CAPTURE OF FORT PULASKI, GA.

April 11, 1862.

Fort Pulaski, the key to the city of Savannah, stands on Cockspur Island, at the mouth of the Savannah river, about fourteen miles below the city. It was built by the United States Government at a cost of nearly one million of dollars. It is of a pentagonal form, and covers several acres of ground. The walls are forty feet high, presenting two faces towards the sea, the ranges of fire radiating at opposite angles. It was a position of immense strength, being constructed for a full armament, on the lower tier, of sixty-five 32-pounders, and the upper tier for fifty-three 24-pounders, four 18-pound flanking howitzers, one 13-inch mortar, twelve 8-inch columbiads, and seven 10-inch mortars—altogether, one hundred and fifty guns. The interior of the fort was well supplied with large furnaces for heating shot, quarters, barracks, ammunition, etc.

Tybee Island, and the lighthouse, had been previously evacuated by the rebels. The investment of Fort Pulaski was a work of great magnitude, and long and careful preparations for its reduction were necessary. Batteries were erected at several points, after severe labor on the part of the Federal forces, and at the end of the month of March the final arrangements were drawing to completion.

Cockspur Island, on which Fort Pulaski stands, is low and marshy, and the nearest solid land is Tybee Island, lying to the seaward, and within three-quarters of a mile distant. Tybee Island stretches out from a point known as Goat Point, two or three miles to the sea—the nearest point to the fort being that just named. General Q. A. Gillmore took command at Tybee Island on February 20th, which had been previously evacuated by the rebels, and here were built the heaviest breaching batteries; but others were erected at intervals along the shore for a distance of nearly two miles. The subjoined table gives their strength and armament:

BATTERY.	NO. OF GUNS.	SIZE.		KIND.	WEIGHT. LBS.	RANGE.	COMMANDER.
Stanton	3	13	inch.	Mortar.	17,120	3,476	Captain	Skinner.
Grant	3	13	„	„	17,120	3,256	„	Palmer.
Lyon	4	10	„	Columb’d	15,059	3,256	„	Pelouze.
Lincoln	3	8	„	„	9,240	3,045	„	Pelouze.
Burnside	1	13	„	Mortar.	17,120	2,760	Sergeant	Wilson.
Sherman	3	13	„	„	17,120	2,677	Captain	Francis.
Halleck	2	13	„	„	17,120	2,407	„	Sanford.
Scott	2	10	„	Columb’d	15,059	1,777	„	Mason.
Scott	1	8	„	„	9,240		„	Mason.
Sigel	5	30	lbs.	Part’s s.c’r			„	Seldenkirk.
Sigel	1	24	„	James			„	Seldenkirk.
McClellan	2	42	„	„			„	Rogers.
McClellan	3	32	„	„			„	Rogers.
Totten	4	10	inch.	Mortar.	1,852	1,643	„	Rodman.

These works were erected wholly at night, as they were all within range of Fort Pulaski. Their faces were bomb-proof, while in the rear of those most exposed lay a long wide swamp, into which it was supposed that a great portion of the shot and shells from Fort Pulaski would fall. The supposition proved correct. The magazines were bomb-proof, and trenches connected the batteries on Goat’s Point; besides this, splinter-proofs were provided for the reliefs, so that every protection possible was secured to the men. The result proved with how great success these preparations were made; during the bombardment of thirty hours the gunners lost but one man killed or wounded. The work occupied six weeks, and was chiefly performed by the Seventh Connecticut, Colonel Terry, the Forty-fifth New York, Colonel Ross, and a detachment of Volunteer Engineers, under Lieutenant-Colonel Hall. When the guns were nearly all in position, a battalion of the Third Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery was sent to Tybee to assist in manning the guns, and later the Eighth Maine regiment, Colonel Rust.

The mounting of ordnance was executed under the direction of Lieutenant Porter, of the U. S. army; he also assumed the entire charge of all duties connected with the ordnance department on the island, supervised the landing of ammunition and implements, and directed the transportation of all the guns. This was a task of infinite labor. The transportation of heavy guns, always difficult, was here rendered peculiarly so. They had to be landed through a bad surf on an open beach, and thence dragged by the soldiers for nearly two miles through a yielding sand. The works were placed so as to be hidden from the enemy until they opened fire. Battery Totten was nearly 1,700 yards from the fort; Batteries Sigel and McClellan 1,620; Battery Scott nearly 1,677; Battery Halleck 2,400; Battery Burnside and others were all more than 3,000; Battery Grant 3,500 yards away. Breaching casemated forts at this distance had never been supposed practicable in modern warfare; indeed, 800 yards is the greatest distance at which it was ever attempted.

