
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