Also known as: siege of Fort Pulaski.
| Date | April 1862 |
|---|---|
| Location | Cockspur Island, mouth of the Savannah River, Georgia |
| Federal ordnance | Mixed smoothbore and rifled batteries on Tybee Island, including James and Parrott rifles |
| Significance | Rifled fire breached masonry, ending the era of the brick fort |
Rifled guns against masonry
Fort Pulaski, a strong masonry work guarding the Savannah River, was thought nearly impregnable to the artillery of its day. In April 1862 Federal engineers under Quincy A. Gillmore emplaced a line of batteries on Tybee Island, more than a mile away, mixing traditional smoothbore mortars and guns with rifled pieces, among them James rifles and Parrott rifles.
The rifled projectiles bored into the brick scarp with an accuracy and penetration the smoothbores could not match, opening a breach in little more than a day of firing and compelling the fort's surrender. The result was studied on both sides as proof that rifled artillery had made masonry forts obsolete.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- Gillmore, Quincy A. Official Report to the United States Engineer Department, of the Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski, Georgia. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1862.
- CivilWarArtillery.com research archive: fort and battlefield references, manuals, and reports.