Fort Pulaski National Monument

Administrative History

Cultural Resources

Southeast Region

U.S. Department of the Interior

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Savannah, Georgia

Fort Pulaski National Monument

Administrative History

Cultural Resources

Southeast Region
Fort Pulaski National Monument

Administrative History

December 2003

J. Faith Meader

New South Associates

Cameron Binkley, Editor

National Park Service
Cultural Resources Division

Southeast Regional Office

National Park Service

100 Alabama Street, SW

Atlanta, GA 30303

404-562-3117

The administrative history presented here exists in two 

formats. A printed version is available for study at the park, 

the Southeastern Regional Office of the National Park 

Service, and at a variety of other repositories. For more 

widespread access, this administrative history also exists in 

a web-based format through ParkNet, the website of the 

National Park Service. Please visit www.nps.gov for more 

information.

Fort Pulaski National Monument

P.O. Box 30757

Highway 80 East

Savannah, Georgia 31410-0757

About the cover: A “park” guide poses in front of the 

Fort Pulaski National Monument contact station, which 

was located in Savannah, Georgia, at the intersection 

of Bull Street and Victory Boulevard in the 1930s. The 

contact station was necessary because Fort Pulaski, 

located on an island in the Savannah River, was difficult 

to access during the early years of its development. 

Lack of uniform insignia suggests that the guide, 

identity unknown, was a CCC employee.

Source: Fort Pulaski NM photo collection.

iv Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service v

Contents

Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Figure Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction

Chapter One: The History of Fort Pulaski

Early History of Cockspur Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Construction of Fort Pulaski . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Civil War Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter Two: Fort Pulaski Prior to the National Park Service

The Military Post after the Civil War, 1865-1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Fort Pulaski Military Reservation, 1881-1914 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

The American Antiquities Act and the Establishment of the National Park Service. . . . . . . . 16

Designation of Fort Pulaski as a National Monument, 1915-1933. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter Three: Development of Fort Pulaski National Monument

Land Acquisition at Fort Pulaski NM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

New Deal Agencies and Programs at Fort Pulaski NM, 1933-1941 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Civil Works Administration (CWA). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Public Works Administration (PWA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Mission 66 at Fort Pulaski NM, 1956-1966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Visitor Center Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Other Mission 66 Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Additional Park Development, 1966-2000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter Four: Interpretation and Visitor Services

Early Park Interpretation and Visitation, 1934-1938. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Fort Museum, 1939-1956 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Casemate Exhibits and Fort Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Collections Transfer to Ocmulgee National Monument, 1942-1947 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Post-World War II Years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Commemorative Markers and Interpretive Signs and Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Mission 66 Interpretation, 1956-1966 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Interpretive Prospectus, 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Living History and Reenactments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Interpretation, Collections, and Visitor Services in the 1980s and 1990s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Visitation Statistics and Trends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
vi Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Special Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Chapter Five: Park Planning

Master Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Master Plans, 1939 and 1942. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Master Plan, 1965 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Master Plan, 1971 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Land Protection Plan, 1984 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Park Planning, 1993-2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Chapter Six: Park Administration

Government Agencies at Fort Pulaski NM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Naval Occupation of Cockspur Island, 1942-1948 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

U.S. Coast Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Transfer of Cockspur Island Lighthouse from U.S. Coast Guard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Savannah Bar Pilots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Cooperative Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Chatham County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Youth Conservation Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Management Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Chapter Seven: Resource Management and Law Enforcement

Cultural Resource Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Archeological Investigations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Collections Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

Artifact Preservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

National Register Nomination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Cockspur Island Lighthouse Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Natural Resource Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Moat Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Shoreline Stabilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Water Studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Flora and Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Law Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Safety Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Conclusion

Appendix A: Chronology - Fort Pulaski National Monument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Appendix B: Fort Pulaski NM Superintendents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
National Park Service vii

Appendix C: Acts and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the

State of Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Appendix D: Federal Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Appendix E: National Register Nomination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
viii Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service ix

Figures

1 Map of the Savannah River by John LeConte, 1837 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 J. Hinton, A New and Accurate Map of the Province of Georgia in North

America, 1779, shows Cockspur Island labeled near Savannah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Historical Base map of Cockspur Island in 1862 shows construction village

(produced for 1942 Master Plan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

4 Map of the “Mouth of the Savannah River” from Gillmore’s Siege and

Reduction of Fort Pulaski, 1862 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 Photograph of crumbled brick at the fort’s southeast angle, 1862. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

6 The band of the 48th New York Volunteer Infantry posed in Fort Pulaski’s

parade ground, c. 1862. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

7 View on top of fort terreplein before restoration work, HABS photo, c. 1930 . . . . . . . . . . . 19

8 Visitors at sallyport, looking across moat toward demilune and fort,

before restoration work, HABS 2158 photo, c. 1930 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

9 View of moat, looking toward the fort, before restoration work,

HABS 2158 photo, c. 1930. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

10 CCC enrollees place concrete footings in parade ground for gorge sidewalk

construction, October 1934 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

11 CCC enrollees excavate a ditch at Fort Pulaski, May 1936 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

12 Truck dumps moat dirt into parade ground trench, June 1935 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

13 PWA installs domestic water tank supply on fort terreplein, November 1935 . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

14 CCC enrollees work on South Channel Bridge approach, October 1938. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

15 Workers construct the Visitor Center at Fort Pulaski, 1962-1963. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

16 The NPS’s 67-foot diesel boat carries passengers to Fort Pulaski, March 1936 . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

17 Fort Pulaski CCC guide force in 1939 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

18 Park employees prepare a Candle Lantern Tour, 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

19 Living History volunteers demonstrate nineteenth century food preparation

at Fort Pulaski, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

20 Photo of Florence Martus, “the Waving Girl,” 1938. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

21 Centennial Celebration of the siege of Fort Pulaski, April 1962 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

22 General Development Plans drawing illustrates proposed development, c. 1940 . . . . . . . . . 50

23 Developed Area Plan for the residence/utility area shows Navy buildings

slated for removal, 1949 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

24 NPS wharf on North Channel at old quarantine station, 1938 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

25 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drawing of proposed building removal at

Quarantine Point (1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

26 Historic American Buildings Survey measure drawings of Cockspur Island

landscape, 1761-1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

27 Moat maintenance after changing from salt to fresh water, August 1963. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

28 Utility building used by CCC after hurricane damage, August 1940 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
National Park Service x

Tables

1 Fort Pulaski National Monument Annual Visitation Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Figure Credits

Cover: Fort Pulaski National Monument park files.

Figure 1: J. Hinton, A New and Accurate Map of the Province of Georgia in North America, 1779, 

from The Universal Magazine 44, (April 1779); Figure 2: E. and C.W. Blunt, American Coast Pilot (New 

York: E. and C.W. Blunt, 1837); Figure 3: park files; Figure 4: Quincy A. Gillmore, Siege and Reduction 

of Fort Pulaski National Monument (1862; reprint, Gettysburg: Thomas Publications, 1988); Figure 5: 

park files; Figure 6: park files; Figure 7: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. 2158, Prints 

and Photographs Division, Library of Congress; Figure 8: HABS No. 2158 photo; Figure 9: HABS No. 

2158; Figure 10: park files; Figure 11: park files; Figure 12: park files; Figure 13: park files; Figure 14: 

park files; Figure 15: park files; Figure 16: park files; Figure 17: park files; Figure 18: Georgia State 

Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) files; Figure 19: park files; Figure 20, park files; Figure 21, park 

files; Figure 22: park files; Figure 23: NPS Southeast Regional Office microfiche files; Figure 24: park 

files; Figure 25: NPS Southeast Regional Office microfiles files; Figure 26: HABS No. 2158; Figure 27: 

park files; Figure 28: park files.
National Park Service xi

Foreword

We are pleased to make available this administrative history, part of our ongoing effort to provide a 

comprehensive account of the development of each National Park Service unit in the Southeast Region. 

