The southeast coast of the United States was the place where both combatants tested the latest in naval artillery and coastal defenses.

[2] Fort McAllister was the key to unlocking the defenses around Savannah, one of the most important Confederate ports on the Atlantic Ocean.

[3] Union ironclad monitors began to attack the fort on January 27, 1863, starting with the Montauk and later with the Passaic, Nahant, and Patapsco.

Gen. William B. Hazen's infantry division attacked the fort, defended by Maj. George Wayne Anderson and some 230 troops.

During the evening that the fort fell, Anderson was being held at the McAllister family home, the new headquarters of General William Babcock Hazen.

In a kind gesture of respect, General Hazen also invited Major Anderson to attend the meal, after clearing the request with Sherman.

The discussion was surely lively - during the meal Anderson engaged in a heated exchange with General Sherman about the tactics employed to defend the fort[9] and the bravery of all who fought there.

However, Sherman remained greatly upset at Anderson's use of land mines in the defense of the fort, and ordered the Major to personally join his fellow captured Confederates on mine-clearing detail.