Federal Advance
In August 1861 Secretary of War Cameron had authorized a combined “Expeditionary Corps” of Army and Navy. Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman commanded Army elements, and Flag Officer Samuel Du Pont commanded the Naval Services. The Union forces intended to recapture Fort Pulaski as federal property, to close the port of Savannah to the rebels, and to extend their blockade southward. First they needed a coaling station for the blockading South Atlantic Squadron. It then could serve as a base for the expedition. Fort Sumter would not be retaken until 1865, but the Battle of Port Royal answered the immediate requirement for a nearby staging area.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Fort Pulaski
Famous quotes containing the words federal and/or advance:
“Daniel as a lad bought a handkerchief on which the Federal Constitution was printed; it is said that at intervals while working in the meadows around this house, he would retire to the shade of the elms and study the Constitution from his handkerchief.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that half by far the most important and influential. If they exert it not for good, they will for evil; if they advance not knowledge, they will perpetuate ignorance. Let women stand where they may in the scale of improvement, their position decides that of the race.”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)