This narrative history was written by J. Faith Meader, a historian with New South Associates, a cultural 

resources management consulting firm located at 6150 East Ponce de Leon Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. The 

contract for this project was supervised by Cameron Binkley, a National Park Service (NPS) historian on the 

Cultural Resources Stewardship staff of the Southeast Regional Office (SERO). Mr. Binkley also edited and 

revised various drafts of this administrative history. Several other individuals and institutions contributed 

to the successful completion of this work. We would particularly like to thank Fort Pulaski National 

Monument Superintendent John Breen. Others who deserve thanks for their suggestions on early drafts or 

for other forms of assistance include SERO cultural resource professionals John Barrett, Bob Blythe, Allen 

Bohnert, Tony Paredes, and Sara van Beck, as well as NPS Bureau Historian Janet McDonnell, Lou Groh of 

the Southeast Archeological Center, Richard Laub of Georgia State University’s Heritage Preservation 

Program, and Mary Beth Reed of New South Associates. Thanks are due also to Bob Blythe for copyediting and Mark Swanson of New South Associates who visited Fort Pulaski and scanned historic 

photographs included in the text. We hope that this administrative history will prove valuable to park 

managers and others in understanding the past development of Fort Pulaski National Monument and in 

planning future activities.

Dan Scheidt

Chief, Cultural Resources Divison

Southeast Regional Office

December 2003
xii Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 1

Introduction

Fort Pulaski National Monument (NM) at 

Cockspur Island, Georgia, preserves a striking 

masonry fortification significant in American military history. Visitors to Fort Pulaski NM learn how 

the golden age of coastal fortifications ended on 

April 11, 1862, when the fort failed to withstand bombardment by Union forces who attacked it during 

the American Civil War using newly developed 

rifled canon. Other interesting themes relating to 

Fort Pulaski include its use as a prison for captured 

Confederate soldiers and as the site where John 

Wesley, founder of American Methodism, landed on 

Cockspur Island in 1736. Robert E. Lee also began 

his military career at Fort Pulaski by helping to 

oversee construction of the remarkable, once stateof-the-art example of “third system” coastal architecture. Of course, Fort Pulaski has also served as a 

location marking important moments in local 

history. However, several years passed after the 

United States Army abandoned the military post in 

1879 before efforts to preserve the fort became 

serious. The War Department’s announcement of 

the fort’s selection as a potential national monument 

in 1915 and the proclamation of its official monument status in 1924 began a series of restoration 

efforts. When Fort Pulaski NM was transferred to 

the National Park Service (NPS) in 1933, the labor of 

the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) transformed the neglected fort and grounds into a place 

for the public to visit. Since then, the 5,623-acre 

national monument has been carefully managed and 

maintained, although a temporary period of neglect 

beset the park between 1942 and 1948 when the site 

reverted to War Department management.

Fort Pulaski NM features a visitor’s center, interpretive signs and audio aids in and around the fort, 

and nature trails leading to both the John Wesley 

Memorial and Battery Hambright, a gun 

emplacement on the north side of Cockspur Island 

that dates to the Spanish American War. On the 

western edge of the island, the U.S. Coast Guard

uses facilities on park land under an inter-agency 

agreement. The Savannah Bar Pilots Association 

also carries out piloting operations on the island’s 

west end. Near the South Channel Bridge, visitors 

can fish, exercise, or use the picnic area. Important 

administrative concerns at Fort Pulaski NM include 

preserving the park’s unique natural and cultural 

resources, overseeing relationships with agencies 

that play a part in park development and 

management, and providing the public with a place 

that encourages education and safe recreation. In 

other words, the historic events that characterize the 

fort and island only partially comprise Fort Pulaski’s 

significance. 

This administrative history provides an overview of 

Fort Pulaski from the Colonial Period to the present 

with attention focused upon the origins, development, and management of the site as a unit of the 

national park system. Chapter I provides a brief 

history of significant historic events at the fort. 

Chapter II presents the military reservation’s development and management efforts prior to its transfer 

to the NPS in 1933. In Chapter III, land acquisition 

and park physical development from 1933 to 2000 

are discussed, with particular focus directed toward 

the CCC work and Mission 66 improvements. 

Chapter IV explains interpretation, visitor use, community relations, and the special events and 

programs at the monument. Park planning efforts 

are explored in Chapter V. Chapter VI focuses on 

park administration, especially relationships with 

other government agencies. Chapter VII examines 

cultural and natural resource management, along 

with park maintenance, law enforcement, and safety 

issues. The appendices that follow consist of a chronology of events important in the history and 

management of Fort Pulaski NM, a list of past 

superintendents, legislation pertaining to the park’s 

administrative history, and the park’s National Register of Historic Places Nomination.
2 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 3

Chapter One:

The History of Fort Pulaski 

Early History of Cockspur 

Island

Cockspur Island lies just inside the mouth of the 

Savannah River, whose North and South Channels 

pass around the land mass and into the Atlantic 

Ocean. In earlier times, the island offered an 

excellent position for coastal military defense. 

Located nearly seventeen miles east of Savannah, in 

Chatham County, Georgia, Cockspur Island 

historically measured one mile in length and three 

quarters of a mile wide (Figures 1, 2). Savannah 

River dredging practices in the nineteenth and 

twentieth centuries increased the island’s landmass 

and connected it with Long Island to the west.

Not much is known about the human occupation 

and use at Cockspur Island during the prehistoric 

era. On nearby Whitemarsh and Wilmington 

Islands, archeological investigations have shown 

that humans resided in the area during the Middle 

Woodland (ca. 500 B.C. to A.D. 500) and Late 

Woodland (ca. A.D. 500 to A.D. 1100) periods.1

 The 

Euchee Indians lived on Tybee Island, just east of 

Cockspur Island, when Spain colonized the Georgia 

coast as part of “La Florida” in the early 1500s. 

Beginning in the 1580s, Spanish friars of the 

Franciscan Order worked their way up the Georgia 

coast to establish missions and assimilate coastal 

indigenous chiefdoms into greater Spanish Florida. 

The northernmost mission stood at the northern 

edge of the Guale chiefdom at the mouth of the 

Ogeechee River, about fifteen miles southwest of 

Cockspur Island. The downfall of the Spanish 

missions in Georgia began when the English colony 

of Charles Town to the north grew quickly in the 

1670s. Because the English won over many Indians 

who supported the Spanish missions, coupled with a 

series of mission raids by English-allied Indians, the 

Spanish left Georgia and retreated to Florida by 

1684. From that year to the early 1730s, the Spanish, 

French, and English all vied to possess Georgia.2

On January 30, 1733, six British ships ferrying 

General James Edward Oglethorpe and a group of 

settlers sailed up the Savannah River, anchoring at 

Cockspur Island, then called Peeper Island.3

 Peeper 

Island derives its name either from the native 

“peeping” tree frogs or its “peeping” out from 

behind Tybee Island.4 One of Oglethorpe’s 

passengers on a later voyage to Cockspur Island in 

1736 was John Wesley, founder of American 

Methodism. According to Wesley’s journal, a small 

group set foot on Peeper Island and “kneeled down 

to give thanks to God,” marking the first recorded 

visit of Europeans to the island.5

 Wesley soon 

served as prohibition officer in the new Georgia 

Colony, thwarting trade in illicit rum on Peeper 

Island.6 His trustworthy character earned him 

much respect in the colony.

 Goods such as corn, rice, peas, and lumber were 

loaded and unloaded at Cockspur Island in the early 

colonial years. All apparently made important 

contributions to the area’s economic development. 

1. John H. Jameson Jr., Archeological Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia (Tallahassee: Southeast 

Archeological Center, National Park Service, 1998).

2. Phinizy Spalding, “Spain and the Coming of the English,” pt. 1 of A History of Georgia, ed. Kenneth Coleman (Athens: 

University of Georgia Press, 1991).

3. A.E. Sholes, comp., A Chronological History of Savannah (Savannah: Morning News Print, 1900).

4. Talley Kirkland, FPNM, conversation with author, 1 November 2000.

5. James W. Holland, “’Key to Our Province’ 1736-1776: A Study of a Marsh Island of Georgia in the Mouth of the Savannah 

River, Site of Fort Pulaski National Monument” (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1937), 13.

6. Ibid., 17.
4 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Fearing attack by the Spanish from Saint Augustine, 

the early English settlers of both coastal Georgia 

and South Carolina petitioned the King to provide 

adequate defense for the colony. However, 

construction of a fort at Cockspur Island was not 

started until late in 1761. When a settler by the name 

of Jonathan Bryan purchased 150 acres of land on 

the island in 1758, a twenty-acre lot on the eastern 

portion of the island was reserved “for the Use of his 

Majesty.”7

 The British colonists viewed the Spanish 

to the south as a military threat. This defense 

concern eventually spurred the building of Fort 

FIGURE 1. Map of the Savannah River by John LeConte, 1837

7. Ibid., 44.
National Park Service 5

George upon the land on Cockspur Island set aside 

for the crown. Fort George consisted of a small 

wooden palisade one-hundred-feet square 

enclosing a forty-foot-square by thirty-foot-high 

blockhouse used as a magazine, storehouse, and 

barracks.8 Fort George, built by slave labor, guarded 

against pirates, smuggling, and the spread of disease. 

