We are still at Ft. McAllister Marina for the weekend. We have been busy doing projects. Today I changed oil and filters on both engines and Jan completely cleaned the inside of the boat. All this was done before noon so that we could take a tour of historic Ft. McAllister.
Yesterday I forgot to share this sunrise with our readers. Jan took this as we pulled out from Sunbury Crab Company.
This was the thunderstorm we ran from during the morning voyage.
Ft. McAllister was an earthenworks fortification built along the Ogeechee River to protect the approach to the rear of Savannah by water. It was an ingenius idea by a plantation owner on land he donated to the Confederacy. The fort made of dirt absorbed the cannonballs of the Union fleet that tried a naval bombardment from the river. Each night the defenders would fill the holes with more dirt and each morning the battle would resume. The fort held.
Then as General William Tecumseh Sherman was ending his March to the Sea with an attempt to take Savannah, he needed to be resupplied from the Union fleet but they could not get past Ft. McAllister. Once past the fort, the river would take the ships within 12 miles of Savannah’s rear to Sherman’s waiting army.
So Sherman ordered an attack by land on the fort. The commander of the fort knew that he could not hold against Sherman’s massive army so he ordered all married men and those with children to leave and kept only 200 men to defend the fort in a hopeless stand against 4000 troops. This act of bravery is lost from the history books but those were about the same odds as the Alamo. The fort fell and Sherman resupplied his army and Savannah surrendered without an attack that would have destroyed the city.
Henry Ford would later buy this land and begin reconstructing the fort for historic preservation. When he died his work died and eventually the state aquired the property. It is a hidden jewel of a park that locals love and some tourists stumble upon. we were pleased to walk the mile from our marina to experience it.
The restaurant Fish Tales sets a fine table and we took advantage of it.
Clearly this shirt says it all. This is truly God’s country.
