A fort near the mouth of the Savannah River, on Cockspur Island, Georgia. Constructed from 1829 to 1847, the fort was seized by Confederate troops in January 1861, but was retaken in April 1862 by Union forces. Rifled cannon were used for the first time in the Civil War at that battle; they proved more than able to defeat masonry forts.

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The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.