Fort Pulaski - Part II

One of the reasons that I love visiting old forts is that you can usually wander around quite a bit and see the history of the place for yourself.  I also find it interesting to walk through places where others walked dozens or hundreds of years ago.

Fort Pulaski is actually the youngest of all the forts that we visited on this trip.  It predates the American Civil War by only a few years.

According to the fort's website Fort Pulaski is one of the best preserved forts in the "third system" of fortifications designed to protect the coastal United States.

The Third System was established during a relatively peaceful time for the United States. These conditions provided for an unprecedented level of standardization in design and planning. For the first time, a professional board was appointed to oversee design and construction. Close to 200 forts were envisioned to guard the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, however only 30 were built between 1816-1867.

By the early 1820s, the bustling port of Savannah, Georgia was in need of a larger river fortification. Preparations on what would become Fort Pulaski began in 1827. Upon graduation from West Point, Lt. Robert E. Lee, the future Confederate general, was in charge of designing the series of canals and earthworks that drained excess water from Cockspur Island, site of construction located slightly east of Savannah, Georgia. This step was necessary to provide an adequate foundation for fort construction. During the American Civil War, Lee inspected the site and noticed the dike system had worked as planned. Land maps dated the year of the siege, 1862, show the area inside the dike as the only dry expanse of land.
~Fort Pulaski National Monument website, The Third System

While Amy waited below, the girls and I explored rooms and climbed up to the top of the fort's walls.

 This 360° was taken from atop the regular flight of stairs that headed up to the top of the wall.

What's a fort without cannons to look at and take pictures of?

 We ended up crossing over the wall towards these railings.  Inside we found a spiral staircase.

 It was an interesting experience walking down the staircase holding the hands of two small children.

At the bottom we started to explore more rooms inside the walls of the fort.  All of these ones had grooves in the floor from where I assume gun carriages carved them into the wood as they rotated.  You can also see the many arches used to support the walls and ceiling.

 This was the inside (and also outside) section of the walls facing the parade ground.

The inner portion looked like this.  I assume these date from when the fort was used to house several hundred Confederate prisoners.

I looked out an opening and saw this tree.

 This 360° was taken while the kids were with me.  In instructed them to stay behind me as I turned around to complete the picture.

Amy grabbed this picture as both girls were still trying to stay behind me.

 These labels show you the directions to various local landmarks like the south channel of the Savannah River or Hilton Head Island which is just to the north.

Some signs of battle damage remain in the walls of the fort.  Confederate forces didn't expect Union troops to be able to shell the fort from the mainland, but after sustained bombardment and heavy damage they surrendered the fort to Federal troops.

The next post will be the last, covering the barracks and other furnished rooms inside the fort.

~Matt