Like stalwart soldiers standing silent guard, the mighty fortresses of Savannah once served as guardians over the new colony of Georgia. In 1733, Gen. James Oglethorpe, upon stepping ashore in this new world, authorized fortifications to be constructed to protect her new residents. Forts and townships now known only in name defended Georgia's first citizens against the Native Americans and the Spanish. Later they would stand a much greater challenge protecting them against more aggressive foes-the British, the Union Army, and ultimately, the Third Reich of Germany. Through vintage photographs of these magnificent architectural structures and the faces of devoted soldiers who once stood upon their ramparts, readers will feel as if they too were standing a vigilant watch, looking across the vast marshes and rivers surrounding Savannah. The images within these pages celebrate and honor the fortresses that allowed Savannah to prosper and expand from a colonial outpost to the majestic queen city of Georgia.

A look at military fortifications over the centuries, with photos included. The state of Georgia has a long tradition of building stalwart military fortifications—going all the way back to the early sixteenth century, when it was part of a much larger region of the Southeast claimed by Spain and known as La Florida. After the failure of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon’s settlement in 1526 on the coast of Georgia, French Huguenots established a small fort at Port Royal Sound and another along the St. Johns River. This book explores the centuries that followed, revealing the history behind Georgia’s many forts. Discover who emerged victorious after Savannah’s Fort Pulaski was bombarded for over thirty hours by Federal troops during the Civil War, and why Fort Oglethorpe was constructed in 1902 within the confines of Chickamauga Park, as military historian and archivist Alejandro de Quesada explores the breadth of Georgia’s forts from the colonial and antebellum eras to the Civil War and modern times.

From forts to blockhouses, garrison houses to trading posts, stations to presidios, missions to ranches and towns, this work provides a history of the primary fortifications established during 400 tumultuous years in what would become the United States of America. Under each state's heading, this substantial volume contains alphabetized entries with information regarding each structure's history. The earliest forts established by the Danes, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, Swedes and Mexicans and by the temporary appearance of the Russians are listed. The colonial American forts, many of which were previously established by the European powers, are covered in detail. Beginning with the American Revolution, each of the American military fortifications, militia forts, settlers' forts and blockhouses is listed and described. Helpful appendices list Civil War defenses (and military hospitals) of Washington, D.C.; Florida Seminole Indian war forts; Pony Express depots; Spanish missions and presidios; and twentieth-century U.S. forts, posts, bases, and stations. A chronology of conflicts that paralleled the growth of the United States is also provided, offering insight into the historical context of fort construction.

A little-known Civil War outpost that was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States history Known as the “American Gibraltar,” Fort Jefferson, located in the Dry Tortugas, Florida, was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States history. Perceived as the nation’s leading maximum-security prison, the fort also held several of the accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. America’s Fortress is the first book-length, architectural, military, environmental, and political history of this strange and significant Florida landmark. This volume also fills a significant gap in Civil War history with regard to coastal defense strategy, support of the Confederacy blockade, the use of convicted Union soldiers as forced labor, and the treatment of civilian prisoners sentenced by military tribunals. Reid argues that Fort Jefferson’s troops faced very different threats and challenges than soldiers who served elsewhere during the war. He chronicles threats of epidemic tropical disease, hurricanes, shipwrecks, prisoner escapes, and Confederate attack. Reid also reports on white northerners’ perceptions of enslaved people, slavery, and the emerging free black soldiers of the latter years of the war. Drawing on the writings of Emily Holder, wife of Fort Jefferson’s resident surgeon, Reid is the first to offer a female perspective on life at the fort between 1859 and 1865. For history buffs and tourists, America's Fortress offers a fascinating account of this little-known outpost which has stood for over 160 years off the tip of the Florida Keys.

“In a fascinating way, Chuck Alling recalls his days as a pilot flying B-17s over Germany. He is truly a member of ‘The Greatest Generation’” (Former Pres. George H.W. Bush). A Mighty Fortress is the personal account of the captain and crew of a lead bomber in the enormous formation raids made by the Eighth Air Force during the last few months of the Second World War. It is an extraordinary tale of heroism and bravery on the part of the entire crew of just one B-17 amongst hundreds—but the one B-17 that meant most to them. Having flown twenty-seven missions before the war ended, Alling tells what it was like to be there, in the skies over enemy territory, constantly on the lookout for German fighters; of the enormity of some of the raids they were part of and the consequences for those on the ground; of the planes around them that fell out of the sky under enemy attack; of the horror and the determination to succeed. From a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, this book gives a unique insight into the lives of one crew of one plane as the war neared its end.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1886.

The later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been acclaimed as the classic period of artillery fortification. This was an era when fortresses and fortress systems shaped the calculations of strategists and statesmen, and often dictated the course of campaigns. The age was one of almost constant conflict and this book, originally published in 1985, explores the influence of the fortress in the dynastic wars of Bourbon, Habsburg and Hohenzollern, the contest for influence in the Baltic, the last crusades of the West against the Turks, and in the peculiar conditions of colonial campaigning and the War of the American Independence.

This is a story of a young man from Chicago who becomes a copilot of a bomber in Europe during World War IIfrom training, to the assembly of his B-17 crew, the mens struggles after becoming prisoners of war, and the discovery some sixty years later of details his surviving family and fellow crew members never knew.