FORT OF CALL
ON DECEMBER 13, 1864, Union infantrymen in Brig. Gen. William Babcock Hazen’s 2nd Division lined up to assault Fort McAllister, a Confederate stronghold on the right bank of Georgia’s Ogeechee River, near Savannah. Hazen’s division—one of four in Maj. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus’ 15th Corps, which comprised half of Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Right Wing during his March to the Sea from Atlanta—had been instructed to “take the fort by storm.” ¶ For Hazen’s 3,000 or so men, it was a formidable challenge. Thirteen of McAllister’s 22 heavy guns were positioned on the earthen fort’s landward side, including various 32- and 42-pounders, several 8- and 10-inch Columbiads (designed to fire 65-pound and 128-pound projectiles, respectively) and even a 10-inch seacoast mortar capable of firing 88-pound explosive shells. As an integral part of Savannah’s Atlantic Coast defenses, the bastion had heavy gun emplacements designed mainly to facilitate rapid and accurate cannon fire in case of Union naval attacks. All the same, these guns could be highly destructive against infantry assaults, especially when firing grapeshot. ¶ Surprisingly, as Hazen’s infantry formed only 500 yards out, the daunting weapons were essentially silent. The reason why was the result of events that had played out over the previous few days.
As “Cump” Sherman’s 28,000-man Army of the Tennessee—made up of the 15th and 17th Corps—approached Savannah near the end of the march, it became clear that capturing the
