Enslaved Workers Left Marks on Fort Pulaski-- Part 2: The Process of Brickmaking

Continued from February 12, 2021.

Fort Pulaski is on Cockspur Island, about 15 miles from downtown Savannah and was considered "a technical and architectural marvel of its time."  Of course, that was before the advent of rifled cannons which quickly proved that bricks were now obsolescent  with new military technology.

Built in the 19th century, it was occupied by both Confederate and Union troops during the war.  It later served a s a spot on the Underground Railroad for slaves escaping to their freedom. Fort Pulaski was also the site of a "fifty day siege and two-day artillery battle" that marked the first use of rifled artillery in U.S. military history" according to the site's website.

Most of the bricks used in Fort Pulaski were made locally by slaves, both men, women and their children, who "spent each day laboring to make bricks for a fort built to protect the port made rich from their labor."

Brickmaking was a tedious process that involved  mixing soil and water that was then stomped into clay before the mixture was packed into wooden molds.  Sticks and other debris had to be removed by hand, and the still wet brick removed and then set out to dry for days.

--Old B-Runner