Rifled cannons changed siege warfare forever

Fort Pulaski was constructed after the War of 1812 to defend the port of Savannah, Georgia. When it opened in 1843, it was the best fortification design – built with more than 25 million bricks. Nearly two decades later, the introduction of rifled cannons made stone and brick forts obsolete. Across the Savannah River from Fort Pulaski on Cockspur
Island was Tybee Island. Captain Quincy Adams Gilmore, West Point graduate and future Union general, occupied the Island to mount 36 cannons, including rifled guns with a range of more than four miles. On April 10, 1862, Gilmore began the assault on Fort Pulaski. The rifled projectiles breached one of the fort’s walls. The 36-hour bombardment resulted in the Confederates’ surrender on April 11, 1862, proving the power of rifled cannons and changing siege warfare forever.

Image credit: “BOMBARDMENT OF FORT PULASKI, COCKSPUR ISLAND.” Lithograph print, colored, ca. 1862-1872. Currier & Ives, publisher, New York. The Mariners’ Museum 1939.0648.000001

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