On September 6th, 2015, I visited Fort Pulaski during Living History Day. Fort Pulaski is located on Cockspur Island just off of Highway 80, approximately 15 minutes away from Savannah State. Cockspur Island is located at the mouth of the Savannah River, a tactical location that allowed the fort to oversee any ship attempting to enter the port of Savannah. The island’s only known human inhabitants have been the fort’s builders, care takers, and Civil War soldiers. The island is home to a variety of salt water marsh creatures such as alligators, crabs and birds. The fort and museum are maintained by the National Parks Service. The museum’s mission is to educate visitors on the significance of the fort’s involvement in the Civil War and Underground …show more content…
The federal government had refused to arm the fort due to the growing tensions in the south and the fear of a civil war. In the beginning of the Civil War, the fort was mounted with 150 guns and stationed by Confederate troops. According to the fort’s tour guides, on January 1862, General Sherman took control of Tybee Island and began planning a siege on the fort. On April 10, 1862, Union soldiers on the coast of Tybee fired rifled cannons at the fort for a day and a half. The invention of the rifled cannon was a huge innovation for the time since it could hit targets from a mile away. The fort returned fire however; their cannon rounds could not hit Tybee. The fort surrendered after cannon fire almost penetrated its ammunition and explosives storage room. After its fall, the fort served as a POW camp and a refuge for escaped slaves. The siege of Fort Pulaski was to US history because it was one of the first US battles to have used rifled cannons. The battle taught the Union how to take down forts without risking their …show more content…
The well-kept condition of the fort displayed the horrors of combat and provided me with a representation of the life of a Civil War soldier. Above all, the battered walls of the fort showed me the determination of the Confederacy to maintain their independence and the institution of slavery. Following the siege, the fort served as a refuge for slaves. The Union allowed any enslaved person that arrived on the island freedom. Many of the slaves had lived on Cockspur until the end of the war, were transported to the north, or volunteered to serve in the Union army. This visit taught me about Savannah’s significance to the Underground Railroad as well as how far an enslaved person was willing to travel in order to have a chance at freedom. Many slaves came from plantations across Georgia, South Carolina and possibly Alabama. Many risked capture, starvation and murder in order to reach