Tuesday, Dec 19, 2006
On the evenings of December 15th and 16th, park staff and volunteers commemorated the Confederate Christmas season “Nog Party” of 1861.
Although this popular event started more than ten years ago, this year’s program was by far the largest and most successful to date. Visitors enjoyed candle lantern tours of the historic fort, soldier demonstrations, Civil War music, hot cider and Christmas carols.
Confederate soldiers stationed at Fort Pulaski celebrated Christmas in 1861 with a lively party that was organized in part by ladies from the city of Savannah. One soldier remarked that the mess hall tables were “moaning under the weight of the good things piled upon them.” The garrison enjoyed music, songs and jokes, and filled themselves with “baskets of delicacies from the City.”
Four months later, Fort Pulaski was the scene of a heavy bombardment from nearby Tybee Island. Union forces used rifled cannon to breach the fort’s seven-foot-thick walls and forced the surrender of the Confederate garrison. The Battle for Fort Pulaski, April 10-11, 1862, featured the first significant use of rifled cannons in combat, and signaled the end of masonry fortifications.
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