On the 9th of April the batteries were completed, the guns placed, and the magazines filled. General Viele had constructed a co-operating battery on the southern extremity of Long Island, in the Savannah, and not more than two miles, if so far, from the fort. The purpose of this was to obtain a reverse fire during the bombardment, which otherwise would proceed entirely from Tybee Island. This battery was not completed in time to engage in the first day’s action, but opened fire on the second.

A day or two before the bombardment actually commenced, General Hunter (who had superseded General Sherman in command of the land forces at Hilton Head) and his aids, and General Benham with his staff, came down on steamers from Hilton Head to be present during the engagement, though the command was left with General Gillmore.

On the 9th of April General Gillmore issued orders when the bombardment should be opened, and the part which each of the batteries should take in the work. General Hunter sent a letter to Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, First Regiment Georgia Volunteers, demanding an unconditional surrender of the fort to the United States; and representing the loss of life which would occur if resistance were made to the numerous batteries with which he was surrounded. Colonel Olmstead replied briefly, saying in language worthy of a more sacred cause, “I am here to defend the fort, not to surrender it.” When Lieutenant J. H. Wilson returned with this reply, orders were given to open fire from the batteries, and at half-past seven A. M., the first shot was fired from Battery Halleck. The other batteries followed, and Fort Pulaski promptly responded.

The guns for some time not obtaining the proper range, were ineffective. The Federal gunners after a little time learned to distinguish the various shot fired by the enemy, and the range they had. When a gun was fired, and the shot was seen approaching, the cry of “casemate” or “barbette” was given, and they sheltered themselves accordingly. Still later in the engagement they distinguished the shot by the cry “barbette” and “rifle,” and when the latter was fired they protected themselves under cover, as far as possible. The same skill was attained by the rebels in the fort.

The bombardment had continued several hours, when two mortar batteries along the shore outside of the fort, on Goat’s Point, opened, and to them the enemy directed his hottest fire.

About one o’clock the halyards attached to the flagstaff were shot away, and the flag came down, but was immediately raised in a less conspicuous place. During the afternoon an embrasure in the pancoupe, on the south-east angle of the fort, was struck repeatedly, and pieces of the brick work gave way. This angle was the nearest point to the batteries, and in a direct line with the magazine of Fort Pulaski—a fact well known to the Federals from plans of the work in their possession. Afterwards all efforts to effect a breach were directed to this spot. Several of the most important guns, however, were out of order; the mortar shells were observed to fall mostly wide of the mark; and no great result could be noticed even when one fell within the fort. Numerous marks, however, all along both faces of the work which were exposed, told the force and accuracy of the firing. By nightfall, the breach was so far effected that it was evident it could eventually be converted into a practicable one. The bombardment was discontinued at dark, three mortar batteries firing one shell each at intervals of five minutes all night long, worrying the enemy, and preventing any attempt to stop the breach, but without any idea of doing material harm. Several of his guns had evidently been dismounted, and others silenced, during the day. The breach had been commenced, but on the whole the result did not seem especially encouraging. The men and officers were very thoroughly tired with the severe work they had undergone, and the still more fatiguing excitement; few had found time to eat or drink. Many, however, had night duties to perform. Strong infantry pickets were placed, and still stronger supports, in expectation an attempt would be made to relieve the garrison.

Shortly after daybreak all the batteries were opened again. The reply was more vigorous than on the day before. On the Federal side every gun was in readiness, and did good service. The great columbiads under Captain Pelouze were especially effective; they certainly shook the walls of old Pulaski, and damaged them to a considerable extent. All along the line the firing was more rapid and more accurate, five shots striking the walls within as many seconds. Rebel officers said that, on an average, one out of three shots that were fired took effect, and that during all of the second day one shot or shell every minute was the average they received. Early in the morning Captain Seldenkirk, of Battery Sigel, was relieved, and Captain C. P. R. Rodgers, of the frigate Wabash, with a portion of her crew, worked several of the guns of this battery during the remainder of the fight. At the same time Captain Turner, Chief of Commissary on General Hunter’s staff, and Lieutenant Wilson, undertook to drill a detachment of the Eighth Maine Volunteers (Colonel Rust). These men went to work, were drilled under fire, and in ten minutes were able to serve their guns with more than tolerable accuracy, and did some of the most effective service rendered that day. This same regiment lay not more than half a mile in the rear of Battery Halleck, for more than half of the entire engagement, covered only by some brushwood, but perfectly content with their exposed position.

