{{short description|Island in Georgia, United States}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox Island | name = Cockspur Island | native_name = | native_name_link = | native_name_lang = | sobriquet = <!-- or |nickname= --> | image_name =Entrance to the Demilune, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Cockspur Island, Georgia.jpg | image_size = | image_caption = Entrance to the Demilune, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Cockspur Island, Georgia. | image_alt = | image_map = | map_alt = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = USA Georgia#North Atlantic | pushpin_label = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_relief = 1 | pushpin_map_caption = Cockspur Island | coordinates ={{Coord|32|1|40|N|80|53|54|W|type:landmark_scale:50000|display=it}} | etymology = | location = North Atlantic | grid_reference = <!-- UK only --> | archipelago = | waterbody = | total_islands = | major_islands = | area_km2 = | area_footnotes = | rank = | length_km = | length_footnotes = | width_km = | width_footnotes = | coastline_km = | coastline_footnotes = | elevation_m = | elevation_footnotes = | highest_mount = | country = {{USA}} | country_admin_divisions_title = County | country_admin_divisions = Chatham County, Georgia | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = | country_admin_divisions_1 = | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = | country_admin_divisions_2 = | country_capital_type = | country_capital = | country_largest_city_type = | country_largest_city = | country_capital_and_largest_city = | country_largest_city_population = | country_leader_title = | country_leader_name = | country_area_km2 = | demonym = | population = | population_as_of = | population_footnotes = | population_rank = | population_rank_max = | density_km2 = | density_rank = | density_footnotes = | languages = | ethnic_groups = | timezone1 = | utc_offset1 = | timezone1_DST = | utc_offset1_DST = | website = | additional_info = | footnotes = }}
'''Cockspur Island''' is an island in the south channel of the Savannah River near Lazaretto Creek, northwest of Tybee Island, Georgia, United States. Most of the island is within the boundaries of Fort Pulaski National Monument. The island was so named on account of its bent shape. It was originally called Pepper Island and is also called Long Island.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/c.pdf | title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=47 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>
Historic buildings on the island include Fort Pulaski (built in 1847) and the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (built in 1837–39),<ref>{{GNIS|2125739|name=Cockspur Island Lighthouse (historical)}}</ref> designed by John S. Norris, the New York City architect.
==History== The founder of Methodism, John Wesley landed at the island on February 6, 1736, and a monument marks the spot where Wesley conducted a service of thanksgiving. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Pulaski was fought on the island, in which the United States Army captured the fort from the Confederate States Army on April 11, 1862. Confederate soldiers were imprisoned in the fort.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} During the Spanish–American War, a coastal artillery battery, Battery Hambright, was built on the island; it was reactivated during World War I and World War II.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1. 1863, established that all enslaved people in Conferderate states in rebellion against the Union"shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." But for many enslaved people, emancipation took longer to take effect. There is a photo of enslaved people outside their quarters on a plantation on Cockspur Island, Georgia, circa 1863.{{citation needed|date=November 2025}}
==Photos== <gallery> File:FtPulaskiFront.jpg|Fort Pulaski File:Cockspur Island Lighthouse, Chatham county, GA, US.jpg|Cockspur Island Lighthouse Image:Wesley Monument Cockspur Island.jpg|The monument erected on the island where John Wesley first landed in America. Image:OysterBed.jpg|Oyster bed on Cockspur Island File:Immortal Six Hundred memorial, Fort Pulaski, GA, US.jpg|Immortal Six Hundred memorial </gallery>
==References== {{Commons category|Cockspur Island}} {{Reflist}}
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Category:Protected areas of Chatham County, Georgia Category:Islands of Georgia (U.S. state) Category:History of Methodism in the United States Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Sea Islands Category:Islands of Chatham County, Georgia
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