Location. 31° 53.485′ N, 81° 11.725′ W. Marker is in Richmond Hill, Georgia, in Bryan County. Marker can be reached from Fort McAllister Road. Located in Fort McAllister State Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Richmond Hill GA 31324, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regarding Major Gallie's Gun. columbiad - A form of seacoast cannon; a long,
Click or scan to see this page online
chambered gun designed for throwing shot or shells with heavy charges of powder, at high angles of elevation.
Also see . . . Haunted Forts - Ft McAllister. One later report suggested that Major Gallie was “scalped” by the errant Union round while some say the blast “exposed his brains”. (Submitted on October 26, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
Photographed By Mike Stroud, 2008
2. Major Gallie's Gun Marker
Photographed By Mike Stroud, 2008
3. The Men Behind The Guns
Who were the men who defended Fort McAllister? And who were her Union attackers?
In its 3 years of active duty, this earthen fortication on the Great Ogeechee River was home to about a dozen different companies of Confederate Troops, and the target of thousands of Union Navy and Army combatants whose military service had taken them far from home.
Most of the Confederate troops came from the coastal region, but others came from across Georgia. Judging from the wartime diary of Lieutenant William Dixon of the Savannah Republican Blues (Company C of the 1st Georgia Volunteer Infantry), they were an energetic, colorful lot who retained their high spirits in face of grave danger. "The [gunboat] let fly one shot at us, but [did] no damage further than striking the Doctor's tent and knocking over a chair with his pitcher and basin in it," he writes, "We had just sat down to dinner, and [we] lost our dinner by the operation."
Confined in close quarters under difficult conditions, they worked well together and suffered remarkably few losses. In fact, the fort's only fatalities in the landmark battle against the Union ironclad Montauk were its commander, the Scottish-born Major John B. Gallie and its feline mascot, Tom Cat. Upon Major Gallie's death, the fort was commanded by the young leader of the Blues, George W. Anderson, Jr., for the remainder of the war. The Republican Blues, along with the Chatham Artillery, Martin's Light Artillery, the Hardwick Mounted Rifles, and other companies of the 1st Georgia Infantry were stationed at Fort McAllister for about two years before being sent northward to help embattled Confederate armies in Tennessee and Virginia. Other units at Fort McAllister at various times included the DeKalb Rifles (who constructed the fort), the Emmett Rifles, the 1st Battalion Georgia Sharpshooters, the Clinch Light Artillery, the 63rd Regiment of Georgia, and the 22nd Heavy Artillery.
Photographed By Mike Stroud, 2008
4. Major Gallie's Gun
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 5, 2013
5. Major Gallie's Gun Marker
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, August 5, 2013
6. Major Gallie's Gun Marker
Photographed By Mike Stroud, October 5, 2008
7. A columbiad, similar to Major Gallie's Gun
Credits. This page was last revised on March 20, 2019. It was originally submitted on October 26, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,393 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on October 26, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. 5, 6. submitted on August 17, 2013, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. 7. submitted on October 26, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page.