Fort Pulaski

Completed in 1847 on Cockspur Island, Fort Pulaski was considered one of the most formidable harbor defenses in the country — until April 1862, when Union forces bombarded its seven-and-a-half-foot brick walls with experimental rifled cannon for 30 hours, firing more than 5,000 rounds and breaching walls long thought impregnable, forcing a Confederate surrender that proved masonry forts obsolete almost overnight. The fort later held Confederate prisoners, including 1864's "Immortal 600," who endured deliberately poor conditions as retaliation for Union POW treatment elsewhere. Now a National Monument, visitors and rangers report gunfire, screams, and a child crying carrying across the grounds at night, along with sightings of both Union and Confederate soldiers.