Escaping to Fort Pulaski

After the siege of Fort Pulaski in April 1862, Union Major General David Hunter, an ardent abolitionist, ordered the release of area slaves. Many were recruited into the Union army comprising the First South Carolina Colored Regiment. Former and escaped slaves such as March Haynes risked their lives to bring other escaping slaves, many of them friends and relatives, by boat to the fort and to freedom*.

Painting by Martin Pate, produced by the Southeast Archeological Center and Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia with funds provided by the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom project.

Reference: On the Threshold of Freedom, Masters and Slaves in Civil War Georgia. 2001. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, pages 76-77.

Echoes from the Past: The Archeology of Fort Pulaski

Civil War Archeology pages