Battle of Fort McAllister I

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Battle of Fort McAllister

Date	March 3, 1863
Location	Bryan County, Georgia
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders

P. Drayton

George A. Anderson

Strength

U.S.S. Patapsco, U.S.S. Passaic, and US.S. Nahant

Fort McAllister Garrison

Casualties and losses

v • d • e

Lower Seaboard Theater

Fort Sumter – Santa Rosa Island – Fort Pulaski – Forts Jackson and St. Philip – New Orleans – Secessionville – Simmon's Bluff – Tampa – Baton Rouge – 1st Donaldsonville – St. John's Bluff – Georgia Landing – 1st Fort McAllister – Fort Bisland – Irish Bend – Vermillion Bayou – 1st Charleston Harbor – 1st Fort Wagner – Grimball's Landing – 2nd Fort Wagner – 2nd Charleston Harbor – 2nd Fort Sumter – Plains Store – Port Hudson – LaFourche Crossing – 2nd Donaldsonville – Kock's Plantation – Stirling's Plantation – Fort Brooke – Gainesville – Olustee – Natural Bridge

Naval Attacks on Fort McAllister

Fort McAllister I

The First Battle of Fort McAllister took place March 3, 1863, in Bryan County, Georgia, during the American Civil War.

Rear Adm. Samuel F. Du Pont ordered three ironclads—USS Patapsco, Passaic, and Nahant— to test their guns and mechanical appliances and practice artillery firing by attacking the Confederate defenses at Fort McAllister, then a small three-gun earthwork battery. One of his goals was to determine how effective fire from the monitors' big guns would be against an earthen shore battery.

On March 3, 1863, the three ironclads conducted an eight-hour bombardment. The bombardment did not destroy the battery, but it did some damage, while the three ironclads received some scratches and dents from return fire from the fort. The tests were helpful for knowledge and experience gained, but Fort McAllister did not fall, showing that the ironclads’ firepower alone could not destroy an earthen fort.