The closing of Savannah, April 12, 1862
This terrific punishment was inflicted upon the nearest angle of the
Fort by the thirty-six heavy rifled cannon and the mortars which the
Federals had planted on Big Tybee Island, and by the gunboats which had found a channel enabling them to get in the rear of the fort.
We get a more distant view of the angle in the lower picture.
Fort Pulaski had been effectually blockaded since February, 1862, as a part of the
Federal plan to establish supreme authority along the
Atlantic coast from
Wassaw Sound, below
Savannah, north to
Charleston.
On April 10, 1862,
General Hunter demanded the surrender of
Fort Pulaski and when it was refused opened the bombardment.
For two days the gallant garrison held out and then finding the
Fort untenable, surrendered.
This enabled the
Federal Government effectually to close
Savannah against contraband traffic.
