It isn't over

Those of us who grew up in the north, especially Illinois, see President Lincoln as the great emancipator and leader of the Union forces who won the Civil War. It is different here in the south. It was The War of Northern Aggression. It isn't over yet. This post is the result of a sign along U.S. Highway 80 that runs from Savannah to its terminal point on Tybee Island. Along the way it runs by Fort Pulaski and a section of the highway is dedicated to The Immortal 600. As a college graduate with a degree in history it raised a huge question. Who are the Immortal 600? What is their story? Why near Fort Pulaski? Here is their story.

In 1864 the Confederate Army imprisoned 50 Union Army officers and used them as a human shield in an attempt to prevent Union artillery from firing on the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina. In retaliation Secretary of War Edwin Stanton ordered 600 captured Confederate officers be taken to Morris Island at the entrance of Charleston Harbor  and used as a human shield for 45 days to prevent fire from Confederate gunners at Fort Sumter. These men became known as the Immortal Six Hundred.

Three of the six hundred died from the starvation diet fed to them in retaliation for the condition found at Confederate prisoner of war camps in Andersonville, Georgia and Salisbury, North Carolina. The was an outbreak of yellow fever in Charleston and the Union Officers were moved out of the city. In response the Union Army transferred the Immortal Six Hundred to Fort Pulaski near Savannah.

They were crowded into the fort's casements and for 42 days were fed a "retaliation ration" of 10 ounces of moldy cornmeal and half a pint of soured onion pickles. Thirteen men died there of dysentery and scurvy. Five prisoners later died at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The remaining prisoners were transferred to Fort Delaware on March 12, 1865 where another 25 died.

The men became known throughout the South for their refusal to take the Oath of Allegiance under adverse circumstances. Southerners feel the men's refusal was honorable and principled.

There is a monument at Fort Pulaski. It reads as follows.

Confederate States of America

Immortal Six Hundred

Brave on the field of battle, with steadfast loyalty to country and comrades, they placed honour above life itself.

So, it isn't over down here.