IntroductionThe Battle of Fort Pulaski was not an overwhelming military strategic battle like some other battles fought during the Civil War. However, there is one key point that makes this battle remarkable. With the preponderance of sea forts being made of bricks and mortar, a new type of more powerful weapons system had to be introduced to breach the fortifications, also to engage at greater distances; out of range of the fort's cannons. This weapons system was the rifled artillery system, the Parrott rifle and the James rifle artillery guns. Considered impregnable by artillery systems of the time, "the completed two-tiered fort is a truncated hexagon that faces east with walls 7' 6" thick and up to 35' in height. It includes a half-moon, a moat, two powder magazines and a parade ground the size of a football field. »1 Neither side believed the fort could be taken by bombardment alone, they believed the fort would have to be starved into submission. Federal forces, commanded initially by General Thomas W. Sherman (before the attack, Sherman was reassigned and Major General David Hunter took command) and Captain Quincy A. Gillmore, were to stop the resupply of Confederate forces via Savannah, Georgia; which had three railway networks going out of the city to supply the front lines. Confederate forces, commanded by Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, were responsible for securing supply lines and protecting waterways leading to Savannah.HistoryFort Pulaski was built in the 1830s and 1840s as a Third System fort on Cockspur Island in the Savannah River. This type of defense was appropriated by President James Madison to augment coastal defenses after the War of 1812. There was a multitude of...... middle of paper ......tion force with weapons to distance is clearly the preference Another lesson that can be learned from this battle is not to underestimate the technological advances of the enemy. Although Olmstead knew that the Federals had rifled guns, his knowledge of the destructiveness of this new weapon was considerably underestimated. The need to understand and prepare for enemy technology could mean the difference between success and failure. The last lesson we can learn is safety. Confederate forces did not patrol the waters around Fort Pulaski frequently enough. It took several months for Federal forces to reconnoiter the rivers and tributaries around Pulaski and to construct the batteries on the adjacent islands. Had the Confederates conducted more security patrols, both land and sea, the presence of Federal forces would have been detected..