Fort Pulaski National Monument - Construction

Construction

Following the War of 1812, U.S. President James Madison ordered a new system of coastal fortifications to protect the United States against foreign invasion. Construction of a fort to protect the port of Savannah began in 1829 under the direction of Major General Babcock, and later Second Lieutenant Robert E. Lee, a recent graduate of West Point. The new fort would be located on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River. In 1833, the facility was named Fort Pulaski in honor of Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish soldier and military commander who fought in the American Revolution under the command of George Washington. Pulaski was a noted cavalryman and played a large role in training Revolutionary troops. He took part in the sieges of Charleston and of Savannah.

Fort Pulaski belonged to what is known as the Third System of coastal fortifications, which were characterized by greater structural durability than the earlier works. Most of the nearly thirty Third System forts built after 1816 still exist along either the Atlantic or Gulf coasts.

Wooden pilings were sunk up to 70 feet (21.3 m) into the mud to support an estimated 25,000,000 bricks. Fort Pulaski was finally completed in 1847 following eighteen years of construction and nearly $1 million in construction costs.

Walls were eleven feet thick, thought to be impenetrable except by only the largest land artillery- which at the time were smooth bore cannon. These cannons had a range of only around a half mile, and the nearest land (Tybee island) was much further away than that. It was assumed that the Fort would be invincible to enemy attack. LT Lee remarked that "one might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains as Fort Pulaski".