Ft. Pulaski & Port Wentworth

Friday it was off to Fort Pulaski National Monument located not far from Savannah on Cockspur Island in GA. It took 25 million bricks and 18 years to build this fort, but only 30 hours for the Union troops to effectively damage the southeast corner with 5,275 cannon shots in 1862. With only 384 Confederate officers and soldiers compared to nearly 1,100 Union troops on nearby Tybee Island, Col. Olmstead felt he had no choice but to surrender. The walls were 7-1/2 feet thick, but the new experimental rifle cannon used by the Union easily penetrated the wall. This new cannon could fire a shot 5 miles whereas the typical smooth bore cannon only had a distance of about 700 yards. The breached wall was "quickly" repaired (the redder colored brick in the left of the photo at the right) by the Union forces within 6 weeks of the surrender, and all shipping in and out of Savannah ceased basically crippling the Southern war effort. This defeat also put an end to the construction of this type of fort ever being built again.

We had arrived in time for the 11 a.m. guided tour by a park ranger and were amazed at how well perserved the fort is after all these years. We climbed the rock spiral staircase to the top of the wall as the ranger further explained about the fort and had quite a view of the landscape and the nearby Cockspur Island lighthouse. Russ was impressed with the quality of brick work clearly evident throughout but especially in the numerous arches.


The fort, surrounded by a moat, had several obstacles that would prevent one from entering through the "front door". With the drawbridge up, if you made it across the moat, you'd be met with wood and steel doors, a gate, slots in the walls through which soldiers on guard would fire at you, another heavy door, and last but not least, if you made it through all that, you'd be met with a cannon staring you right in the face. Thus it was easier (and safer for the Union troops!) to utilize the new rifle cannons from across the moat and marsh at the back of the fort.

At noon there was a musket firing demonstration by another ranger in period costume. He passed around a bullet head, which was heavier than I expected. He explained life as a soldier, then demonstrated the 9 steps which would have been ordered by the commander to load and fire the musket, a procedure he repeated 3 times.

When the demonstration was over, Russ and I walked outside around the moat to view the breached wall and see some of the pock marks left in the surrounding walls by the cannon fire. In fact if you open the photo on the left and look at it closely, you can still see a cannon ball lodged in the hole.

After leaving the fort, we stopped at a little roadside lunch wagon parked in front of an apparently closed gentlemen's club called the Showboat. They were serving BBQ beef sandwiches, so we bought three plus sodas, and ate at our picnic table back at camp. Pretty good sandwiches!

I had read that on Saturday in nearby Port Wentworth, they were celebrating Stand Up For America Day. This festival has been held the last Saturday of April every year since 1971 and was established to recognize America, particularly the American soldier. The streets of Port Wentworth are filled with a parade, music, arts, crafts, food, kiddie rides, and fireworks that light up the city's night sky, all free of charge. We had decided we'd go later in the day so we could catch the fireworks. Scott's leg and knee were still bothering him after all the walking and climbing at the fort the day before, so Russ and I left about 5pm to head to Port Wentworth. What a truly small town America community event! We had BBQ chipped beef sandwiches, Italian sausage dogs, and a funnel cake for dinner, listened to some bad karaoke (is there any other kind??!), mingled with the folks, and waited for the featured band to start at 7pm. While waiting we walked around for a bit and visited the memorial set up at one of the street corners. Surrounding the American flag were the flags of each of the armed forces, and below were about 60 crosses with the names of those deceased who had served in the military and the war (or wars in some cases) in which they served. We noticed there were also 8 crosses with no war designation, just the names.

We set up our folding chairs waiting for the band to begin, and we were approached about buying some raffle tickets. As it turns out, the festival this year was not only to honor the military but also the families of the recent sugar refinery explosion. You may remember having heard or read about in the news when back in Feb. the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, near Savannah, exploded killing 13. It was told nationwide. There are still some victims in critical condition in the burn unit, and the community has banded together creating various fundraisers to help the families. We were happy to do our part by buying some tickets. We assume those 8 crosses were in honor of some of the sugar refinery victims.

The band was about half an hour late starting, but soon The Sounds of Motown all the way from Athens, GA, took the stage, and they were great! They sang not only Motown but also beach music, disco, and a variety of tunes. There had been quite a crowd when we arrived, but by the time the band started, the entire town must have been there. People danced in the street....even us! (Though there are no photos of that. :-)

At 9pm the band took a break, and the fireworks went off as scheduled. Quite a spectacular event for such a small town! Twenty minutes later they were over, and the band started again. We stuck around for a bit longer, but then headed back home. We had a great time, and felt privileged to be able to experience and be a part of this community gathering, a community coming together for each other in their time of need, and to honor America.