Bishop Augustin Verot arrived from Florida to fill the vacant See. By then Savannah was caught up in the Civil War. People of all faiths in the South had favored secession. One missionary, who had previously visited Savannah, complained that, "Father Whelan with all the priests tried to make [him] a secessionist." Whelan had even jokingly warned of "tar and feathers." Civil War Fort Pulaski Fort Pulaski, located on Cockspur Island, about seventeen miles from the city of Savannah was manned by five companies of Confederates, guarded the port of Savannah. Bishop Verot asked for a volunteer priest to go to Fort Pulaski and serve the needs of all the Catholic troops stationed there, especially the Montgomery Guards, composed almost exclusively of Irish Catholics from the surrounding area. The sixty-year-old Father Whelan answered the call. As one of only eleven priests in all Georgia, he had to return occasionally to the city. Bishop Verot, who was about to depart on church matters, placed Whelan in charge of whole diocese on January 7, 1862. Upon the bishop's return four weeks later, the telegraph lines to Cockspur were cut by the Federals, and the fort was isolated. Whelan could not attend the annual clergy retreat or the diocesan synod, nor would he see his Savannah friends again for six months. The isolation of Fort Pulaski came gradually. The Federals slowly severed it from Savannah as part of their planned blockade of all southern ports. While the encirclement was in progress, the defenders grew troubled. Lack of communication with Savannah added to their tension. As they readied the fort for action, Federal ordnance was being landed in the darkness and stealthily put into place behind sand dunes a mile away. During a time of such apprehension, the pastoral duties of the Irish chaplain took on an added dimension. Sharing the everyday life of the men in all ways, save military duties, he now had to bring consolation to the hard-pressed, weary soldiers. Whelan soon became a favorite of the men of every faith, and his religious direction provided inspiration for the Catholics. Organized on August 20, 1861, and quickly mustered into service, the Montgomery Guards was still without its own colors. With some fabric located by Captain Lawrence J. Guilmartin, the Sisters of Mercy in Savannah constructed a handsome banner. On St. Patrick's Day, 1862, after morning Mass, Major John Foley of the