Royal Governor James Wright called the fort “the 

key to our Province, as it commands obedience to 

the British Laws of Trade, and to many of our 

essential Provincial Laws.” Still, Fort George was 

not imposing and fell into disrepair by the 1770s.9 

In 1794, unsettled by the brutal French Revolution 

and threats of aggression, Congress authorized the 

construction of what would later be known as the 

“First American System of Fortifications.” As a 

result the Secretary of War ordered new efficiently 

designed forts to be built to protect major U.S. 

coastal cities. These forts were impermanent 

wooden structures that consisted of batteries, 

magazines, and either barracks or two-story 

blockhouses containing small cannons on the upper 

story.10 Under the First System, Cockspur Island 

acquired a new fort to protect Savannah. The fort, 

christened “Fort Green,” was constructed in 1794 at 

the former site of Fort George. Fort Green was built 

of timber and earth and stood surrounded by 

pickets.11 Officers and soldiers of the garrison, which 

was used solely as a quarantine station, complained 

of Fort Green’s squalid living conditions.12 A 

powerful storm in 1804 swept away the short-lived 

structure, killing half of its inhabitants.

The Construction of Fort 

Pulaski

In 1807, with Europe embroiled in the Napoleonic 

Wars and the United States fearing British attack, 

Congress authorized the “Second American System 

of Fortifications.” This defense was characterized 

by the early efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, which built fortifications featuring high 

stone or brick walls with multilevel tiers containing 

internal casemates and gun positions for more 

firepower.13 Before this system was completed, 

however, damage to it and the First System forts by 

British attack during the War of 1812 pressed 

Congress for further action. In 1816, Congress 

moved to create the Board of Fortifications for Sea 

Coast Defense. The U.S. Government soon hired 

Simon Bernard, a French military engineer, to work 

8. Forts Committee, Department of Archives and History, “Georgia Forts,” Georgia Magazine (Feb.-Mar. 1967): 17-19.

9. Ibid., 17.

10. Willard B. Robinson, American Forts: Architectural Form and Function (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977), 63.

FIGURE 2. J. Hinton, A New and Accurate Map of the Province of Georgia in North America, 1779, shows Cockspur Island labeled 

near Savannah

11. Historic American Building Survey (HABS), History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, Addendum to Fort Pulaski 

(Washington, D.C., HABS No. GA-2158, 1998).

12. Ibid., 4.

13. John Whiteclay Chambers, ed., The Oxford Companion to American Military History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 

1999), 275-6.
6 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

with an Army board of engineers on designing a 

new comprehensive defense system known as the 

“Third System of Defense.” The Board’s mandate 

was to span four decades. Broad considerations of 

national geography, military organization, and 

military architecture characterized the Board’s 

innovative approach to the construction of 

permanent, massive masonry forts.14 Several years 

passed before Bernard surveyed Cockspur Island, 

but in 1828 the Board approved his plans for erecting 

a new fort at that location. That same year Major 

Samuel Babcock, the first engineer assigned to the 

project, began to conduct topographical surveys 

while also building the workmen’s village, a north 

channel dock, and a system of drainage ditches and 

embankments.15 A young West Point graduate 

named Robert E. Lee, who reported to his first 

military assignment in 1829, joined Babcock. Lee 

acted as assistant engineer, but began to direct many 

tasks when Babcock’s health deteriorated.16 

Meanwhile, only the State of Georgia and private 

owners shared title to Cockspur Island. That 

changed on March 15, 1830, when Alexander Telfair 

deeded 150 privately owned acres, practically “the 

whole Island of Cockspur,” to the U.S. Government 

for $5,000.17 The State of Georgia retained some 

twenty acres but granted them to the United States 

in 1845. It was on this holding that Fort Pulaski was 

built.

In 1830, the engineering commission for fort 

construction was reassigned to Lieutenant Joseph 

K. F. Mansfield. Mansfield recommended revised 

plans after he found Babcock’s work inadequate, 

probably the result of poor supervision during his 

illness. For a time, Lieutenant Lee performed new 

surveys, recorded work progress, and supervised 

excavations for Mansfield, but by 1831 Lee’s vigor 

and intelligence had earned him a “less idle” 

assignment in Virginia.18 In 1833, under Mansfield’s 

14. Robinson, 1977, 86-88.

15. Rogers W. Young, “The Construction of Fort Pulaski,” The Georgia Historical Quarterly 20 (1936): 41-51.

16. Rogers W. Young, Robert E. Lee and Fort Pulaski, Popular Series 11 (Washington, D.C., National Park Service, 1947).

FIGURE 3. Historical Base map of Cockspur Island in 1862 shows construction village (produced for 1942 Master Plan)

17. Farris Cadle, “Title Abstract for Cockspur Island,” 2000, park files, Fort Pulaski National Monument (hereafter, FPNM).

18. Ibid., 14.
National Park Service 7

direction, construction of the massive red brick 

structure finally began. Because of the gallant 

heroism of Polish patriot Count Casimir C. Pulaski 

at the Siege of Savannah during the American 

Revolutionary War, the new fort was christened 

Fort Pulaski. The first phase of its construction 

involved placement of wall foundations and timber 

grillage and the careful pounding of timber piles 

into the earth. Approximately twenty-five million 

bricks were used in building the fort’s thirty-twofoot-high walls, which vary in thickness from seven 

to eleven feet.19 Slave labor was rented from nearby 

rice plantations and used to perform most of the 

hardest work of the fort’s construction. Other 

workers included military servicemen, skilled 

masons, and carpenters, some of whom were 

recruited and brought down each fall from 

Northern states.20 A construction village, built in 

1829, stood at the north end of the island. These 

frame buildings served as quarters to accommodate 

engineers, mechanics, and workers and house 

building materials21 (Figure 3). The project was 

made more difficult by frequent coastal storms and 

years when Congress failed to appropriate funds for 

Fort Pulaski’s construction. However, by late 1839, 

the central edifice of the five-sided fort neared 

completion. The main features of the fort’s interior, 

the demilune (the large projecting outwork behind 

the main fortification), and various dikes and 

ditches, were finished by early 1847. The fort 

received fairly minor repairs and regular 

maintenance over the next fourteen years. By 1861, 

the overall cost of Fort Pulaski totaled above one 

million dollars.22 

In 1848, a final significant addition to the landscape 

of Cockspur Island was completed, the Cockspur 

Island Lighthouse. Unfortunately, a hurricane 

destroyed the structure in 1854, but another 

lighthouse was completed on the same foundation 

in 1856. This still-standing, three-story brick tower 

lies on a narrow strip of oyster shells and mud at the 

southeast corner of the island and cost $6,000 to 

build.23 A sister lighthouse on Oyster Bed Island, 

north of Cockspur, was apparently built 

simultaneously with the Cockspur Lighthouse.24 

While the light of the Oyster Bed Lighthouse guided 

ships through the North Channel of the Savannah 

River, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse assisted 

sailors along their courses through the river’s South 

Channel. The Oyster Bed Lighthouse did not 

survive the Civil War battle at Fort Pulaski. The 

Cockspur Lighthouse ceased its operation during 

the Civil War, withstood artillery fire, and resumed 

service on Cockspur at the war’s end. Both the 

Assistant Engineer and the Inspector of the Sixth 

Lighthouse District, Charleston, discussed plans to 

construct an elevated walk between the fort and the 

lighthouse in 1874. The Engineer of the Sixth 

District in Baltimore did not approve of the 

construction and submitted his own plans. This 

conflict of opinion led to an inconclusive decision 

on the matter. A lighthouse inspector 

recommended in 1881 and 1884 that the light be 

discontinued after the hurricane of 1881 caused a 

twenty-three-foot rise in the sea level, partially 

submerging the structure. Other storms in 1893 and 

1894 further damaged the lighthouse, but it 

remained in operation until June 1909. At that time, 

the Secretary of the Pilots Association in Savannah 

informed the head of the Sixth Lighthouse District 

of the U.S. Lighthouse Service in Charleston that 

deepwater vessels traveled the North Channel along 

the north side of Cockspur Island without using the 

light. The deeply dredged North Channel proved to 

be an easier course than the shallow, narrower 

South Channel, which came to be used only for 

travel to Cockspur Island.25

The Civil War Years

In November 1860, Abraham Lincoln was narrowly 

elected to the presidency of the United States. A 

month later South Carolina seceded from the 

Union. The citizens of Georgia praised the news of 

19. Ralston B. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia. Handbook Series No. 18 (Washington, D.C, National Park 

Service, 1961); HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, Addendum to Fort Pulaski, 10.

