Fort McAllister was one of three forts that defended the city of Savannah GA during the Civil War. (The other two were Fort Jackson and Fort Pulaski.) Located at the mouth of the Ogeechee River, it was the southernmost of the three forts.
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Unlike the other two forts, which were made from brick masonry, Fort McAllister was a hasty earthenworks, with a bank and ditch perimeter and underground “bombproofs” inside. After a visit by General Robert E Lee, who was then a virtually-unknown officer in charge of Confederate coastal defenses in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, the fort was strengthened in anticipation of attack. The guns consisted of 32-pounder and 42-pounder cannons, which were later supplemented by an 8-inch columbiad cannon. A 10-inch mortar was also brought in, and had to be moved because it’s violent concussion was shaking down some of the earthen walls around it.
Over time, the fort was further strengthened by bringing in more guns and by building up more earthen walls and bombproofs. The river mouth was also sewn with “torpedoes”—wooden or metal containers packed with gunpowder which were electrically fired to act as naval mines. Similarly, the land approaches were also seeded with buried land mines.
In July 1862 the Confederate blockade runner Nashville tried to enter Charleston harbor but encountered Federal Navy ships and fled up the Ogeechee at Savannah, protected by Fort McAllister’s guns. In response, the Federals sent a group of four gunboats to bombard the fort and capture the Nashville, but they were driven off. Another attack in November also failed.
In January 1863, the Union Navy decided to send one of its new ironclad ships, the Montauk, and three gunboats to bombard the fort. The Montauk had been fitted with new Dahlgren cannons, 11-inch and 15-inch—the largest naval guns in the world at the time. But once again the fort’s earthen walls withstood the pounding, though the Montauk did manage to sink the Nashville at anchor, and one of the shells killed the fort’s mascot cat “Tom”.
In all, the Federals would make seven naval attacks on the fort, but they were unable to force a surrender.
In December 1864, land forces led by General William T Sherman reached Fort McAllister. By this time the other two forts had already fallen, and Fort McAllister was all that stood between Sherman and Savannah. But the fort was undermanned and had weak landward defenses, and Sherman’s troops took it after only 15 minutes of fighting. The Confederate troops in Savannah withdrew, and Sherman entered the city without firing a shot on December 22, 1864. His telegram to President Lincoln read, “I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.”
Today the site is preserved as Fort McAllister State Park. Henry Ford purchased the fort in the 1930s and began restoration work, but did not finish it before he died. The site was then bought by the International Paper Company, which donated it to the State of Georgia. In 1980 the restored Fort McAllister Historic Site was combined with the Richmond Hill State Park to form the Fort McAllister Historic Park.
There is a museum exhibiting artifacts from the battles, and much of the fort’s bombproofs and earthenworks are still intact. Some wreckage from the Nashville is on display.
Some photos from a visit.
