OFFICIAL REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES ENGINEER DEPARTMENT, OP THE SIEGE AND REDUCTION OF FOET PULASKI, G-EOPIG-IA, FEBRUARY, MARCH, AND APRIL, 1862.

129 Pages·1862·6.498 MB·English

by  Quincy Adams Gillmore

tr^-*
No. 8.
PAPERS
PRACTICAL ENGINEERING,
PUBLISHED BY THE ENGINEER DEPARTMENT.
FOR THE USE OF THE
OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

PAPERS ON PRACTICAL ENGINEERING.
No.
8.
OFFICIAL REPORT
TO THE
UNITED STATES ENGINEER DEPARTMENT,
OP THE
SIEGE AND REDUCTION
OF
FOET PULASKI,
G-EOPIG-IA,
FEBRUARY, MARCH, AND APRIL, 1862.
By Brig.-Gek Q. A. GILLMOKE, U. S. Vols.,
Captain of Engineees U.S. A..
ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND ENGRAVED VIEWS.
NEW YORK:
D. VAN" NOSTKAKD, 192 BROADWAY.
1862.
¥
tj
Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1862,
BY D. VAN NOSTRAKD,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
C. A. AI.VOBD, STKREOTYI'KP. AND I'KINTKK.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
General Gillmore's Report To General Totten T
Appendix A 55
Letterfrom Captain Gillmore, Chief Engineer Expeditionary Corps, to
eral T. W. Shermancommanding ExpeditionaryCorps.
Appendix B 56
LetterfromCaptainGillmore to GeneralSherman.
Appendix C 57
AssignmentofOfficerstothedifferentBatteries.
Appendix D 59
Report of Lieut. Horace Torter, Ordnance Department, to General
Gillmore.
Tabularstatementof the Firingof the severalBatteries at the Siege of
Fort Pulaski 70
Appendix E 81
Report of Lieut. T. B. Brooks, New York Volunteer Engineers, to
General Gillmore.
Appendix F 95
RifleProjectiles.

GENERAL GILLMORE'S REPORT
TO
GEK TOTTEI^, CHIEF El^^GII^EEE U. S. A.
Head Qtjaetees U. S. Foeces, ^
Ttbee and Cockspur Islands, Ga., April SOth, 1862.
^
Sie:
I HAVE the lionor to submit the following report of
operations connected with the siege of Fort Pulaski,
which resulted in its capitulation to the United States
forces on the 11th inst.
1. This success so fully demonstrates the power and
effectiveness of rilled cannon, for breaching at long dis-
—
tances, at distances indeedhitherto untried, and consid-
ered altogether impracticable,thus opening a new era in
the use of this most valuable, and comparatively un-
—
knoAvn armof service, has beenobtained with such sin-
gularly strict adherence to the details of the project, as
originally conceived in December last, and has withal,
in the developed results, such an important bearing
upon the character of our harbor and frontier defences,
that I feel called upon to enter into some details.
2. The transfer to another field oflabor of Brigadier-
8 GKN. GILLMORK's KEPOKT.
General T. W. Sherman, lately in command of the forces
—
on this coast, under whose auspices the project for the
reduction of Fort Pulaski was pushed forward to with-
—
in a few days of its final accomplishment, renders it
proper that this report should refer to the preliminary
operations directly connected with the siege.
3. In the capacity of Chief Engineer on General Sher-
man's staff, I was present with the investing forces
under General Viele, when the Savannah Iliver was
closed above the fort, by the establishment of the bat-
tery on Venus Point, Jones Island, on the night of the
11th February last. I took no part in the erection of
the Bird Island battery, opposite Venus Point. These
two batteries effectually closed the Savannah River.
4. In the double capacity of engineer and com-
mander of the forces, I was charged with the off'ensive
operations on Tybee Island, where the batteries for the
reduction of the work were to be established and also
;
with the completion of the investment, l;)y the block-
ade of the Wilmino'ton Narrows and Lazaretto Creek
passage.
5. The data for this report will therefore be taken,
in a measure, fi'om my private journal, and from official
correspondence and orders.
FORT PULASKI.
6. Fort Pulaski is situated on Cockspur Island, Geor-
gia, latitude thirty-two degrees two minutes north, and
GEX. GILLMORe's REPORT. 9
longitude three degrees fifty-one minutes west from
Washington, at the head of Tybee Roads, commanding
l)oth channels of the Savannah River, The position is
a very strong one. Cockspur Island is wholly marsh,
and is about one mile long and half a mile wide.
7. It is a brick-work of five sides, or faces, including
the gorge; casemated on all sides; wallsseven anda half
feet thick, and twenty-five feet high above high water
;
mounting one tier of guns in embrasures, and one en
har-heUe. The gorge is covered by an earthen outwork
(demilune) ofbold relief.
8. The main work and demilune are both surrounded
and divided by a wet ditch. Around the main work,
the ditch is forty-eight feet wide; around the demilune,
thirty-two feet.
9. The communication with the exterior is through
the gorge into the demilune, over a drawbridge, and
then through one face of the demilune, over the demi-
lune ditch, by another drawbridge. The scarp of thc-
demilune, and the entire counterscarp of main work
and demilune, are revetted with good brick masonry.
10. At the time of the siege, it contained forty-eight
guns, of which twenty bore uponthe batteries on Tybee,
viz. five ten-inch columbiads, five eight-inch columbi-
:
axls, four thirty-two pounders, one twenty-four pounder
Blakely rifle, two twelve inch and three ten-inch sea-
A
coast mortars. full armamentforthe work would be
140 guns.
10 GEN. GILLMOKe's REPOKT.
11. On tlie 29tli of November, I was directed by
General Sherman to make an examination of Tybee
Island and Fort Pulaski, and to report u2)on the pro-
priety of occupying and holding that island, and upon
the practicability (and, if deemed praeticalde, the best
method) of reducing Fort Pulaski. I reported, on De-
cember 1st, that I deemed "the reduction of that work
practicable, bybatteriesof mortarsand rifled gunsestab-
lished on Tybee Island;" and entered into some details
as regards the position of the batteries, the precautions
to be observed in their construction, and the intensity
of the fire that should be maintained against the work.
The immediate occupation of Big Tybee Island, by at
least one regiment, was also recommended. (See Ap-
pendix A.)
12. The armament proposed for the several batteries
comprised ten ten-inch sea-coast mortars, ten thirteen-
inch do., eight heavy rifled guns, eight Columbiads (see
Appendix B.).
13. The project set forth in these two communica-
tions (AppendicesA. andB.)received General Sherman's
sanction at once, with some slight modification as to
the number and calibre of the mortars to be used, and
was forwarded to Washington, and aj^proved there.
14. Information was in due time received, that orders
to j)repare and forward the ordnance and ordnance
stores had been issued.
15. Formonthstherefore,precedingthe fall ofPulaski,