20. Lattimore, 9. Some of the skilled workers were probably also slaves.

21. Lou Groh, Research Design for Archeological Investigations at Fort Pulaski National Monument Chatham County, Georgia 

for the Regionwide Archeological Survey Program 1999 Field Season (Tallahassee: Southeast Archeological Center 

National Park Service, 1999).

22. Young, “The Construction of Fort Pulaski,” 49. 

23. HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, Addendum to Fort Pulaski, 12.

24. Sandi McDaniel, “Tybee’s Loneliest Light,” Savannah Morning News, Tuesday 12 May 1992, Sec. D. 

25. Judith Collins, Historic Structure Assessment Report: The Cockspur Island Lighthouse (Atlanta: Southeast Regional Office, 

National Park Service [hereafter NPS-SERO], 1994).
8 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

the secession but were outraged the following week 

when U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson reinforced 

Union forces stationed at Fort Sumter in South 

Carolina. Although the U.S. Army already held the 

fort, Anderson’s operation occurred without 

notification to South Carolina, which considered 

the maneuver a threat to its sovereignty.26 In 

Georgia, Anderson’s action energized Savannah to 

defend its own maritime port of entry. Thus, on 

January 2, 1861, Governor Joseph E. Brown ordered 

the Georgia Volunteer Militia to take possession of 

the still ungarrisoned Fort Pulaski.27 Over the next 

few months, Confederate troops and rice plantation 

slaves feverishly worked to prepare the fort against 

Federal attack. In November of 1861, General 

Robert E. Lee returned to Fort Pulaski to strengthen 

its coastal defense. Confederate President Jefferson 

Davis had made Lee a Confederate brigadier general 

and military advisor earlier that year. In command 

of forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, 

Lee adopted a new strategy of defense that involved 

relocating seacoast island forces to the mainland. As 

a result, a battery of artillery then existing at Tybee 

Island was dismantled, and its heavy guns were 

ferried to Fort Pulaski.28

Union forces quickly occupied undefended Tybee 

Island and established a permanent garrison in 

December 1861. Soon afterwards, Union troops 

prepared to attack Fort Pulaski. In January and 

February 1862, these troops improved and guarded 

waterways to the north of Cockspur Island. They 

also constructed various batteries around the 

perimeter of Fort Pulaski, including a battery on 

Jones Island across the North Channel from 

Cockspur Island and a battery on Bird Island, 

26. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 12.

27. Ibid., 13.

FIGURE 4. Map of the “Mouth of the Savannah River” from Gillmore’s Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski, 1862

28. Ibid., 20.
National Park Service 9

situated in between the North and South Channels. 

The most significant emplacements, however, were 

eleven batteries positioned along the north shore of 

Tybee Island (Figure 4).29 During March, Fort 

Pulaski soldiers reported hearing movement at night 

across the South Channel. The fort’s Confederate 

commander, Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, wrote 

that “signs of activity on the part of the enemy were 

heard but not seen...the morning light revealed 

nothing to the closest scrutiny.”30

On the morning of April 10, 1862, Fort Pulaski was 

attacked by Union artillery after Col. Olmstead 

refused a formal demand to surrender. Fighting was 

intense during the morning hours, but by the day’s 

end, the battle was essentially over. At first, Union 

General Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding the siege, 

underestimated the impact of his attack. From 

Gillmore's vantage point on Tybee Island, only the 

“commencement of a breach” on the fort’s east wall 

could be seen.31 In fact, the southeast angle was 

largely demolished (Figure 5). After a few more 

hours of bombardment the next morning, Union 

artillery breached the southeast wall. The gaping 

hole in the fort created by these weapons allowed 

projectiles to penetrate dangerously close to Fort 

Pulaski’s north magazine, which held forty 

thousand pounds of black powder. Realizing his 

vulnerability and the futility of further resistance, 

Olmstead surrendered Fort Pulaski just after 2:00 

p.m. On this occasion, Olmstead remarked: “I yield 

my sword, but I trust I have not disgraced it.”32

The capture of Fort Pulaski by Union forces resulted 

from the efficacy of Gillmore’s new and previously 

controversial rifled guns. Many military experts, 

including Gillmore’s superior, General Thomas W. 

Sherman, believed that such weaponry could not 

penetrate the thick fort walls when fired from the 

distant Union batteries. However, Gillmore’s 

confidence in the new rifled guns and persistent 

firing strategy from carefully placed angles on Tybee 

Island proved his skeptics wrong. The seizure of 

Fort Pulaski resulted in a successful blockade of the 

29. Quincy A. Gillmore, Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski National Monument (1862; reprint, Gettysburg: Thomas 

Publications, 1988).

30. Charles H. Olmstead, “Fort Pulaski,” The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 1, no. 2 (June 1917): 98-105.

31. Quincy A. Gillmore, Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski National Monument, 35.

FIGURE 5. Photograph of crumbled brick at the fort’s southeast angle, 1862

32. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 34-35.
10 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Savannah River, the principal port of Georgia. The 

capture of the fortification thus helped to damage 

the economy of the Confederacy and contributed to 

the Union’s victory. However, the broader lesson of 

the battle at Fort Pulaski was best expressed by 

former park superintendent Ralston B. Lattimore. 

He called the event “one of the many mileposts in 

history” which taught both military experts and 

engineers that war strategy and fortification design 

needed to be revised. The new weapons of war, he 

added, branded Fort Pulaski “an interesting relic of 

another age.”33

 With the surrender of Fort Pulaski, Major General 

David Hunter, known as “Lincoln’s Abolitionist 

General,” ordered that local African-American 

slaves in the coastal low country be freed. In April 

1862, he issued General Order #7, which declared:

All persons of color lately held to involuntary 

service by enemies of the United States in Fort 

Pulaski and on Cockspur Island, Georgia, are 

hereby confiscated and declared free, in 

conformity with the law, and shall here after 

receive the fruits of their labor.34

As a result, many freed slaves fled to Fort Pulaski 

from throughout Coastal Georgia. Hunter quickly 

recruited them into the Federal Army, but his 

orders, given without authority from the War 

Department, were temporarily rescinded by 

President Lincoln. Later, on January 1, 1863, Lincoln 

restored this freedom by issuing the Emancipation 

Proclamation. Many ex-slaves then helped to form 

the core of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd South Carolina 

Volunteers. These soldiers comprised some of the 

earliest African-American units to serve in the 

Union Army.35

Following Fort Pulaski’s capture by Federal forces, a 

number of units served there. These included the 7th

Connecticut Regiment, the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy 

Artillery, and the 48th New York Volunteers (Figure 

6). In October 1864, the 157th New York Volunteers 

33. Ibid., 36.

FIGURE 6. The band of the 48th New York Volunteer Infantry posed in Fort Pulaski’s parade ground, c. 1862

34. Derek Smith, Civil War Savannah (Savannah: Frederic C. Beil, 1997), 87.

35. Ibid., 86.
National Park Service 11

were also stationed at Fort Pulaski and assigned to 

guard a group of Confederate prisoners of war later 

referred to as “The Immortal Six Hundred.”36 

Representing all Confederate states, some six 

hundred officers were initially imprisoned at Fort 

Delaware and later sent to Morris Island, South 

Carolina. Forty-nine of the men lay in hospitals 

while others had escaped, taken the oath of 

allegiance to the Union, were exchanged, remained 

unaccounted for, or passed away. When Union 

generals transferred the prisoners to Fort Pulaski, 

they numbered around 520.37 Colonel Philip P. 

Brown, commander of the fort, attempted to 

improve the prison conditions by requisitioning 

blankets, clothing, full Army rations, and fuel. 

