Moat Creatures

Fort Pulaski near Savannah Georgia was designed and begun to be built in 1829 for modern naval defense against foreign attack.  It was considered invincible from smoothbore cannon fire with immense walls that are 7-½’ feet thick.  By the way, in the picture  below not only do you see the walls and cannons, but there is a fairy ring in the parade ground (a circular formation of mushrooms).  Folklore says that a fairy ring is either a gateway to the fairy world or where fairies or elves gather to dance.  There were at least three fairy rings at the fort, so it must be a special place!

 

Ironically, the first battle was not from not foreign attack, but Union forces attacking Confederates that were holding the fort.  And unfortunately for the Confederates, the Union had experimental rifled bore cannon.  The rifled bore (see picture of the spiraled interior bore) allowed for longer, more accurate, and more powerful charges.

 

After 30 hours of bombardment, Confederates had to surrender since the Union shells were cutting through the walls of the powder magazine.  If a shell hit the magazine, a major section of the fort would explode.  The use of the rifled bore meant a major change in warfare.

In one section we wandered through halls and rooms  that used to be storage areas.  The ‘concrete’ in the fort was full of sea shells.  A mixture of shells, lime, and sand called “tabby’ was regularly used as concrete at the time.

 

A unique part of this fort is the moat.  We saw fish jumping up to 3’ above the water.  According to the park, sometimes alligators will move into the moat.  Very cool!