Battle of Fort McAllister (1863)

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The First Battle of Fort McAllister was a series of naval attacks that took place from January 27 to March 3, 1863,[1] in Bryan County, Georgia, during the American Civil War. The commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron Rear Adm. Samuel F. Du Pont decided to test operation of new monitors against Fort McAllister before conducting a major naval operation against Charleston, South Carolina.[2]

Fort McAllister was a small earthen fort located along Genesis Point and armed with several heavy cannon to defend the Great Ogeechee River approach south of Savannah, Georgia. It was expanded repeatedly by adding more guns, traverses and bombproofs. Obstructions and eventually torpedoes (mines) completed the riverine defenses.

In July 1862 the blockade runner Nashville ran up the river to escape blockaders, and would remain trapped. Learning that the Nashville was lying near the fort, Adm. Du Pont ordered Commander Charles Steedman to make a “reconnaissance in force” and to destroy the fort if possible. At this time the garrison was commanded by Capt. Alfred L. Hartridge of Co. A., 1st Georgia Volunteer Infantry, the “DeKalb Riflemen.”[3] The main battery consisted of five 32-pounder and one 42-pounder smoothbore.[4] On July 29, Steedman led the wooden gunboats USS Paul Jones, Unadilla, Huron and Madgie against the work in a 90-minute long-range exchange. Steedman found that approaching the fort would cause unacceptable losses and withdrew.[5]

An 8″ Columbiad was added to the fort in August and the garrison was replaced with the Emmett Rifles and the Republican Blues.[6] Under Cdr. John L. Davis the Federal gunboats USS Wissahickon and Dawn and a mortar schooner engaged the fort for several hours on November 19. The fort did not reply to the initial long-range bombardment and waited until the warships ascended the river to the guns’ effective range. When the lead vessels reached 3,000 yards the garrison opened fire and immediately scored a hit, holing the Wissahickon below the waterline. The Federals withdrew.[7][8] Damage to the fort was minor and readily repaired and only three men were slightly wounded in the fortifications.[9]

Initial attacks

Adm. Du Pont dispatched an ironclad in an attempt to capture the fort, sink the Nashville and burn the Atlantic and Gulf railway bridge farther up the river.[10] This would provide the first test of the new Passaic class of ironclad monitor armed with the massive new 15″ Dahlgren cannon, at the time the heaviest cannon mounted on a warship.[11] The single turret of the new class contained one 11″ Dahlgren in addition to the 15″. On January 27, 1863 the monitor USS Montauk, three gunboats, and a mortar schooner again engaged the fort. Commander John L. Worden of the Montauk shelled the fort for five hours at a range of 1,500-1,800 yards, penetrating and tearing up the parapets, but causing no lasting damage or casualties. Likewise, thirteen hits scored by the fort’s artillery did little beside denting the monitor’s plate and sink a small launch. The defenders simply repaired the damaged earthworks during the night.[12]

On February 1, Worden tried again to silence the fort. The prior night Federal scouts had removed several mines from the channel so that the vessels could more closely approach.[13] The Montauk spent another five hours bombarding at only 600 yards distance. The garrison commander, Maj. John B. Gallie, was killed and seven were wounded. Major George Wayne Anderson was placed in Command of the fort following the death of Major Gallie.[14] The monitor was struck by 48 rounds and the turret jammed for a time.[15] Following this engagement, the river defenses would be augmented with the placement of nine “Rains torpedoes” in the channel near where the Montauk had engaged the fort.[16]

Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_McAllister_(1863).