January 14, 1861, The Charleston Mercury
FORT MACON, BEAUFORT, N.C.
Fort Macon protects Beaufort, N.C., and is situated on a bluff on Bogiebank, one and three fourths mile from the city. It commands the entrance to Beaufort harbor, having full sweep of fire on the main channel. The opposite http://www.cw-chronicles.com/blog/southern-forts/entrance to the harbor is Shackleford bank, one and a half miles across. The fortification is of hexagonal form, has two tiers of gins, one in casemated bombproofs and the other en barbette. Its armament consists of twenty thirty two pounders, thirty two twenty four pounders, two eighteen pounders, two twelve pounders, three field pieces for flanking defence, twelve flank howitzers (heavy), eight eight-inch howitzers (light), one thirteen inch mortar, three ten inch mortars, two Coehorn mortars. Total, eighty-seven guns. The war garrrison of the fort is three hundred men. This fort, requires pointing in many places; nearly all the iron work, such as door and window fastenings, are rusted away. One of the wooden bridges across the ditch is decayed, as also the shingled entire slope of the covered way. The shot furnace is useless, the storerooms need renovation, and the roadway requires to have its embankment repaired, and a new bridge to be built across the canal. The wharf having its piers undermined by the sea current and its wooden superstructure much decayed, requires to be rebuilt. The fortification cost the Federal Government half a million dollars.
FORT CASWELL, SMITHVILLE, S.C.
Fort Caswell is a first class fortification, of a hexagonal form, built of massive Northern granite masonry, having two tiers of guns under bombproof casemates, and one tier of guns en barbette. It is situated at the entrance of Cape Fear river, two miles from Smithville. Its armament consists of twelve thirty two pounders, twenty two twenty four pounders, four eighteen pounders, four twelve pounders, three field pieces for flanking defences, six flank howitzers, six eight inch howitzers (heavy), two ten inch mortars and two Coegorn mortars–in all eighty-seven guns. The work is surrounded by ditches and advanced works, and is in every particular a first class work. It cost the Federal Government $571,000. Its war garrison consists of 400 men. The work is generally in very good condition. A change is required in its armament, so that more guns may be mounted upon the gorge of the main work of the covered way, as these portions now bear directly upon the channel, which has shifted from the east to the west shore. New platforms for these guns will require to be constructed. The battery Johnson, mounting ten guns, situated at Smithville, with a magazine, is auxiliary to Fort Caswell.
FORT PULASKI, GA.
Savannah is guarded on its sea approaches by Fort Pulaski, built on Cockspur Island, fourteen miles from Savannah, at the mouth of the Savannah river. The site of the fortification was selected by Major Babcock, of the United States Engineer corps, about twenty six years ago, but it was not til 1831 that the work of erecting the present massive masonry fortification was commenced in earnest. In that year Captain Mansfield, now Colonel Mansfield, of the Inspector General’s Department, took charge of its construction. The fort was finished a few years ago, at a cost of $963,000. The fort is of a pentagonal form, covering several acres; its walls are forty feet high, and present two faces on the sea approach, with ranges of fire radiating at opposite angles. The fort is embrasured on the front and channel side for one row of guns under bomb proof casemates, with an additional tier of guns open or en barbette. The salient points and flanking approaches for heavy cannon, but are thoroughly covered by enfilading musket loopholes, which renders a land or escalading attack extra hazardous to an enemy. The full armament of the fort, when it shall have been brought within its walls, will consist on the lower tier of sixty five thirty two pounder iron pieces, and the upper tier with fifty three twenty four pounders, four eighteen pounder flanking howitzers, one thirteen inch mortar, twelve eight inch Columbiads, and seven ten inch mortars – in all, one hundred and fifty guns. We understand, however, that not more than one half the number of guns required for its full armament are in the fort, and these are dismantled. The Columbiads, to which reference has been made, are very destructive weapons, of long range, and adapted to use spherical shot or shells. Many of those now in Fort Pulaski can be mounted to have a horizontal fire of one hundred and eighty degrees, and a vertical fire of five degrees depression to thirty six degrees elevation. The interior of the fort is well supplied with massive furnaces for heating shot, officers’ quarters, soldiers’ barracks, magazines, and a tolerable supply of shot and powder. In the cut above the small black figure on Cockspur Island is Fort Pulaski, somewhat diminutively displayed, but sufficient for our purpose; the exterior line represents the ditch which surrounds the work, and which, when dry, can be used by sharp shooters, or should it be necessary at the approach of an enemy, easily flooded. Beyond this ditch is a glacis or inclined bank, which is enfiladed by the guns from the lower casemate row of the fortification. The fort at present is not on a full war footing; to complete it, twenty six new barbette gun platforms are required to suit the prescribed armament; and the ditches should be cleared of the mud accumulated throughout their whole extent, the bottoms of the ditches repaired, and the banks of the feeding canal revetted. The full war garrison of the work is eight hundred men, but one half that number could hold it successfully against any armada the Federal Government can bring against it. Vessels of any considerable size, in beating up the channel to Savannah, are obliged to approach within seventy yards of the fort, and at this point many guns of large calibre can be made to concentrate their fire. The fortification is pronounced by expert army engineers one of the strongest and most perfect of its kind on this continent. It covers more area than Fort Sumter, but has one tier of guns less than that work.
Fort Pulaski is now garrisoned by upwards of two hundred Georgia State troops, who are working like beavers to put the place in a complete state of defence. The garrison is now under the command of Col. Alexander R. Lawton, a graduate of West Point, and subsequently an officer of the First Regiment of United States Artillery. He afterwards resigned, and is the present President of the Savannah and Augusta Railroad.
FORT JACKSON, GA.
This is a small work, built on a low marsh, four miles from Savannah, on a site near the bend of the river, and commanding important points in the channel. It is built of heavy brick masonry. Its armament consists of ten twenty four pounder iron guns, three field pieces, five eight inch howitzers, one ten inch mortar, and one eight inch mortar. Its war garrison consists of seventy men. It cost the Government $80,000.