My Kilted Week (the Pictures)

[turpin]

Your tour of Georgia id right up there with some of Robertson's travelogues, Mike. Well done.

[An t-Ileach]

Very nice pictures, and I liked that impressive man in the kilt you managed to include!

Thinking about Fort Pulaski, I wonder why they built forts like that at that time - they remind me of the English castles all over Wales. Wouldn't it have been more sensible in the 19th C to have built artillery forts like K Henry VIII designed for Deal, or the Vauban forts in north western France, Belgium, and Holland? Then, even with rifled artillery, the Northerners wouldn't have been able to compromise the fort so easily.

[Splash_4]

Very nice pictures, and I liked that impressive man in the kilt you managed to include!

Thinking about Fort Pulaski, I wonder why they built forts like that at that time - they remind me of the English castles all over Wales. Wouldn't it have been more sensible in the 19th C to have built artillery forts like K Henry VIII designed for Deal, or the Vauban forts in north western France, Belgium, and Holland? Then, even with rifled artillery, the Northerners wouldn't have been able to compromise the fort so easily.

As I understand it, there has been a fort on that site pretty much since the colony of Georgia was created by Oglethorpe under King George. The colony was first created as a buffer between the English northern colonies and the Spanish in Florida. At first it was nothing more than a mud fort and was then converted to timber and finally brick. When the fort was built of brick, it was designed to withstand any bombardment from the cannon of the day. When the rifled artillery was created, it allowed the attacking force to accurately hit the same area over and over and over allowing the breach of the walls. The walls at this particular fort during the attack were 18ft brick with an earthen area behind it and then timber. It was thought to be impregnable to any attack.

As was apprarent, military thought needed to change to keep up with the advances in technology. It seems to be the same throughout history.