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How many things apparently impossible have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death -- Napoleon Bonaparte |
Fort Pulaski, 1862(232 total words in this text)(2910 Reads)  Other Names: None Location: Chatham County Campaign: Operations against Fort Pulaski (1862) Date(s): April 10-11, 1862 Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. David Hunter and Capt. Quincy A. Gillmore [US]; Col. Charles H. Olmstead [CS] Forces Engaged: The Port Royal Expeditionary Force?s Fort Pulaski investment troops [US]; Fort Pulaski Garrison [CS] Estimated Casualties: 365 total (US 1; CS 364) Description: Fort Pulaski, built by the U.S. Army before the war, is located near the mouth of the Savannah River, blocking upriver access to Savannah. Fortifications such as Pulaski, called third system forts, were considered invincible, but the new technology of rifled artillery changed that. On February 19, 1862, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Sherman ordered Captain Quincy A. Gillmore, an engineer officer, to take charge of the investment force and begin the bombardment and capture of the fort. Gillmore emplaced artillery on the mainland southeast of the fort and began the bombardment on April 10 after Colonel Charles H. Olmstead refused to surrender the fort. Within hours, Gillmore?s rifled artillery had breached the southeast scarp of the fort, and he continued to exploit it. Some of his shells began to damage the traverse shielding the magazine in the northwest bastion. Realizing that if the magazine exploded the fort would be seriously damaged and the garrison would suffer severe casualties, Olmstead surrendered after 2:00 pm on April 11. Result(s): Union victory |
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1862:
Admiral David Farragut captures New Orleans a day after his fleet successfully sailed past two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River.
1864: For the second time in a week, a Confederate force captures a Union wagon train trying to supply the Federal force at Camden, Arkansas. 1898: The United States declares war on Spain. 1915: Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey. 1945: Eight Russian armies completely encircle Berlin, linking up with the U.S. First Army patrol, first on the western bank of the Elbe, then later at Torgau. Germany is, for all intents and purposes, Allied territory. 1952: After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea. 1972: Hanois 320th Division drives 5,000 South Vietnamese troops into retreat and traps about 2,500 others in a border outpost northwest of Kontum in the Central Highlands. |
