Fort Pulaski, Ga.,
April 10-11, 1862.
U. S. Troops under Maj.-Gen. Hunter.
After the capture of the forts at Port Royal the Confederates
abandoned all the seaboard cities south of Charleston except
Savannah, which was guarded by Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the
Savannah river. In Dec., 1861, operations were begun for the
reduction of this fort. Capt. Q. A. Gilmore, of the U. S.
engineer corps, had direct charge of this work. Eleven
batteries were placed on Tybee island, adjacent to Cockspur
island, upon which Fort Pulaski was located, and other works
were erected on the islands surrounding.
The Union force on April 10 consisted of the 46th and 48th N.
Y. infantry, the 1st N. Y. engineers, the 6th and 7th Conn.,
the 8th Me., and the 8th Mich. infantry, the 3d R. I. artillery
and a detachment of U. S. engineers. A company of seamen from
the U. S. S. Wabash also manned one of the batteries. Early on
the morning of the 10th Maj. Gen. David Hunter demanded the
surrender of the fort.
The demand was refused and at 8 a. m. the bombardment was
begun, and was continued without interruption until 2 p. m of
the 11th, when the Confederates surrendered. The Union loss
was 1 killed; the enemy had 3 wounded. The whole armament of
the fort, 47 guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, 40,000
pounds of powder, and a large quantity of commissary stores,
came into the hands of the Federals.
Some 360 Confederates were surrendered as prisoners.
Source: The Union Army, Vol. 5, p.431