The Fort of Santo Amaro was decommissioned in 1768 but by the end of the 18th century it again had a garrison, of six gunners with six cannon. Early in the 19th century it was manned by 20 soldiers who were military invalids. The fort was abandoned in 1833 during the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1834). By 1896 it was occupied only by a soldier with his family. During World War II, five families were living in the fort in 1945. Twenty-seven adults and several children were found to be there in 1947. This number amounted to about fifty individuals in 1950, when eviction proceedings were begun. In the late 1950s considerable conservation and improvement work was undertaken and in 1961 and 1962 the fort was used as summer residence of the Minister of the Army. After the Carnation Revolution (1974), which saw the overthrow of the Estado Novo dictatorship, Santo Amaro was used as a place for political meetings. For security reasons an external wall was built, giving a misleading idea of its design from outside. In the 1980s it was used as holiday colony for children of public servants. In December 2010 the government authorized the fort’s sale.