Challenge 2020 – 5
Fort Pulaski
My Challenge 4 image shows gun mounts at Fort Pulaski, That fort, from before the American Civil War, sits on Cockspur Island in the mouth of the Savannah river by Tybee Island. It was constructed beginning in 1829 as part of the coastal defenses of the then young United States.
The fort and its guns were considered an impenetrable defense for the port of Savannah. Some of the walls were as much as 11 feet thick and made of brick. It is a little amusing to see the moat, drawbridge, and gate like a medieval castle.
The Confederacy had taken over the fort and in 1862 Union forces laid siege to the fort. Using the newest war weapons, rifled guns, they reduced one corner to rumble in a 30-hour bombardment. The fort surrendered. An that represented the end of brick fortifications.
The heavily damaged corner was repaired in short order by the Union forces, but much of the damage to other parts of the wall remains to these days.
A few more views to give you an idea of the fort as it is nowadays.
.:. © 2020 Ludwig Keck
Two Cameras - Two Views 
Hey Ludwig, thanks for the walk back in time!
Thank you for looking in, David!
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That’s fascinating. I don’t think that we were any longer building such impenetrable forts back in England by this period. For fortresses of this type, you have to travel back to the Middle Ages. It looks as though it justified being built so robustly!
Thank you, Margaret. Two hundred years ago it was state-of-the-art. At least on this side of the pond. This fort, and others like it, did not anticipate the coming progress in weaponry. It took 18 years to build, and was obsolete just 15 years later.
So very often the case …
ah but look at the gun I shared today, that’s in a 19th century fort!
Gorgeous indeed. Do you know more closely when that fort built?
It was built in the 1860s, one of 5!
Of course. Silly me. As a former Pompey resident, I shouldn’t have forgotten that – all those sea defences!
Still struggle to get my head around the fact we were defending against the French in the 1860s
I know. And it’ll doubtless change again…
Very similar fort to the one I shared today . . .fascinating
Haha, if we can do another “mind-melt” we may become famous! Your fort also looks like it is built with bricks. My guns are rather plain, however.
Not sure this gun was originally from the fort, think it is an addition when it opened as a museum in the 1990s
Fascinating!
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