When his superiors ignored the request, Brown won 

the respect of his prisoners by feeding them from his 

own garrison supplies.38 In November 1864, 197 of 

the prisoners were sent to Hilton Head to relieve 

overcrowding at Fort Pulaski. At Hilton Head, five 

of these men died. The Fort Pulaski prisoners, 

including the sick, spent the winter without 

blankets. They ate starvation rations of bread, 

cornmeal, and pickles. In March 1865, the 

remaining 290 of the original six hundred prisoners 

were in such a wretched condition that embarrassed 

Union officers sent them to Fort Delaware to be 

“fattened up” before their later release in July.39 

Nevertheless, only thirteen of these prisoners 

perished while at Fort Pulaski. Their remains lie 

buried across the moat from the north side of the 

demilune.

After the Civil War, Fort Pulaski saw no further 

combat or bloodshed, although it remained a 

military post for several years. The next chapter 

examines the history of the fort before its 

designation as a national monument.

36. Various stories exist to explain the origins of the label “The Immortal Six Hundred,” but the term does not appear to have 

come into use until near the end of the nineteenth century. Early published accounts by prisoners themselves mention 

“the 600,” but not “the Immortal 600.” According to Mauriel Joslyn, the term “The Immortal Six-Hundred” became 

popular in the South from about 1895, especially after Confederate officer John Ogden Murray published an 

autobiographical account of his experience as a prisoner in a book entitled The Immortal Six-Hundred (New York: The 

Neale Publishing Company, 1905). See Mauriel Joslyn, Immortal Captives: The Story of 600 Confederate Officers and the 

United States Prisoner of War Policy (Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Company, 1996).

37. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 34. 

38. Ibid., 40.

39. David M. Brewer and John E. Cornelison Jr., Archeological Testing and Remote Sensing Survey for the Graves of the 

Immortal 600: Fort Pulaski National Monument (Tallahassee: Southeast Archeological Center, National Park Service, 1998).
12 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 13

Chapter Two: Fort Pulaski Prior to 

the National Park Service

The Military Post after the 

Civil War, 1865-1880

Fort Pulaski continued to serve as a prison for 

former Confederate officials and Union troop 

deserters after the Civil War. U.S. Army units 

stationed at the fort until 1872 included the 30th

Maine Infantry and the 103rd United States Colored 

Troops. The Army soon took a serious interest in 

updating the fort’s design, which had, after all, failed 

to withstand its own artillery fire.1

 Thus, from 1869 

to 1872, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

modernized the fort by remodeling the demilune, 

installing underground magazines and passageways, 

and constructing gun emplacements.2

 The Corps 

drafted many plans for remodeling the demilune 

before choosing a preferred one. The new demilune 

mounds over the magazines created a significant 

topographical change. Funds to repair the 

drawbridge wharf, sea walls, roads, and the original 

construction village buildings used by the Army 

were also provided during these years as well.3

Despite the efforts to modernize Fort Pulaski after 

the Civil War, construction halted in 1872, the same 

year that the Corps of Engineers drew plans for a 

new fort on Tybee Island, which, unlike Fort Pulaski, 

directly faced the coast and was more suitable for 

use with improved long-range artillery. Hence, as 

military technology changed, the Army decided to 

replace the inland fortification and, in 1875, 

succeeded in acquiring land on Tybee Island for a 

new installation. The Army, however, had all but 

abandoned Fort Pulaski long before this event. On 

October 8, 1873, the last Army units stationed at Fort 

Pulaski, Batteries B and C, 1st Artillery, were 

withdrawn. Fort Pulaski officially closed on 

October 25, the day after the discharge of all enlisted 

men and the hospital matron.43 By 1880, Fort 

Pulaski stood vacant, except for an Army ordnance 

sergeant who remained as caretaker of the deserted 

post. Fort Pulaski was set aside as a military 

reservation for potential, if unspecified, future 

military use.

Fort Pulaski Military 

Reservation, 1881-1914

In August 1881, a destructive hurricane demolished 

the workmen’s village that had stood on Cockspur 

since 1831. The dike system also suffered damage, 

and few other buildings remained on the island after 

the storm. Surviving structures included the fort and 

the ordnance sergeant’s residence, believed to be 

located immediately north of the fort.5

 The Tybee 

Knoll Cut Range Lighthouse, built in 1879 on the 

western side of the island overlooking the South 

Channel, also survived the storm. A year after the 

hurricane, a boat house and keeper’s house were 

constructed on the southwestern face of the island 

near the lighthouse, followed by a wharf in 1888 and 

1. Historic American Building Survey (HABS), History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island. Addendum to Fort Pulaski 

(Washington, D.C., HABS No. GA-2158, 1998).

2. Ralston B. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia, Handbook Series No. 18 (Washington, D.C., National Park 

Service, 1961).

3. Quartermaster Gen. to Belknap, Secretary of War, 4 December 1869, Townsend, Adj. Gen., to Maj. Gen. Halleck, 25 August 

1870, “Fort Pulaski National Monument,” Georgia State Historic Preservation Office files, Atlanta, Georgia; HABS, History 

of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, 14.

4. Preliminary Inventory of the Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920, Volume IV, Military Installations, 

1999, RG 393, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

5. HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, 15.
14 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

an oil storage shed in 1893. The lighthouse was 

operated in conjunction with the Cockspur Island 

Lighthouse by the U.S. Lighthouse Service until the 

early twentieth century.6

Throughout the 1880s, the only residents of the 

otherwise uninhabited Cockspur Island consisted 

of the two lighthouse keepers and the ordnance 

sergeant.7 During this time, the Army decided 

which of its branches should assume responsibility 

for the maintenance of Fort Pulaski. The U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers was chosen, probably because 

of its periodic activity around Cockspur Island 

following the Civil War. The Corps officially became 

responsible for the fort on June 27, 1884.8 

The 1880s marked the beginning of dramatic 

physical changes to the general landscape of 

Cockspur Island. Col. Gillmore of the Corps, the 

same Gillmore who captured Fort Pulaski in 1862, 

conducted an inspection of the site in late 1884.9 

The following year, in a bid to improve navigation, 

the Corps began to construct a series of jetties 

around the mouth of the Savannah River. The last 

jetty was built between 1894 and 1896 and extended 

from the northeast tip of Cockspur Island eastward 

into the Atlantic Ocean.10 This long jetty caused 

sediment to be collected, which soon increased the 

size of the east side of the island. The dredging of 

the Savannah River also continued to enlarge the 

shores of the island. This practice started in 1867 

when the U.S. Quartermaster sought to employ the 

“Savannah River Dredge Machine” to deepen Fort 

Pulaski’s harbor area.11 Another physical change to 

the island was the disappearance of the tidal salt 

marsh between the western edge of Cockspur and 

Long Island, which resulted in the merging of the 

two islands. It is unclear whether the jetties, 

dredging, or both actions caused this landscape 

change.12

More construction on Cockspur Island and its 

surrounding area took place in the 1890s after 

additional storm damage. Between 1893 and 1906, a 

two-story, three-chimney house for the Cockspur 

Island lighthouse keeper was built and maintained 

on top of Fort Pulaski’s gorge terreplein, the grassy 

upper level of the fort.13 Seemingly an odd location 

for the keeper’s quarters, the location had the 

distinct advantage of being flood proof during 

inclement weather. However, the structure was not 

lightning proof and burned in 1925 after being 

struck during a storm.14 The Central of Georgia 

Railroad Company also laid a single-track railroad 

bed, between 1886 and 1887, which ran along the 

South Channel on McQueen’s Island from 

Savannah to Big Tybee Island. In 1894, the Corps 

proposed to extend the parade ground, but this plan 

was never realized.15 

In 1895, a year before Congress appropriated funds 

to build Fort Screven on Tybee Island, a rebellion 

against Spanish rule in Cuba began. This conflict, 

which also later led to the Spanish-American War, 

prompted Congress to authorize appropriations for 

the War Department to invigorate U.S. coastal 

defenses. Although Fort Pulaski’s walls were made 

obsolete by rifled canon during the Civil War, its 

location was still militarily important. The 

demilune thus acquired an additional mound over 

an underground room in its southeast corner. This 

mound housed controls for electric mines placed at 

the bottom of the North Channel of the Savannah 

River. A subsurface buoy floated above each mine, 

which sent an electric signal to the mining casemate 

at the fort if a passing ship hit it. Between 1898 and 

6. Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 1997 (Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 1994). Note, the term “U.S. Lighthouse 

Service” used in this text is a generic name used for simplicity in referring to the government authority responsible for 

lighthouses that was officially known by differing names through out the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries until it 

was absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939.

