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State of Georgia.
The Engineer projects have proposed as many as eleven positions for works on this coast. The money expended on harbour improvements has been, to end of 1879, 1,000,000 dollars, but 700,000 dollars of this has been expended on Savannah, the rest, in small sums, on far less important inlets.
poor.
The State of Georgia on the coast may, as a whole, be classed as very thinly populated, and very
Sailors, 339; fishermen, 158; raftsmen, 578; shipwrights, 56.
Old census, 1,180,000; new, 1,538,000.
Organized militia, no returns; unorganized, 180,000.
Actual forts :-
Fort Jackson, about 4 miles below Savannah, part of inner defence; modifications for modern
heavy guns; unfinished for want of funds.
Fort Pulaski, at mouth of Savannah, covers ship channel from Tybee Roads; is located on Cockspur Island; modifications for heavy guns unfinished; existing work deterio- rating.
New fort on Tybee Island, to prevent occupation of Tybee Roads, proposed on North Point,
but only land purchased.
State of Florida.
Cumberland Sound might be taken either with Georgia or Florida, but, as the probable terminus of the Florida Canal, it is discussed with the latter
Cumberland Sound is one of the positions treated in the State Papers as of first-class strategical importance, long before any ship-canal was contemplated.
Appendix No. 9.
UNITED STATES.
This sound was occupied by the British during the war of 1812, and Cumberland Island made State Papers, p. 249. head-quarters.
It is an important principle, bearing peculiarly on the defence of the whole southern coast, that,
on a shore possessing few harbours, it is at the same time more necessary to preserve them for the defender's use, and more easy to deprive the enemy of that shelter without which a close blockade cannot be maintained.
The principle is enforced in the instance of the southern coast by the two following weighty considerations, its remoteness from the naval rendezvous, the Chesapeake, and which is to leeward both as to wind and current, while with respect to the commerce flowing through the Gulf of Mexico, every vessel bound northward from the gulf must pass close to Cape Canaveral before she can bear away clear of the Matanila Reef, and hence two or three cruizers may take up such positions at this outlet that all passing vessels will be seen, &c.
Cumberland Sound is the proposed Atlantic terminus of the Florida ship-canal, which will shorten the voyage from New Orleans to New York by nearly 500 miles.
The Engineer proposals for this coast have recommended fifteen positions for works.
So far, only about 500,000 dollars have been expended on harbours and rivers of this coast, pretty equally distributed over a number of small improvements in the neighbourhood of Fernandina; but very extensive improvements are contemplated, at a cost varying from 1,000,000 dollars to 2,000,000 dollars.
The coast of Florida, except in the vicinity of Charlotte Harbour, may be classed as very thinly populated and poor.
Sailors, 850; fishermen, 160; raftsmen, 400; shipwrights, 50.
Old census, 187,000; new, 266,000.
Organized militia, 6,700; unorganized, 25,000. One-fourth of total numbers organized, the largest proportion in the States.
Actual forts :-
Fort Clinch, defends entrance to Cumberland Sound; unfinished. Plans for modification
unfinished. Threatened by the sea.
Fort Marion San Augustine; old, unsuited for efficient defence; more modern water battery
in front of it unfinished; unarmed.
We have now passed into the Gulf of Mexico.
The State Papers contain very valuable remarks on this section, a very small portion only of which we can quote. In the present instance we shall not make a précis of them, but quote what we extract verbatini, to bring out in clearer relief the alterations in the situation produced of late years.
"The resemblance of this part of the coast to that of the southern section of the Atlantic coast is striking; the description of its principal features affords a true delineation of this."
This, of course, is still truc.
"In respect to the relation of the coast to the interior there is, however, the greatest difference between the two portions of the maritime frontier, for while about eight-tenths of the whole territory of the United States is in one sense tributary to a part only of the Gulf of Mexico portion, in the southern section of the coast not more than one-tenth is connected with the seaboard by any natural ties."
"From the relative geographical position of this part of the coast, and the country interested in its safety, from the unhealthiness of the climate, nature of the adjacent country, and mixed character of the inhabitants, it will be some time before that portion within supporting distance, whose welfare may be endangered by the enemy, will be competent of itself to sustain the assaults of an exterior foe." Upon the Atlantic seaboard, the Alleghanies crowd the people upon the coast, and surround every alarm post of the frontier with a more and more dense population, and the ocean and the interior
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