Today was a beautiful day. Sunny, clear skies, but a little breezy. It rained off and on yesterday, but today was gorgeous. It was nice to be outside, however, it was just chilly enough that it took some getting used to when getting in the ocean, instead of just leaping right in.

I frolicked in the waves while Sweet Pea observed from the warmth of the sandy shore. We took it easy today, just hanging out by the water, soaking in the sun, and doing whatever we wanted.

In the afternoon, we headed back to the Fort Pulaski, because we weren’t able to see everything that we had wanted to because it had started raining. We saw another civil war reenactment by a southern soldier discussing the building (and then destroying of) the fort we were in. He was fascinating to listen to, as he slowly and purposefully spoke each word.

Robert E. Lee as a young officer, designed a way to drain the swamp that Ft. Pulaski was built upon. The Union army, stationed a few miles away, on Tybee Island, couldn’t penetrate the masonry walls of Pulaski. There was a large stalemate — with 10,000 Union soldiers on the beach, and less than 350 Southern soldiers in the fort. (Alamo, anyone?) As a side note: I’m a Texan — and I’m now upset that my spellcheck on this laptop doesn’t recognize the word Alamo. Disgusting.

Anyway, I digress. The Union soldiers were safe because anytime canons were fired at them on the beach from the fort, they just hit sand and nothing happened. The Southern soldiers were safe because nothing was breaking down the walls of their fort.

An interesting side note for any Buckeyes. The volunteer telling us all this asked if anyone was from Ohio. We “raised” our hands, a little bit. He said to us all, “I don’t mean to offend with this next joke.” “Cool” I thought — looking at my wife! He told us a joke about General Sherman — Born in Lancaster, Ohio and the nemesis of both Atlanta and the entire South.

As Sherman was ravaging and burning Atlanta, he wanted to take some time out and go see Stone Mountain, and take a little break (and see the laser light show!) When he got there, there was a southern soldier at the top of the mountain, screaming down to him, “Sherman is a sissy!” Well, the General didn’t take to kindly to this, so he asked for ten brave soldiers to go and “take care of him.” A few minutes later, everyone heard a lot of gunfire, and then silence, and then, that same southern soldier was hollering away at Sherman again! This was unacceptable! Sherman said, “This cannot be allowed to happen. I need 150 brave men to go up there and get rid of this pest.” So, 150 brave Union soldiers climbed up the mountain to get the soldier. A few minutes later, Sherman could see all 150 men walking back down the mountain, single file, with their hands on their heads! When their leader came up to the General, Sherman asked, “What happened?” The soldier replied, “Sir, it’s a trap. There are two southern soldiers up there!” I think everyone but Laura was chuckling! Maybe not.

But back to Fort Pulaski. A Union officer asked if he could use their newest weapon, a rifle canon, to attempt to break down the walls of the fort. Since the larger canons had no effect on the wall, his superiors felt like he would be wasting his time. Nevertheless, they allowed him to fire at the fort with the new, smaller canons. He and his men fired three rounds a minute, every minute of every hour, for thirty hours! Do you know what happened next? Can you see where this is going? The smaller rounds are what did the trick, and the southeast corner of the wall of fort Pulaski was breached. The first round to go through the wall skipped through the open courtyard and missed the gunpowder room by just a few feet. 40,000 pounds of ammunition and powder were stored in this room and if it had gone off, everyone inside fort Pulaski would be dead.

The moment that wall was breached, the U.S. got out of the fort building business. See, masonry walls were no longer good enough to protect soldiers. The lessons learned that very hour have guided our military strategy into WWI, WWII, and on. After that, we dug into the ground with trenches and bunkers were built, instead of forts, because the tremendous amount of sand in front of them is what can absorb the shock of mortar rounds and canon fire, not bricks and concrete. The Union army was safe on the beach with sand protecting them, but it was only a matter of time before the masonry of fort Pulaski would give up its secrets and precious cargo it held inside: Southern soldiers. History is fascinating . . .

After the the fort, we headed downtown to see what Savannah looked like and get something to eat. We walked around the planned downtown of Savannah and took in several parks and shops. We ate outdoors, at one of the many outdoor restaurants and had some great Italian food.

I haven’t sweat a drop — the temperatures have been in the high sixties to high seventies, and the humidity has been below 20% so far. What a great week. Tomorrow, we’re headed out to see some Dolphins . . .

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