Book excerpt: The remarkable story of how an earthen fort defense shielded a Southern city from the ironclad monitors of the U.S. Navy Built out of sand and mud, Fort McAllister was designed to serve as the southern anchor of the coastal defenses of Savannah, Georgia. Hastily constructed near the beginning of the Civil War, the fort was situated on the Great Ogeechee River, twelve miles south of the Savannah River. During the war, Fort McAllister withstood devasting naval assaults and served well the aims of Confederate strategists. When the city fell to Union troops, it was General William T. Sherman's overland attack and not an assault from the sea that subdued Savannah. Roger S. Durham offers a comprehensive history of the Fort McAllister's construction and its use during the Civil War, as well as its post-war restoration. Durham intertwines historical narrative with first-person accounts and personal stories through the judicious use of primary sources. By letting the fort's Confederate defenders and Union attackers speak for themselves, Durham offers a compelling account of one of the most hotly contested sites in the naval struggle between Union and Confederate forces.