Tybee Island in Chatham County, Georgia — The American South (South Atlantic)
Burial Sites of Immortal 600
The fallen officers endured many hardships, including a six-week diet of rancid cornmeal and pickles. Union Colonel Philip Brown attempted to make the prisoners more comfortable but was often overruled by superiors in favor of harsher treatment. From dysentery, chronic diarrhea, scurvy, and pneumonia, thirteen of the prisoners died while here at Fort Pulaski. They are buried in this cemetery.
One of the prisoners, Capt. H.C. Dickenson, wrote in his Diary:
November 12, 1864: Lieutenant Birney of the Fourty-ninth Georgia Infantry, died at hospital last night and was buried today. Three of our number attended his remains to the grave. A military escort was furnished by the Yanks and he was decently interred in the Confederate graveyard, just at the northwest corner of the fort.
March 1, 1865: Cantwell and myself engaged in painting headboards for the graves of our thirteen dead. The provost marshal refused to let us go out and put them up. We have made applications to the general.
Erected by National Park Service.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Cemeteries & Burial Sites • Forts and Castles • War, US Civil. A significant historical month for this entry is March 1802.
Location. 32° 1.653′ N, 80° 53.498′ W. Marker is on Tybee Island, Georgia, in Chatham County. Marker can be reached from Islands Expressway (U.S. 80). At Fort Pulaski across from parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Tybee Island GA 31328, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Immortal Six Hundred (a few steps from this marker); Final Resting Place (within shouting distance of this marker); The Demilune (within shouting distance of this marker); Changing Landscape (within shouting distance of this marker); German Volunteers (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Guarding the Door (about 300 feet away); Powder Magazine (about 300 feet away); John Wesley (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tybee Island.
More about this marker. A depiction of a burial at Fort Pulaski is on the upper right side of the marker.
Also see . . . National Park Service. The officers' plight started in South Carolina when Edwin M. Stanton, Federal Secretary of War, ordered that 600 prisoners of war be positioned on Morris Island in Charleston harbor within direct line of fire from Confederate guns at Fort Sumter. Stanton's order followed word that 600 Union officers imprisoned in the city of Charleston were exposed to direct line of fire from Federal artillery. The standoff continued until a yellow fever epidemic forced Confederate Major General S. Jones to remove the prisoners from the city limits. The Federal command then transferred the surviving Confederate officers from the open stockade at Morris Island to Fort Pulaski. (Submitted on January 30, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
Credits. This page was last revised on May 3, 2020. It was originally submitted on January 30, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 5,970 times since then and 101 times this year. Photos: 1. submitted on January 30, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 2. submitted on March 10, 2013, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. 3. submitted on September 5, 2017, by Jo A Petrocelli- Gonzalez of Mesa, Arizona. 4. submitted on January 30, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 5. submitted on November 23, 2008, by David Tibbs of Resaca, Georgia. 6. submitted on January 30, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 7, 8. submitted on November 23, 2008, by David Tibbs of Resaca, Georgia. 9, 10, 11. submitted on March 10, 2013, by Stanley and Terrie Howard of Greer, South Carolina. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.