Early on the second day, especial attention was directed to the breach. Every gun that could be brought to bear upon the pancoupe was trained that way, and directly the aperture began to show the effects. In an hour it became large enough for two men to enter abreast, and the nearest embrasure on its left was also considerably enlarged. Meanwhile, all the other effects of the day before were enhanced; shots struck all over the two exposed faces of the fort; the mortar batteries on the shore of Cockspur Island were silenced, and several of the casemate guns were struck through the embrasures. The battery put up by General Viele, on Long Island, opened fire that morning, and received repeated replies, rendering good service by the destruction it occasioned. The gunboat Norwich, laying on the right of the fort, also became engaged—the distance, however, was too great for her to render any special assistance,—still she got an occasional answer from the garrison. On this day clouds of red dust were seen to rise more frequently from the fort, indicating that the brickwork of which it is constructed was breaking up, and after a while, the great breach became so large that the propriety of a storming party was discussed. The lower part of the aperture was partly filled by the debris that fell from above; the arch of the casemate was laid bare, while evidently shaken, a gun in barbette, immediately over the breach, was tottering and ready to tumble below. The breach by its side was also momentarily becoming wider, and just as General Benham was questioning whether a messenger should not be sent to demand a surrender, before risking so great a loss of human life as must be incurred in an assault, the rebel flag on old Pulaski was lowered half way, and a final shot fired from a casemate in the fort. As the flag was not completely hauled down, the Unionists were for a moment uncertain of its import, but all firing was ordered to cease. In a minute more the white flag was raised, and with cheer after cheer all along the batteries on Tybee, came down the stars and bars. It was on the 11th of April, a year to a day from the time when the stars and stripes were first dishonored by Americans at Fort Sumter.

General Hunter was aboard the McClellan with his aides, watching the engagement. Generals Gillmore and Benham were active, and rode rapidly out to Goat’s Point. On arriving at this place, General Gillmore, with his aid, Mr. Badeau, and Colonel Rust, entered a boat and put off for the fort. The passage was rough, the channel unknown, and the skiff got aground, and was nearly upset; but at last, soaked and dripping, the party landed on Cockspur Island.

They were met near the landing-place by Captain Sims, of the Georgia Volunteers, who conducted them to the fort. Colonel Olmstead, the commandant, stood at the entrance, and received them courteously. He invited General Gillmore into his own quarters, for a private interview. The terms of capitulation were arranged, and General Gillmore was then conducted over the fort by the Colonel, and took his leave, accompanied by Colonel Rust. General Hunter, in the mean time, had sent messengers to the fort. Colonel Olmstead showed them around the works, and conducted them to the interior, when the swords were delivered. This took place in the Colonel’s headquarters, all standing. Major Halpine represented General Hunter. As soon as this ceremony was over, the American flag was raised, and the stars and stripes floated again on the walls of Fort Pulaski. In giving up his sword, Colonel Olmstead said, “I yield my sword, but I trust I have not disgraced it.”

The arms of the privates had been previously stacked on the parade, and the men marched to quarters. Both officers and men were allowed to remain all night in their usual quarters. The interior of the fort presented a sorry picture. Blindages had been put up extending on all the rampart, and a part rendered bomb-proof; but shot and shell had burst through many of the sides—knocked in walls, broken down stairways, entered casemates, upset guns, and piled up masses of rubbish and debris all around. Seven guns on the parapet were dismounted; nearly every traverse had been struck and partly torn to pieces; all the passageways were obstructed by piles of stones and fallen timber; the magazine had been struck, and part of its outer casing of brick torn away, while at the breach, the havoc was, of course, greatest of all. The breach was entirely practicable; the ditch, sixty feet across, was more than half filled up by the fragments that had fallen, and half a dozen men abreast could have entered the aperture. The Colonel declared, however, that he should have held out until nightfall, had the magazine not been struck. This, of course, settled his fate, and rendered any prolonged resistance a useless risk of human life. Forty thousand pounds of powder, seven thousand shot and shell, and forty-seven guns were captured. The prisoners were three hundred and sixty in number, and belonged to the Georgia Volunteers, the Oglethorpe Light Infantry, and to a German regiment. The Colonel excited the sympathies of his captors by a bearing at once soldierly and subdued. The officers invited the Unionists to their quarters, where several took supper, and some even slept with the rebels whom they had been fighting a few hours before. There was no apparent bitterness on either side; no desire to introduce personal animosities.

This long and severely contested siege resulted in the loss of only two lives, while the number of wounded was very small. This fact is remarkable, in view of the immense amount of shot and shell exchanged during the bombardment.

On Sunday, the 13th, the men were divided into two parties—the officers and about two-thirds of the men forming the first, who were placed on the Ben de Ford—the remainder on the Honduras, and taken to Bay Point. Here they were transferred to the McClellan and Star of the South, to be sent to Fort Columbus, in the harbor of New York.