Approaches to Savannah

APRIL 19, 1862.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

247

APPROACHES TO
SAVANNAH.

THE accompanying Map shows clearly the approaches by water to Savannah, which is situated on the south bank of the Savannah River, about eighteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean by the channel of the river, as indicated by a line on the Map. The depths of the channel, at low tide, are given in feet, the outer dotted line representing eighteen feet. It will be seen that Fort Pulaski commands the bar and channel of the river, also other water approaches, which, however, are shallow. From Hilton Head Island the United States forces passed through Cooper River, Wall's Cut, Mud and Wright rivers, into the Savannah River, and built forts on Jones and Bird's islands, which cut off supplies by water from Savannah to Fort Pulaski. Another base of operations is Warsaw Sound, south of Tybee Island, from which

light-draught vessels pass into Wilmington Narrows, and thus command the land approaches to Fort Pulaski. The land being low and marshy, the cannon and mortars of the Union gun-boats have a range for miles over the banks of the streams. A wooden road has been made over the miry land of Jones Island, from the end of Wall's Cut to Venus Point, where has recently been built a strong battery commanding the river, and putting a stop to the operations of "Commodore Tatnall's Mosquito Fleet." The naval firing between Commodore Tatnall and Captain Davie was when the boats of the former were in the Savannah River, and those of the latter in Wilmington Narrows.

Sunken piles prevent our boats passing from Wilmington Narrows to the Savannah River. The Skidaway and Thunderbolt batteries, built by the rebels, have been destroyed by our gun-boats.

MAP SHOWING THE POSITION OF FORT PULASKI, AND APPROACHES TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

1. Mississippi River.—2. NEW ORLEANS.—3. Algiers.—4. Lake Pontchartrain.—5. Point aux Herbes.—6. FORT PIKE.—7.Rigolets.—8. FORT MACOMB and Menteur Pass.—9. Pine Island.—10. Lake Borgne.—11. Pearl River, boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi.—12. Malheureux Islands.—13. Shieldsborough.—14. St. Joseph's Island.—15. Cat Island.—16. SHIP ISLAND, in possession of the Federal Government.—17. Mississippi City, in possession of the Federal Government.—l8. Biloxi, in possession of the Federal Government.—19. Pascagoula.—20. Horn Island.—21. Mobile.—22. Fort Morgan.—23. Fort Pickens.—24. Pensacola.—25. Gulf of Mexico.—26. Chandeleur Islands.—27. Chandeleur Sound.—28. Black Bay.—29. FORT DUPRE.—30. Mouths of the Mississippi.—31. FORT JACKSON.—32. FORT PHILIP.—33. Fort Livingston.—34. Barataria Bay.—35. FORT LEON.—36. Woodville and Canal.—37. Lake Lery.—33. Proctorville and Fort.—39. FORT BIENVENUE.—40. Bayou Bienvenue.—41. New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain Railroad.—42. New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi, Railroad.—43. Carrollton.—44. Lake Washa.

BALLOON VIEW OF THE VICINITY OF NEW ORLEANS, LOOKING TOWARD THE GULF OF MEXICO.