“USA 🇺🇸 Georgia Richmond Hill ~Fort McAllister 1861: The Best-Preserved Earthwork Fortification of the Confederacy, and a Civil War Reenactment”

• December 9, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

 

Fort McAllister State Park

 

Well this was about the coolest thing ever, to get to watch an actual Civil War Reenactment of a specific battle:  “The Final Battle fought in Georgia, marking the end of Sherman’s march to the sea.”

I’ve never seen a Civil War reenactment, before. Bucket List  ✅

The re-enactment wasn’t until 4:45PM, as in real life, so we had all day to get there. We were only 20 minutes away… and plenty of time to wander around. It’s about a square mile of Earth, to explore. Strangely enough, it got quite warm on this day, after being so cool, lately, so I was dressed too warm, with a sweater I needed up carrying all around. Ha!

 

What is an Earthwork Fort?

Earthwork: A field fortification constructed out of dirt. An earthwork could be a mound but typically consisted of a ditch and a parapet.

Parapet: a low protective wall along the edge of a roof, bridge, or balcony.

Embrasure: An opening or hole through the earthworks through which artillery was fired.

All the “actors” spent the night before, “in camp,” which emulates similar conditions for the soldiers, of the time, during the Civil War. We visited on the Saturday that they had the reenactment, but it was a two-day event.

While I expected to see grownups in period clothing, I was not expecting to see so many kids doing the same. What a wonderful thing for fathers and sons to do! We got to visit with one father, who had two sons with him, and two other nephews, as well. He told us his wife came last year, so both he and his brother could participate in the “battle.” This year, he watched all four boys, while his brother partook. Daryl told the dad, if he provided a “rope” to attach to the active young ‘uns, he would watch ’em, so he could go to the battle, too… It was funny. Those boys were BUSY, and cute. They had fake wooden rifles and were obviously instructed to sit on them when not in use, so they didn’t get “snatched.” 

Guests who were present, like us, did not know WHERE the particular battle was to take place. We paid our $15 pp and were told it would be announced. We just observed, and finally some park rangers started gathering for crowd control, so we went there and got into the “photography” area. Yay.

The canons are REAL, loud and fun to watch, waiting for them to fire. What we could see were the Confederate Army men within the boundary of the Earthen Fort.  What we could not see for a while, but could hear, were the Union Soldiers, in the trees, as they fired their muskets and advanced, towards the Fort.

Finally, the Union Soldiers, carrying the American flag rushed out of the woods and it was ON. It was so awesome to witness this. It only lasted 15 minutes, just as the original battle, did.

What I had imagined in my mind, was a big battle scene in the middle of a large field, which, in real life, there were such battles, but at this Fort, there are and always were a lot of trees on three sides of it perimeter. The third side is water.

Enjoy the photos, and history. We had such a beautiful late afternoon with no rain, and fabulous lighting for photography. 

Built in 1861 at Genesis Point, the Fort was constructed on the plantation land of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Longworth McAllister, for whom it was named.

⬆️ William Tecumseh Sherman, although not a career military commander before the war, would become one of “the most widely renowned of the Union’s military leaders, next to U. S. Grant.”  

……Meanwhile, Sherman cut off all communications to his army and commenced, his now-famous “March to the Sea,” leaving in his wake, a forty to sixty mile-wide path of destruction, through the heartland of Georgia.

On December 21, 1864 Sherman wired Lincoln to offer him an early Christmas present: the city of Savannah, for which he spared torching it to the ground, on his campaign to win the Civil War.  Sherman was sick of the war and seeing Savannah in all its beauty, he just couldn’t do it.

His Telegram to President Lincoln: ⬇️

SAVANNAH, GA., December 22, 1864 (Via Fort Monroe 6.45 p.m. 25th)

His Excellency, President LINCOLN:
“I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.”

W.T. Sherman,
Major General.

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A quote from Sherman: 

Following his successful campaign through Georgia, Sherman turned his attentions northward, and began marching through the Carolinas, chasing the Confederates, under the command of Joseph E. Johnson. He continued his campaign of destruction; in particular, targeting South Carolina, for their role in seceding from the Union, first.

He captured Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865, setting many fires which would consume large portions of the city. He went on to defeat the forces of Johnston in North Carolina, during the Battle of Bentonville, and eventually accepted the surrender of Johnston and all troops in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, on April 26, 1865; becoming the largest surrender of Confederate troops, during the war. 

As observers: Once the Union Army breached the Fort in the reenactment, they went up the man-made hill, and into the lower level brigade… as seen in this picture: ⬇️

…. Nobody could see any more of the reenactment at this point, which was the capture of the Confederate soldiers, as we were not allowed to move forward toward the Fort area as the capture moment played out, so we had to use our imaginations.

The kind of Fort was unique, as we were on ground above the lower encampment, with an earthen wall in front of us, which served as Fort walks, but also blocked all views behind it. Also, with canons, which are real, they get very hot during use and would be dangerous to be near, or touched, so made sense.

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With the battle played out and over, day was done, and we headed back to The Whale

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At this state park, there is a museum with artefacts from this original Fort location. There was also a short movie to watch, which we enjoyed and learned a lot from. I can not even imagine the harsh conditions during the summer heat the soldiers endured, with the mosquitos, and chiggers, and only light food rations.

 

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