7. Ibid., 22.

8. Preliminary Inventory of the Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920, Volume IV, Military Installations, 

1999, RG 393. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

9. Colonel Gillmore to Capt. Thomas Baily, 5 December 1884, “Fort Pulaski National Monument,” Georgia State Historic 

Preservation Office files, Atlanta, Georgia.

10. HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, 16.

11. Colonel Reynolds, Savannah, to Colonel Low, A.G.M., Charleston, April 6, 1867, J. Stoddard, Commissioners of Pilotage, to 

Reynolds, 1867, “Fort Pulaski National Monument,” Georgia State Historic Preservation Office files, Atlanta, Georgia.

12. Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 23.

13. HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, 15.

14. Brown, Savannah Quarantine Station, to Howard, District Engineer’s Office, Savannah, 20 June 1925, “Civil Works Project 

Files--Savannah,” RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

15. Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 23.
National Park Service 15

1899, to provide additional harbor protection during 

the Spanish-American War, the War Department 

also built Battery Horace Hambright on Cockspur 

Island’s north shore. Battery Hambright contained 

three ammunition magazines and two gun 

emplacements. Like the mines, Battery Hambright 

never saw combat action. Meanwhile, as noted 

above, the Corps developed plans to build new 

coastal fortifications on Tybee Island. With war in 

Cuba, Congress listened to the Army’s arguments 

and, in 1896, finally authorized appropriations 

necessary to move the project forward. With the 

exception of Battery Hambright, no further 

modifications to Fort Pulaski were planned, and 

funds for improvements instead went to construct 

Fort Screven, which was completed in 1897. 

Increasingly, planners began to realize that Fort 

Pulaski was irrelevant from a military point-ofview.16

Another development on Cockspur Island occurred 

in May 8, 1889, when the War Department issued a 

revocable license to the City of Savannah to 

establish a quarantine station on the northwest 

portion of the island.176 A Caribbean-style raised 

cottage, still extant today, was completed in 1891 for 

the quarantine officer, and two years later, other 

construction for the station began, including a 

house for vessel crews and a disinfecting plant.18 In 

1899, the U.S. Marine Hospital Service took over the 

quarantine station, and by 1903, the growing station 

consisted of nine buildings. The station was built 

atop deposited sand and ballast from dredging 

vessels. Because the station was only one foot above 

spring tide, officials repeatedly requested additional 

deposits of dredged materials throughout the 

station’s operation in the early twentieth century. 

These requests suggest that a continued effort to 

prevent flooding remained a priority at the station 

even though wood and masonry posts elevated the 

wood-frame buildings.19 The quarantine station 

expanded when the War Department issued a 

license to the Treasury Department to occupy the 

west end of Cockspur Island in 1911. The license 

increased the size of the Quarantine Station to 

approximately 130 acres.20 New construction 

included the extension of the wharf, a new kitchen 

and dining hall, new quarters, and a barracks 

building. Decontamination facilities were later 

constructed in anticipation of the arrival of German 

prisoners of war in 1918 and 1919. World War I 

ended, however, before the new hospital could be 

used. Twenty additional buildings stood at the 

station by the late 1920s. Despite $75,000 worth of 

improvements at the Quarantine Station in 1936, the 

Bureau of Public Health closed the station at 

Cockspur Island the following March upon the 

establishment of new headquarters in Savannah.21 

By 1910, Fort Pulaski and the surrounding grounds 

showed evidence of deterioration and neglect. 

Problems included decayed interior woodwork, a 

crumbled coping around the top of the wall due to 

vegetation, and cow manure from about a dozen 

animals owned by the lighthouse keeper littering 

the casemates.22 The lighthouse keeper served as 

overseer of the fort only to prevent vandalism, and 

for many years no money was allotted for fort repair 

and preservation.23 When a 1913 fort inspection 

reported the lighthouse keeper had vacated the 

reservation, which left the fort without a caretaker, 

steps were taken to obtain a full-time custodian as 

well as modest appropriations from Congress for 

repair work. In a letter to the Adjutant General at 

Governor’s Island, Colonel Dan C. Kingman of the 

Corps made a plea for repair funding in 1913. He 

wrote:

Fort Pulaski is a fine specimen of a brick 

fort...The wet ditch is filled with mud and 

grown up with weeds, the drawbridge is gone, 

and the gates are in such condition as would 

hardly exclude anyone who cared to enter it. I 

think that all these forts should be maintained. 

16. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 42; Jaymi Freiden, “History by the Sea,” Savannah Morning News, 24 October 

1999.

17. Mike Capps, “Task Directive Administrative History Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1994, park files, Fort Pulaski 

National Monument (hereafter, FPNM).

18. HABS, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, 17.

19. Ibid., 16.

20. Ibid., 18.

21. Lattimore to NPS Director, 8 January 1937, park files, FPNM.

22. A.M. Hunter, Inspector General, to Adjut. General, Dept. of the Gulf, 16 December 1910, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, 

Atlanta.

23. Col. Dan C. Kingman, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to Chief of Engineers, 6 January 1911, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, 

Atlanta.
16 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

The time may come when they will be found 

useful...it seems a pity to see the forces of 

nature gradually destroying them.24

The Fort Pulaski keeper position promised no pay 

but permitted the occupancy of the house atop the 

fort. The keeper had the following responsibilities: 

refraining from the sale of liquor on the reservation, 

preventing trespassing at the fort, and maintaining 

the house and trees on the grounds. In the next few 

years, the poor condition of the fort and grounds 

remained the same, and the turnover for the 

caretaker position was high.25 Mr. F. M. Lales 

resided in the house on top of Fort Pulaski and 

acted as the first full-time caretaker at the island. 

Within a few weeks, he resigned his position 

because of the complications with making a living at 

Cockspur Island.26 The next caretaker, J. Harry 

McLendon, stayed at Fort Pulaski for nearly two 

years until poor health led to his resignation in July 

1916.27

The American Antiquities 

Act and the Establishment 

of the National Park 

Service

Deteriorating conditions at Fort Pulaski would 

likely have continued had the Navy and the 

Lighthouse Service remained solely responsible for 

the Civil War fortress. Fortunately, however, a train 

of events interacted to bring Fort Pulaski under the 

administration of the National Park Service. 

Starting at the end of the nineteenth century, the 

United States entered into a period of reform that 

historians have labeled the Progressive Era. Middleclass citizens, concerned by problems stemming 

from rapid industrialization and population growth, 

urbanization, and cultural change, launched a wideranging social and political reform movement. 

Nationalism and renewed respect for traditional 

American symbols generated restrictive antiimmigrant laws, but also helped mobilize support 

for the preservation ethos emerging from within 

popular culture and from such professional fields as 

forestry. Conservation measures were successfully 

applied to preserve forests and scenic wonders in 

the West. Not coincidentally, established patriotic 

organizations began to advocate the preservation of 

buildings and artifacts that symbolized the virtuous 

American past. Many Americans also became 

increasingly concerned about “pot-hunting” 

activities at prehistoric archeological and historic 

architectural sites that destroyed valuable 

knowledge about the past. These relics of the past, 

termed “antiquities,” were in desperate need of 

protection.

In 1906, a long campaign by reformers resulted in 

the passage of Iowa Representative John F. Lacey’s 

“Act For the Preservation of American Antiquities.” 

The Antiquities Act authorized the President of the 

United States to proclaim “historic landmarks, 

historic and prehistoric structures, and other 

objects of historic or scientific interest” as national 

monuments. Similar to national parks established 

by Congress, but without the same level of 

protection, national monuments were nevertheless 

“set aside” and protected from encroachment. The 

Antiquities Act created an important lever for 

preserving public lands in that it eschewed the 

difficult legislative process by giving the president 

authority to decree national monuments. One 

drawback of the Antiquities Act, however, was that it 

placed more than one agency in charge of the 

administration of the monuments. The secretary of 

the department having jurisdiction over the land on 

which the antiquity was located retained control of 

the monument. Naturally, this division resulted in 

uneven administration and maintenance of the 

monuments by the Departments of Interior, War, 

and Agriculture. Some monuments received 

improvements while others continued to deteriorate 

or suffer from vandalism.28

By 1910, twelve national parks and thirteen national 

monuments existed. J. Horace McFarland, 

24. Col. Kingman to Adjut. General, Headquarters Eastern Division, Governors Island, NY, 18 February 1913, RG 77, Box 1, 

National Archives, Atlanta.

