Most Endangered Battlefields 2008
Savannah, Ga.
December 10-22, 1864
The surrender of Fort Pulaski in April 1862 rendered Savannah’s main port useless to the Confederacy, but smaller earthen forts defended the city’s seaward approaches, allowing blockade runners to hide in nearby rivers and estuaries for the next two and a half years. In 1864, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee, faced with Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s 60,000 Union soldiers seeking to complete their March to the Sea, desperately moved many of the guns from these forts to a defensive line west of the city. Confederate engineers dammed creeks to augment natural barriers and used the redistributed artillery to create an eight-mile long line manned by only 10,000 troops.
The Federals reached this defensive line on December 10, 1864. After three days of probing assaults, Sherman decided to lay siege to the city. The fall of Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee River on December 13 opened Sherman’s supply lines and brought heavier guns to bear on the city. Deciding that her defenders were a more valuable commodity than Savannah itself, the Confederates began evacuating on the night of December 20.
Threat
As new houses, commercial establishments and roads are built, the 1864 defenses are in danger of being lost. Isolated earthworks remain on the grounds of the Savannah Christian Preparatory School and along the
southern portion of the Confederate Line between Ogeechee Road (U.S. 17) and Louisville Road (U.S. 80), but most of these fragments are overgrown and unprotected. Tom Triplett County Park contains the remains of Federal fortifications and camps.
Forts Jackson and Pulaski, two pre-war masonry fortifications guarding the city’s seaward approaches, are protected by the Coastal Heritage Society and the National Park Service, respectively, and are in good condition. Earthen forts built during the war are in more precarious condition. Fort McAllisteris protected as a state park, but other earthen forts and batteries have already been lost and others are eroding.
CWSAC classified the battles around Savannah ranging from Priority III Class B to Priority IV Class C.
Resources for Savannah
- Fort Pulaski National Monument
- Fort McAllister Historic Park
- Georgia Battlefields Association
- CWSAC Battle Summary of Fort Pulaski
- CWSAC Battle Summary of Fort McAllister I
- CWSAC Battle Summary of Fort McAllister II
- View the Civil War Album's photos of Savannah
MOST ENDANGERED BATTLEFIELDS:
Savannah, Georgia
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