Revered Revolutionary War officer and long-ago Georgia governor James Jackson would be so pleased.
Day-to-day life at Old Fort Jackson in Savannah, Georgia goes on just as if Jackson were still, brooding over his meticulous maps and wax-sealed letters.
There’s an endearing genuine eagerness that comes from the scores of young volunteers, dressed in the garb of Johnny-Reb soldiers, wandering around the historic fort. Some carry replica tin cups from a century and a half ago for tea made from water poured from the canteens of the same era. Some strike wooden matches from the soles of their boots to light cigars for off-duty officers relaxing after shift.
Mustachioed soldiers momentarily stare off into space with haunted eyes after reading letters from sweethearts and wives by the firelight of burning wall torches. On long, sultry, summer nights, ever-present chirping crickets take over for music when someone, who was softly strumming the strings of a banjo, lays his instrument aside.
Savannah’s Old Fort Jackson isn’t just a throwback to yesteryear; it is yesteryear in the living!
Standing on a site that has been in use since the 1740s, Fort Jackson possesses a rich history relating to the defense of Savannah, Georgia through the end of the 19th century.
At night, volunteers doing duty as "re-enactors" sit around outside campfires, telling tales of the Civil war, the same way young soldiers did when General Robert E. Lee--who actually visited Fort Jackson early in the war--walked among them.
Strumming on banjos, they pluck out the songs of another era. The strains of catchy tunes like Oh, Susannah and Mama’s Little Baby Loves Shortnin’ hang in the moonlit air. The young volunteers know each and every word, and their songs are rendered with the true verve of the patriot.
Down to the most finite detail, they show tourists and local visitors what life was like at the fort in antebellum days.
Old Fort Jackson is Georgia’s oldest brick fortification and a proudly maintained National Historic landmark.
It hasn’t changed a tad since it was built, brick by brick, by the skilled craftsmen of 1808.
Fort Jackson played a never-to-be-forgotten starring role in Georgia history as the headquarters of Savannah’s river defenses during the Civil War.
Things to see and hear, including an old-days Blacksmith shop and summer daily cannon firings, keep all who come to visit spellbound.
There’s a parapet with the original 32-pounder and 9-inch Dahlgren cannon taking in the same sweeping Savannah River views observed by gun crews a century and a half ago. There are displays of muskets, ammunition and exhibits from the wreck of the Civil War ironclad CSS Georgia.
Serving as site manager of the fort is Canadian, D.J. Tucker.
Following his life’s dream, Tucker came to the fort with an undying passion in his heart.
A Civil War buff since boyhood, he graduated from American history at Brock University, in St. Catharine’s, Ontario.
Pursuing the many battles of the Civil War through the dry pages of hundreds of tomes, Tucker dreamed of someday getting closer to the "real thing".
And as Tucker will tell you, Fort Jackson is as close as it gets to the "real thing".
Walking the grounds like an ever-pacing sentry, Tucker knows every rock and every tree on the outside and every nook and cranny within. D.J. Tucker doesn’t just like his job, he was made for it.
"In fact, I ought to be paying them the salary," he laughingly told Canada Free Press staffers visiting the fort last month.
Dressed in the faded cotton and wool of a rebel soldier and wearing the jaunty cap, Tucker looks every inch the Johnny Reb of Civil War days, so much so that he’s an every day inspiration to a flock of "re-enactor" soldier volunteers, drawn to the fort like the proverbial flies to honey.
Tucker’s Brock University colleagues, relatives and friends would never recognize the former North York, Ontario resident.
Tucker has been manager at Fort Jackson for less than a year, but his complete transformation to the quintessential Johnny Reb makes it seem that he’s been there for centuries.
Sitting around fragrant night campfires, Tucker regales visitors with fascinating stories--all of them, gleaned from his university studies--absolutely tragic and true.
Meanwhile, the footsteps of the soldier-booted James Jackson can still be heard ringing out from the hauntingly beautiful fort that takes his name. Everything remains as it was in Jackson’s day. In fact, there are some who swear that Jackson never left the beloved fort.
Old Fort Jackson,
1 Fort Jackson Road,
Savannah, GA 31404
www.chsgeorgia.org
oldfortjackson@aol.com