The New International Encyclopædia/Fort McAllister

FORT McALL′ISTER, a strong earthwork, erected by the Confederates during the Civil War on Genesis Point, on the right bank of the Great Ogeechee River, six miles from Ossabaw Sound, and 12 miles south of Savannah, Ga. Early in 1863 Admiral Du Pont, wishing to give the recently constructed monitors a preliminary trial before using them against Fort Sumter (q.v.), ordered the Montauk (Commander J. L. Worden), assisted by the gunboats Seneca, Wissahickon, Dawn, and Williams, to attack Fort McAllister. Bombardments occurred, without serious damage either to the fleet or the fort, on January 27th and February 28th, the Confederate privateer Nashville, which had grounded near the fort, being destroyed on the latter day. On March 30th an eight-hour attack, with little effect, was made by the monitors Passaic, Patapsco, and Nahant, under Commander Drayton. Finally, on December 13, 1864, the fort was assaulted and captured by General Hazen's division of General Sherman's army. This was the concluding operation of Sherman's march to the sea, and led to the surrender of Savannah several days later. Consult: Ammen, The Atlantic Coast (New York, 1883); Johnson and Buel (editors), Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. iv. (New York, 1887); and Sherman, Memoirs, vol. ii. (New York, 1875).