Captain Quincy A. Gillmore, Sherman's chief engineer, was sent to take command of all troops on Tybee Island and begin preparation for the bombardment of Fort Pulaski. Gillmore, a bluff, handsome man considered one of the most brilliant members of the US. Corps of Engineers, was described by Whitelaw Reid, a prominent Northern newspaper correspondent, as "a quick-speaking, solid six-footer with big head, broad, good-humored face, and curly brown hair and beard." He was an innovative soldier who dared to disregard tradition.

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The Confederates inside Fort Pulaski were far more concerned about losing their supply sources than about any danger that the fort's 7 I/2-foot-thick, solid brick walls, backed with massive masonry piers, could be pierced by the nearest Federal big guns, which were located miles away on the only firm ground on Tybee Island. Wasn't it a fact, established by extensive military experience, that smoothbore guns and mortars could not penetrate heavy masonry walls from farther than 700 yards away? The U.S. Army Chief of Engineers, General Joseph G. Totten, had told officers: "You might as well bombard the Rocky Mountains as Fort Pulaski….The fort could not be reduced in a month's firing with any number of guns of manageable caliber." And they reminded each other again that General Lee, while standing on the fort's parapet, had pointed to Tybee Island and said confidently, "They will make it pretty warm for you here with shells, but they cannot breach your walls at that distance."

Gillmore believed he could reduce Fort Pulaski with gunfire from Tybee, convinced his superiors it was worth trying, and got his command busy constructing gun emplacements, unloading guns through the surf and dragging them across marsh and sand to the emplacements. Roads had to be constructed, as did storehouses and bombproof shelters. Materials, supplies and ammunition had to be unloaded from ships and carted to the storehouses, and gun crews had to be trained. It was an enormous, difficult job. Some of the guns, loaded on sling carts, made such heavy loads that it required 250 men harnessed to a cart to pull them.

Gillmore's men erected 11 batteries for guns and armament on the shore of Tybee facing Fort Pulaski; the total armament on the island included 36 pieces. Seven of the major batteries were established on open marshland in plain view of the fort and in range of its guns. All work on them was done at night by men who were not allowed to speak above a whisper and whose movements were directed by the sound of a whistle. Each morning before dawn, the night's work was hidden by camouflage.

While this was going on, the Confederates on Cockspur were completing changes instructed by Lee. They tore down the veranda at the front of the officers' quarters and replaced it with a covered passage made of timber and earth. They stacked sandbags between the guns on the ramparts and, for the protection of the gunners, dug holes–"rat holes"–in the terreplein. They cut the entire parade ground into wide traps to prevent shot and shell from rolling.

Preparations on Tybee for the bombardment of Fort Pulaski were completed by the end of March. Command of the Department of the South previously held by Thomas Sherman had been given to Maj. Gen. David Hunter, which promoted far greater harmony between Army and Navy as plans for the action against Pulaski were finalized. Gillmore, still in charge of the bombardment, on April 9 notified his superiors that everything was in readiness. General orders were issued; the battle was to begin the next morning.

Shortly after sunrise on April 10, an officer on duty on the ramparts of Fort Pulaski reported that suspicious changes had occurred during the night on Tybee. While Olmstead and other officers watched, a small boat bearing a flag of truce set out from Tybee. It landed at Cockspur Island's south wharf, bearing Union Lieutenant James H. Wilson with a summons for Fort Pulaski to surrender.

Olmstead sent back his reply: "Sir, I acknowledge receipt of your communication demanding the unconditional surrender of Fort Pulaski. In reply, I can only say that I am here to defend this Fort, not to surrender it." The Confederates carried ammunition to their guns and prepared for action.

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