Fort Pulaski National Monument - Savannah, Georgia

Battle-scarred walls of Fort Pulaski

One of the best preserved and most significant of the nation's antebellum coastal fortifications can be explored at Fort Pulaski National Monument near Savannah, Georgia.

Built on Cockspur Island near the mouth of the Savannah River, Fort Pulaski was a massive five-sided masonry fort designed to protect the vital port of Savannah from foreign attack. Instead, the only guns ever turned on it were those of the United States itself.

The fort was battered into submission during a two day battle in April 1862, an engagement that forever ended the era of masonry seacoast forts. Advancements in artillery had surpassed the ability of structures like Fort Pulaski to stand up to a sustained bombardment from rifled cannon.

During the final year of the war, the fort also achieved a dubious distinction as the site of the dungeon where the Confederate prisoners of war of the Immortal Six Hundred were intentionally starved and tortured.

Learn more about the historic fort and the other sites associated with it at our new Fort Pulaski section: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortpulaski.