By December 1860, the Federal government had spent nearly a million dollars on the fort, but only 20 guns out of the planned 146-gun armament had been mounted, and the fort had not been garrisoned–its entire complement was one ordnance sergeant and a caretaker. Until that time, it had served only as a Corps of Engineers training ground. (Singularly, every engineer officer employed during the construction of the fort, except for one who died, became during the course of the war either a Confederate or Union general.)

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On the last day of the year, the Savannah Republican received word confirming the general opinion in Savannah that Fort Pulaski was in danger. Joseph Holt, a harsh, outspoken foe of the South, had been appointed secretary of war; he would certainly garrison the fort before long. Colonel Alexander R. Lawton, commander of the 1st Georgia Volunteer Regiment, telegraphed Governor Brown to come to Savannah at once, and the governor arrived the next day. After a short meeting with military men and leading citizens, he ordered state militia to seize the fort.

As there were no Federal troops at the fort, there would be no problem in seizing it. The big difficulty was in rapidly preparing an expedition to occupy it. Arms, ammunition, equipment, commissary supplies and a steamboat for transportation had to be provided. For the seizure and occupation, 50 men each from the Savannah Volunteer Guards and the Oglethorpe Light Infantry and 35 from the Chatham Artillery were chosen. Each man was told to bring a knapsack holding a change of clothing, spoon, knife, fork, cup, clothesbrush, shoebrush, shoe-blacking, comb and brush.

Early on the morning of January 6, 1861, the assembled troops, with Lawton in command, marched in pouring rain through streets banked with cheering people to the West Broad Street wharf, where they boarded the government steamer Ida for the downriver trip to Fort Pulaski.

According to one of the steamboat crew, the small force had more luggage than later was carried by a division. Each soldier had a cot, a trunk and a bedding roll, and every three men had a large mess chest made to hold cooking equipment for a full regiment. The Chatham Artillery brought along two bronze 12-pounder howitzers and four 6-pounder field guns.

About midday the expedition reached Cockspur Island and the troops, with drums beating and colors flying, marched into Fort Pulaski. As soon as Lawton formally took possession of the fort, the flag of Georgia was hoisted over it and saluted. The garrison had orders from Brown to hold the fort against all outsiders and to abandon it only if overpowered by a hostile force. When Georgia seceded on January 19, Fort Pulaski immediately became an important Confederate fortress. The entrance to the Savannah River was safe, Southerners told each other.

But that was hardly true. It took many weeks for the occupying force to get the fort in proper condition for defense. Not a gun in the fort was serviceable until 20 32-pounder naval guns, originally mounted in 1840, were remounted on the ramparts and in the casemates. Some 125 ricefield workers had to be hired to clean out the 7-foot-deep moat, which was filled with mud and overgrown with marsh grass, and daily steamboat service between Savannah and Cockspur had to be established to transport the workers and the food and equipment they required.

The Confederates brought more guns to the fort; erected a telegraph line from Cockspur Island to Savannah; constructed and manned earthworks on Hilton Head Island, S.C., 10 miles from Cockspur, Tybee Island and other islands to the south along the Georgia coast; and supplemented island defenses by a small fleet of old river boats on which they had mounted guns–the so-called Georgia Navy.

By midsummer 1861, the North had completed plans for a naval blockade of the South that included capture of Fort Pulaski. In November, a Union naval expedition forced the Confederates to abandon coastal fortifications, including Hilton Head and Tybee Island, some within sight of Cockspur. Before leaving Tybee, the Confederates were able to ferry the heavy guns from there to Fort Pulaski, and two companies of infantry from the Tybee garrison were added to the force at Pulaski.

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