SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT PULASKI
By Q.A. Gillmore, Major-General, U. S. V.

FORT PULASKI AFTER THE SURRENDER. FROM A SKETCH AT THE TIME.

The capture of the forts at Port Royal was promptly followed by the abandonment by the Confederates of the entire coast and all the coast towns south of Charleston except Savannah, which was defended by Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah River.

This work is of brick, with five faces, casemated on all sides, and has a wet ditch. The walls are seven and a half feet thick, and rise twenty-five feet above high water, mounting one tier of guns in casemates and one en barbette. The gorge face is covered by a demi-lune of good relief, arranged for one tier of guns en barbette. This also has a wet ditch.

The fort is situated on Cockspur Island, a marshy formation, surrounded by broad channels of deep water. The nearest approach to it on tolerably firm ground is from one to two miles distant, to the south-east, along a narrow strip of shifting sands formed on Tybee island by the action of wind and waves. In the light of subsequent events it is of interest to recall the fact that before operations for investing the place were begun the fort was visited by several Confederate officers of rank, formerly of the regular army, who freely expressed the opinion that the isolated position of the work, and the nature of its environs, rendered any successful siege operations against it absolutely impracticable. The Confederate commander, Colonel Charles H. Olmstead' appears quite naturally to have been governed by the opinions of his superior officers;^ and the measures adopted for adding strength and safety to the work were of the most meager character. Moreover, General Joseph G. Totten, Chief Engineer United States Army wrote in reply to a letter requesting his views on the subject, that "the work could not be reduced in a month's firing with any number of guns of manageable calibers."

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^ The officer in command of the department was Brigadier-General A. R. Lawton, C. S. A.--- Editors. Vol. II. 1
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