Over the almost 20 years of the fort’s construction, the Workers’ Village was home to several talented government engineers, military officials, enslaved laborers, white laborers, craftspeople, masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, laundresses, and more. Each person who came to the island left their unique mark on it. These individual contributions can be forgotten in the shadow of the completed fort. Archeologists can find these workers’ marks in the material that was left behind. By studying the material remains of the Workers’ Village, an important history, and the people who made that history, can be found again.
Who built Fort Pulaski?
Thousands of workers were required throughout the long construction period to build Fort Pulaski. Most workers were men, both enslaved and free, who used their skills in several ways. Mechanics were men with specialized training in one skill, such as masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Laborers were enslaved and free men who brought important skills from life experience and used these skills while doing most of the heavy labor of digging ditches, transporting heavy supplies, and assisting mechanics with work. These two classes of workers were essential to the construction of the fort, however archeology tells us they were treated differently in many aspects.
Women and children also worked at the Workers’ Village. Laundresses held an important job that not only kept clothing clean, but that also provided an important hygiene practice. Women also may have been cooks at times throughout the Workers’ Village history. Children who worked at the village sometimes came with free workers and their families as personal servants, as was the case of the Holton family, who listed a 10 year old enslaved girl as part of their household on census records. Other enslaved children were “rented” as laborers and as workers who would keep working in hot summer months, when most of the work force stopped working and traveled north to comfortable weather.
Renting from Local Plantations
Most of the enslaved laborers came to Cockspur Island because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “rented” these workers from local plantations, specifically from many local rice plantations. These workers were taken from their community and family, often for long periods of time, to work in grueling conditions. This was a regular government practice and was used to build several other forts, especially Forts Taylor and Jefferson in Florida. Slave owners would rent out their enslaved workforce to another person or organization who would pay for their workers to live and work elsewhere. In return, all payment for work and labor would be given to the slave owner.
Although laborers have often been called “unskilled laborers,” this could not be further from reality. The enslaved laborers brought with them very specific skills and experience that was required. Experience on local rice plantations allowed these workers to know the local climate and ways of working on the land better than the northern engineers who were unfamiliar with coastal conditions.
Class Differences: Landscapes and Artifacts
The workers at Fort Pulaski generally fall under two categories, mechanics or laborers. While both groups were considered working class, they were separated by more than jobs. Mechanics were paid more and lived in more comfortable quarters. Laborers were paid very little, and if enslaved, this money went directly to their owners. The laborers’ quarters were less comfortable and due to their location more likely to be damaged by storms and flooding.
The physical layout of the village contributed to the separation of these classes outside of work. The laborers were housed along the Savannah River, which would have led to increased flooding, stronger winds, and more storm effects. They were also in view of an overseer, officers, and the commanding officer, leading to increased supervision and control. The mechanics’ area was located closer to the fort without much supervision and in an area less impacted by weather. There was also an additional housing option, with a boardinghouse, that may have offered better living conditions with more privacy or more amenities.
Artifacts tell us that the mechanics owned more personal items, more entertainment items, and the quality of their material was better than the laborers. Some of these items include better quality ceramics, more hygiene materials like a chamber pot and toothbrush, and more tobacco pipes.
Struggle and Resilience
Building Fort Pulaski was not an easy job. There were long hours, hot temperatures, dangerous storms, constant delays, dangerous jobs, and crowded living areas. Like other working communities, this was a group of workers with very different backgrounds, which could have led to additional social problems. At the Workers’ Village, there were immigrants from Ireland and perhaps other places. There were also enslaved laborers who had rich cultures and social experiences. There were also a mix of northern and southern workers, who would have had their own social and cultural differences. At this point, research has not been able to provide an insight into how these different backgrounds interacted or created communities within. It is possible that the many patriotic American themed ceramics was an attempt by the government to bring a common and unified identity to the workers.
Whether a worker was free or enslaved defined how they were able to resist the struggle of everyday life at the Workers’ Village. There was severe punishment for perceived resistance of enslaved workers. An inventory lists whips specifically for use on enslaved workers as a form of physical punishment. This does not appear to have been used on free workers. The main form of resistance by the enslaved comes in the form of self-emancipation by escaping the island, of which there are few documented instances at Cockspur Island.
A clipping from the "Daily Savannah Republican" newspaper on April 4, 1834. The article offers a reward for three self-emancipated people. The third entry is for Sandy, a formerly enslaved person who escaped from Fort Pulaski.
A variety of gun ammunition found across the site. The musket balls are around the outside.
NPS/Matera
Other sites have found free workers resisted in several ways, as simple as stealing products for their own use, or as drastic as setting intentional fires. Strikes have been a common way to fight against working conditions. A strike has been documented by a mechanic’s daughter at Fort Pulaski. However, no official documented evidence of this has yet been found. In these ways, free workers were able to fight against unfair or unsafe work.
Workers used personal time and entertainment to make their lives more enjoyable. Most of these entertainments are more visible in the mechanics’ living spaces rather than the laborers. Whether laborers were allowed these same freedoms is unknown. Mechanics used harmonicas during their free time to enjoy music. Several musket balls and the bones of wild game including deer and squirrel found in the Mechanics’ Kitchen suggest that the mechanics were also allowed guns to hunt for game on the island. Mechanics and laborers both used smoking to relax and as an excuse social gathering.
Legacy of Labor
There would be no Fort Pulaski without the workers, past and present. Every brick, the moat, the drawbridge, the entire landscape was shaped by the hard work of individuals, enslaved and free. History cannot be told without the struggles and resilience of those who labored, willingly or forced, to create something that is now celebrated and remembered. Archeology provides material evidence that these people formed the landscape with their work and daily lives and deserve a place in history and public memory. The legacy of labor continues at Fort Pulaski by the hardworking people who preserve and protect the buildings and landscape in many of the same ways as workers of the past.
