Transcript Fort Pulaskix

Fort Pulaski
How technology defeated the
Savannah River chokepoint in the
American Civil War
A chokepoint is a strategic position
used to control access or to keep track
of people entering or leaving a site.
Common chokepoints are at gates for football
games or movies, log-ins to computers, codes to
access material, and even the computer that
checks what you buy in the lunch line are other
types.
Militarily governments want to control straits, mountain
passes, harbors and other natural chokepoints to defend
or control areas. Many of the greatest battles of all time
have been fought at these locations.
Generally once in control the build fortresses that can
not be easily conquered. Opponents have two choices
when trying to overcome such obstacles: stealth or a
new technology.
This is an example of how a new technology defeated
what thought to be a unconquerable fortress.
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This Civil War era map shows how Fort Pulaski guarded the river entrance into
Savannah, Georgia. Without taking the fort the Union had no chance of
defeating the confederate forces in Savannah.
No ship could possibly pass the fort without taking severe damage as
you can see the proximity (closeness) of this modern day cargo ship.
The the outer walls of the fort
were nine feet thick, and as you
can see from the pictures,
classic arches were used to
further strengthen the structure.
Each of the vaults had 12
pound cannons (meaning the
ball it fired weighed 12 lbs).
The cannons were so heavy
you needed an A- frame just
to mount them.
Vaults (above),
A-frame (below), and
cannon (right).
The gun mounts along the parapet (the balcony like area
that along the top edge of the falls) also show the
confederate forces were ready to stop any enemy vessel.
To attack by land was considered suicide. First
you had to get by the demlune which could easily
be defended with only a handful of soldiers.
demilune means half moon
Once you made it by the demilune you had to make it across a
moat, through a drawbridge protected by small cannons, and then
go through a sally port.
The fort was built to withstand any attack with the current
technology. It was, the Confederacy thought, the perfect
chokepoint and the Union army would not be able to use their
naval superiority in any attack on Savannah.
The fort was on an island so you couldn’t land enough men to
make any attack on the fort itself viable. Shooting cannon balls
that distance was both inaccurate and would be relatively
undamaging to the fort itself. To approach the fort by water was
to invite terrible losses to your fleet. Even if you could get close
enough, cannon balls would bounce off its massive walls.
How long do you think it would take to defeat such a fortress?
The battery
sites
The Union did have a new technology and this was the perfect
time to use it. It was the rifled cannon. They secretly set up
batteries on Tybee island. On April 10th, 1862 the bombardment
began.
A cannon ball acts like a baseball knuckleball and you can’t
really tell where it was going to go and the impact is spread out . A ballista
or bullet on the other hand is propelled like a football, which makes it
This is the Brooke Rifle, which shot a 64 pound
projectile and was accurate up to 5 miles.
This Confederate weapon was used in later battles in Savannah.
Remember, older cannons used a 12 lb. projectile which only went about
three miles.
Tybee Island from the top of the wall of the fort.
Where cannon balls would at most make dents, notice how
the rifle’s projectiles tore into the walls. One battery on the
wall was obviously taken out, and notice all the pock marks
near the cannons in the wall.
The massive walls of fort Pulaski could
only hold out for 30 hours. One Union
shell almost caused the powder magazine
to explode and its commander, Col.
Charles H. Olmstead surrendered. The
Union turned this into a POW camp.
The Battle for Fort Pulaski in April 1862 marked a
turning point in military history. It featured the first
significant use of rifled cannons in combat. These
accurate, long-range weapons shattered Fort Pulaski's
walls from over a mile away. After thirty-hours of
bombardment, the fort surrendered. The battle
surprised military strategists worldwide, signaling the
end of masonry fortifications.
from: http://www.naps.gov/fopu/
So I guess one lesson is that if you have a
chokepoint, that is were you can expect to see
the latest in technology or stealth.
Can you think of any other examples of battles at
chokepoints in history?
And some of you are wondering about the baseball analogy
(you know, about how a cannon ball flies like a knuckleball).
Well it certainly fits for this fort.
Anyone recognize this place?
It was the site of one of the earliest
pictures of a baseball game.