25. W.C. Langfitt, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to J. Harry McLendon, 19 October 1914, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, 

Atlanta.

26. William H. Myers to District Engineer’s Office, Savannah, 4 July 1914, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

27. J. H. McLendon to Thomas Lynch, Fort Screven, 28 July 1916, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

28. Harlan D. Unrau and G. Frank Williss, Administrative History: Expansion of the National Park Service in the 1930s

(Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1983).
National Park Service 17

president of the American Civic Association, led a 

group of enthusiasts to take action in lobbying for 

the formation of one governing bureau to 

administer the parks. At the same time, the 

Secretary of the Interior produced a proposal for a 

park bureau. Congress remained uninterested but 

controversy among conservationists over how to 

manage the national parks and monuments 

continued and grew more heated.29 Some 

conservationists wanted to utilize the parks by 

harnessing water through dam construction, while 

others sought strict preservation of park natural 

resources.30 Progress in the effort to create a new 

agency was made when the Interior Department 

hired Stephen T. Mather. A wealthy, well-connected 

businessman, Mather came to Washington in 

January 1915 as special assistant to Secretary 

Franklin K. Lane for national park concerns.

After a climactic national debate in 1913 over the 

daming of Hetch-Hetchy, a scenic valley within 

Yosemite National Park, to meet the water and 

power demands of San Francisco, the need for a 

national service to protect the nation’s parks and 

monuments became more widely acknowledged, if 

only to balance the influence of utilitarian 

conservationists whose views were already 

institutionalized through the U.S. Geological Survey 

and the U.S. Forestry and Reclamation Services. 

Mather, working closely with his assistant, Horace 

M. Albright, continuously promoted the economic 

usefulness of parks as tourist destinations. Mather 

even hired a publicist and convinced several western 

railroads to fund an elaborately illustrated 

publication, The National Parks Portfolio, which was 

sent to congressmen and others of influence. 

Through such efforts, Mather and Albright 

successfully campaigned to increase the popularity 

of national parks and to convince Congress to 

establish a single agency to govern them. President 

Woodrow Wilson approved the legislation that 

formed the National Park Service within the 

Department of the Interior on August 25, 1916. 

Interior Secretary Franklin K. Lane then appointed 

Mather to be the first NPS Director.31

The legislation that created the National Park 

Service had one significant failing. Monuments 

within the Departments of War and Agriculture 

remained administered by those agencies. The Park 

Service had to wait another seventeen years to take 

possession of these areas. Moreover, the onset of 

U.S. involvement in World War I and the illness of 

Mather delayed the growth and consolidation of the 

new system. Eventually, however, Mather and 

Albright, who was appointed Assistant NPS 

Director in 1919, began to develop clearly defined 

park standards and policies, took steps to 

incorporate the neglected national monuments into 

the park system, and sought to create new parks as 

well. Albright’s particular focus was to transfer War 

Department parks and monuments to the NPS. In 

1923, President Warren G. Harding outlined a major 

reorganization proposal of the executive 

departments that included recommendations to 

transfer nine military parks to the Department of 

the Interior. The War Department approved of the 

notion to transfer parks under its jurisdiction, 

largely as a cost-cutting move. However, the 

transfer proposal somehow became, in Albright’s 

words, “lost in the shuffle” and was ignored by the 

Joint Committee on Reorganization.32

The transfer proposal received further 

consideration during the administration of Herbert 

Hoover. In 1928, Secretary of the Interior Hubert 

Work backed a bill, drafted by Interior and War 

Department staff and sent to Congress, that 

proposed the transfer of all War Department 

military parks, national monuments, and national 

parks to the Department of the Interior. Congress, 

however, quarreled over the bill. Opponents argued 

about the different goals of the two agencies, 

including potential loss of respect if military 

cemeteries were managed by a civilian agency also 

responsible for public leisure. In 1929, the Park 

Service, now directed by Albright, finally began to 

make progress on the issue. After his inauguration, 

President Hoover appointed John W. Good and Ray 

L. Wilbur to be Secretaries of War and Interior, 

respectively. Both happened to be old Albright 

acquaintances. Hoover sent several messages to 

Congress about reorganizing the executive branch, 

but his administration quickly became preoccupied 

by the Great Depression. With the election of 

Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, Albright’s initiative 

29. Ibid.,18-19.

30. Barry Mackintosh, The National Park Service: Shaping the System (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1991), 18-19.

31. Unrau and Williss, Administrative History: Expansion of the National Park Service in the 1930s, 21.

32. Ibid., 22-50.
18 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

finally succeeded. When invited on an excursion by 

President Roosevelt in April 1933, Albright jumped 

at the chance to convince the new president of the 

need to consolidate administration of parks and 

monuments. Roosevelt concurred and permitted 

Albright to present the necessary materials to the 

chief of staff of the reorganization activities. On 

August 10, 1933, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 

6166 to consolidate administrative functions of 

public buildings, reservations, national parks, 

national monuments, and some national cemeteries 

in the Department of the Interior.33

Designation of Fort Pulaski 

as a National Monument, 

1915-1933

Militarily, the historic significance of Fort Pulaski 

lies largely in the successful breaching of its 

ramparts in 1862 by Union gunners using modern 

rifled cannon, an event that necessitated the 

abandonment of masonry fortification 

worldwide.34 The War Department recognized 

Fort Pulaski’s historic and architectural significance 

when it announced the selection of the fort for 

consideration as a national monument under the 

American Antiquities Act on July 17, 1915. 

Unfortunately, World War I postponed further 

efforts to preserve the site.35 In 1917, Colonel John 

Millis, the District Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers in Savannah, made some effort to 

improve Fort Pulaski. Between 1917 and 1918, 

Millis’s interest in Fort Pulaski led him frequently to 

consult with Thomas Purse, Secretary of the 

Savannah Board of Trade, who helped to obtain 

limited War Department funding for improvements. 

In December 1917, a small allotment of $500 thus 

enabled the clearing of the ridge around the fort and 

the removal of vegetation to allow visitors, arriving 

by boat, a better view of the structure.36 The 

process unearthed the gravestones of Lieutenant 

Robert Rowan, who died in 1800, and an infant, 

along with countless artifacts from the Civil War 

battle, including an old cannon. Valuable peach 

and fig trees, however, were left standing in the 

parade ground.37 The last resident caretaker of 

Fort Pulaski was Mrs. E. J. Bergman. From 1916-

1921, Bergman raised cows, hogs, and chickens on 

the island. Fort inspectors reported that her hogs 

caused injury to Rowan’s gravesite. While Bergman 

repaired this damage, she was unable or unwilling 

to make other necessary repairs.38

Photographs were taken of the fort in January 1918 

and sent, along with an historical outline of Fort 

Pulaski, to the editor of Town and Country magazine 

for an article then being published.39 Impressed by 

the work and recently discovered artifacts, Colonel 

Millis recommended that the War Department 

pursue further restoration.40 An additional 

allotment of $2,300 was issued in 1918 for the 

“Preservation and Repair of old Fort Pulaski.”41 

Millis further aided the clean-up work of the fort 

and grounds by locating original U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers construction plans.42 

With increased funding and ongoing work at the 

fort, more individuals and groups became involved 

in the preservation of Fort Pulaski. The City of 

Savannah hoped to acquire possession of Fort 

Pulaski to make it into a public park. The tourism 

committee of the Savannah Board of Trade 

inspected the fort and determined that further 

repairs and maintenance would bring tourists from 

around the world.43 This organization, along with 

Colonel Millis’s successor, District Engineer Col. F. 

W. Alstaetter, also urged national monument status 

for Fort Pulaski. In January 1924, their efforts were 

33. Ibid., 50-59. The consolidation was not absolute, however. Arlington National Cemetery, for example, is still managed by 

the U.S. Army and not an Interior Department agency. 

34. Thomas Purse, Secretary of the Savannah Board of Trade, to Mr. Henry Sanderson, New York City, 5 February 1918, RG 77, 

Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

35. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 43.

