Fort McAllister

Located south of Savannah on the banks of the Ogeechee River, the fort is in a very scenic area. It has the best-preserved earthwork fortification of the Confederacy. I didn’t know what earth works really were “Earthwork: A field fortification constructed out of dirt. An earthwork could be a mound but typically consisted of a ditch and a parapet. Embrasure: An opening or hole through the earthworks through which artillery was fired.” When Dave was explaining earthworks to me, my mind must have been elsewhere. What I especially didn’t realize was that under these huge mounds of dirt were actually buildings, huge buildings were the men ate, slept and lived. Quite an amazing engineering task.

.It was built in 1861 to defend the Georgia’s coast south of Savannah during the Civil War. It was positioned on land to allow its guns to fire upon incoming ships; its earth construction provided adequate defense against the naval artillery then available. Fort McAllister also had ten large-caliber guns and facilities for the heating of “red-hot shot,” cannonballs that, when striking their targets, could set wooden warships ablaze.

On December 13 1864 was a victory for the Union forces. General William Sherman attacked the fort, this time from land, as part of his March to the Sea campaign, immediately prior to the capture of Savannah. At this stage minimally defended, the fort was captured without the need to destroy the battery and defenses. In contrast to the long and unsuccessful bombardment from its sea approach, Fort McAllister was seized overland in a matter of minutes.

After its capture by the Union army, the fort was used as a prison for Confederate soldiers, falling after the war into a state of disrepair. It was restored in the 1930s and also has a museum.

They have a museum there, with all kinds of stuff including this display of guns and shells.

These are shell fragments pick up from the fort after the battle, look how big.

This is the fort all made of earth, comprised of about 12 acres or so.

Looking out at the fort from the visitor center.

Officers house near the fort.

Going over the bridge to the fort, surrounded by a moat and these spikes abatmentments

A view of the interior, this is the main bunker that housed the troops

Another interior view.

Interior of the main room with the bunks.

View of one of the guns from inside.

Another gun inside..

The columbiad, hay who is that there miss America

FIRE, that away.

Hello, down there.

Hot shot oven was inside an earthern mound.

View atop the fort looking out to the river.

Another view out there were the union gun boats lobbing shells in.

Time after time the union could not destroy the fort. So they decided to attack it from the land during Sherman’s march to the sea., it was taken in less than half an hour.

The union came from the land side and this is the area where they charged.

The earthworks to the mortor battery.

The mortor battery and its bunker

The mortor. bowling ball size shells were fired from this.

Outside the fort on the water side.