Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fort Pulaski: The History and the Haunts

Haunted Fort Pulaski: Located on Cockspur Island, Georgia, near the mouth of the Savannah River, stands a battered "monument of military ingenuity". This massive fortification, shaped like a truncated hexagon, played a critical role in the American Civil War. Named in honor of the "Soldier of Liberty", Casimir Pulaski,  the fort took nearly twenty years to complete construction and consisted of a moat, parade ground and two powder magazines. Fort Pulaski also served as the southern most destination along the many vast and intricate safe havens for slaves known as the Underground Railroad.

On April 10, 1862, under the command of Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, Confederate militia occupying the fort came under Union attack. After a 30 hour bombardment by the Union's innovative Parrott Rifle cannon and percussion shells, Colonel Charles H. Olmstead surrendered.

Today Fort Pulaski stands as a vivid reminder of these past events, including the story of The Immortal 600.
"To the dead and living comrades of the Immortal Six Hundred, Confederate officers, prisoners of war, who were confined in the stockade on Morris Island, South Carolina, under fire of our own guns shelling that island; and who were subsequently starved on rations of rotten corn meal and onion pickle at Fort Pulaski, Georgia, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, 1864-65, by order of Edwin M. Stanton, United States Secretary of War to all who remained true unto the end, under the terrible ordeal of fire and starvation, this history is affectionately inscribed with a comrades love. J. OGDEN MURRAY. "
These unimaginable events have imprinted the fabric of time, leaving energy to remain on the grounds.
  




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