The dramatic story of the revolutionary siege which eliminated Savannah, Georgia, as a Confederate seaport, and the new weapons that reshaped military history. Essential reading for fans of Stephen W. Sears, Noah Andre Trudeau, and Craig L. Symonds.
About the Book
Fort Pulaski was a massive, modern fortress built with twenty-five million bricks between 1829 and 1847 on Cockspur Island in the Savannah River. Occupied by Georgia state troops in January 1861, the Union, in early 1862, decided to capture the fort to prevent blockade runners from reaching Savannah.
A West Point engineer who had supervised its construction was doubtful that this could be accomplished: “You might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains as Fort Pulaski… The fort could not be reduced in a month’s firing with any number of guns of manageable caliber.” He was wrong. Under the guidance of Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore, eleven batteries — including the new rifled artillery — breached the walls in under thirty-six hours and forced the Confederates to surrender.
Why were these rifled cannons so much more effective than traditional round shot? How had Gillmore so successfully utilized their power, even in difficult terrain and terrible conditions? And what impact would these technologically innovative weapons have on the rest of the Civil War and future warfare?
Herbert M. Schiller draws on numerous published articles, books, and memoirs, as well as a wealth of unpublished manuscripts, to develop a thorough account of an event that ranks alongside the rise of ironclads as one of the most important military developments of the American Civil War.
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