36. Thomas F. Lynch to District Engineer’s Office, Savannah, 11 December 1917, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

37. John Millis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to Chief of Engineers, Washington, D.C., 25 February 1918, RG 77, Box 1, 

National Archives, Atlanta.

38. District Engineer’s Office to Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, 6 October 1921, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

39. Purse to Sanderson, 5 February 1918, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

40. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 43.

41. Millis to Lynch, 26 February 1918, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

42. “Fort Pulaski to be Improved by the Government,” The Savannah Press, 27 November 1924, RG 77, Box 1, National 

Archives Atlanta.

43. “Make Pulaski Public Park,” The Savannah Press, 10 June 1924, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.
National Park Service 19

rewarded when Representative Charles G. Edwards, 

1

st District of Georgia, introduced a bill in Congress 

to make the fort a national monument.44 Finally, 

on October 15, 1924, Fort Pulaski officially became a 

national monument by a proclamation of President 

Calvin Coolidge . 

 On January 12, 1925, the Board of Directors of the 

Savannah Board of Trade resolved to support a 

survey of Fort Pulaski to determine the scope and 

cost of work to put it in proper condition for public 

visitation.45 Later that month, Maj. Dan I. Sultan, 

yet another Corps successor to Colonel Millis in 

Savannah, visited Fort Pulaski. He was 

accompanied by several members of the Savannah 

Board of Trade and Miss Harriet Colquitt of The 

Savannah Press. Major Sultan inspected the fort to 

make preservation recommendations.46 Soon 

after, he estimated that $6,930 was needed to 

preserve twenty acres comprising the fort and its 

encompassing ditches and embankments.47 The 

funds were not intended to restore the fort. Instead, 

the Corps hoped to make the property and structure 

accessible to visitors. The work included rebuilding 

the wharf on the South Channel, the best approach 

to the fort, along with the causeway leading from the 

wharf to the fort. By using a ditching machine, the 

estimate concluded that the sluiceway and moat 

could be excavated to allow fresh salt water entry at 

high tide at a cost of about $2,000. The estimate also 

figured the expense of cleaning out debris and 

improving drainage from the fort’s interior, building 

a walkway inside and around the structure, 

repairing the caretaker’s dwelling on the fort 

terreplein, rebuilding the moat bridge, and oiling 

the waterways to help control mosquitoes (Figures 

7, 8, 9). Another $1,500 was allocated for annual 

maintenance costs.48 By maintaining the fort, the 

War Department expressed an entrenched view that 

the structure retained at least marginal utility for 

military purposes, but the fort was not a high 

spending priority.

44. Lattimore, Fort Pulaski National Monument, 43.

45. Purse to Walter F. George and W. J. Harris, Senate Chamber, Washington, D.C., 17 January 1925, RG 77, Box 1, National 

Archives, Atlanta. 

46. “Important Step Toward Making Fort Memorial,” The Savannah Press [January 1925], RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, 

Atlanta. 

47. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Estimate on Maintenance and Preservation of Fort Pulaski,” January 1925, RG 77, Box 1, 

National Archives, Atlanta.

FIGURE 7. View on top of fort terreplein before restoration work, HABS photo, c. 1930

48. Major Dan Sultan, District Engineer, to Major Tompkins, 9 February 1925, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.
20 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Preservation efforts at Fort Pulaski remained 

unsettled for the next several years. Supervision of 

the national monument was formally transferred 

from the Corps Office in Savannah to the 

Quartermaster Department of the Army in August 

1925. This transfer placed the quartermaster at Fort 

Screven in charge of Fort Pulaski.49 In January 

1926, Congressman Charles G. Edwards, who had 

introduced the congressional bill to make Fort 

Pulaski a national monument, proposed another bill 

designed to transfer the fort to the City of Savannah 

as a national military memorial in honor of Count 

Pulaski.50 This bill also provided an appropriation 

of $100,000 for the repair and preservation of the 

monument.51 Predictably, the War Department 

opposed the bill, probably seeing no advantage in 

spending so much to develop Savannah’s tourism 

industry, but hoping to retain the fort for some 

unspecified future use. Regardless, before the 

Senate Military Affairs committee, Secretary of War 

Dwight F. Davis argued:

It is the view of the War Department that 

national military parks should, as a general 

thing, commemorate battles of great 

importance and far reaching effect, that they 

should cover a comparatively large area of 

ground, probably some thousands of acres, and 

be so marked and improved as to make them 

into real parks available for detailed study by 

military authorities, the battle lines and 

operations being clearly indicated on the 

ground. Fort Pulaski does not come within this 

view.52

The bill failed, but Congressman Edwards persisted 

in his attempt to obtain funding for Fort Pulaski 

repairs and preservation. Another bill, introduced 

to Congress by Edwards in January 1927, called for 

an appropriation of $12,040 to rebuild the burned 

caretaker’s house atop the fort, provide for the 

keeper’s salary, and maintain the monument for a 

year.53 Like the bill to make Fort Pulaski a national 

military memorial, Congress rejected this 

preservation legislation. However, the executive 

branch began planning its own preservation 

arrangement for Fort Pulaski. In April 1928, 

Secretary of War Davis and Secretary of the Interior 

49. “Fort Pulaski in Charge Quartermaster,” The Savannah Press, 13 August 1925, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

50. “Bill to Preserve Old Fort Pulaski,” Savannah Morning News, 8 January 1926, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

51. “Edwards Wants to Save Fort Pulaski,” The Savannah Press, 7 January 1926, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

52. “Introduces Bill For Fort Pulaski,” The Savannah Morning News, 19 January 1927, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

53. Ibid.

FIGURE 8. Visitors at sallyport, looking across moat toward demilune and fort, before restoration work, HABS 2158 photo, c. 1930
National Park Service 21

Hubert Work backed efforts by Mather and 

Albright to transfer national military parks, national 

parks, and national monuments, including Fort 

Pulaski, to NPS custody. At that time, the Park 

Service had jurisdiction over nineteen national 

parks and thirty-tw0 national monuments.54 Fort 

Pulaski’s contested administrative status was 

determined by President Roosevelt’s Executive 

Order 6166. The government reorganization of 1932 

and the transfer of all War and Agriculture 

Department parks and monuments to the NPS 

ended military administration of Fort Pulaski NM 

until World War II. 

54. “Want Transfer of Fort Pulaski,” Savannah Morning News, 24 April 1928, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta.

FIGURE 9. View of moat, looking toward the fort, before restoration work, HABS 2158 photo, c. 1930
22 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 23

Chapter Three: Development of 

Fort Pulaski National Monument

National Park Service officials began efforts to 

acquire additional land to develop and better 

protect Fort Pulaski National Monument soon after 

its transfer from the War Department in 1933. Under 

NPS management, two significant periods of 

development have occurred at the park. First, New 

Deal programs of the 1930s stabilized the massive 

brick fort, restored the landscape, and brought 

modern technology to the park. Next, the Mission 

66 program of the late 1950s and early 1960s 

improved interpretation and park maintenance and 

funded the construction of the Visitor Center. 

Land Acquisition at Fort 

Pulaski NM

Originally, land set aside for the monument included 

approximately twenty acres. Historic dikes and 

ditches surrounding the fort marked the boundary. 

The State of Georgia donated 297.39 acres to the 

Department of the Interior in 1935. This land 

included the east end of Cockspur Island and 

portions of the abandoned right-of-way of the 

Central of Georgia Railroad on McQueen’s Island. 

The rapid progress of development at Fort Pulaski 

under the NPS led Congress to pass an act in 1936 to 

extend the western boundary of the monument to 

the eastern property line of the U.S. Public Health 

Service Quarantine Station. This act expanded Fort 

Pulaski National Monument to nearly five hundred 

acres and authorized the Secretary of the Interior to 

accept lands, easements, and improvements on 

McQueen’s and Tybee Islands that might be donated 

to the monument. It also permitted the 

construction of a bridge across the South Channel 

from McQueen's Island to Cockspur Island and 

authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use 

the strip of land along the north shore of the island 

for the deposition of dredged materials.1

The Quarantine Station closed in 1937, and the NPS 

acquired the area in 1954. On January 20, 1939, the 

State of Georgia then deeded five thousand acres of 

marshland on McQueen's Island (south of the 

South Channel) from Lazaretto Creek to the Tybee 

River to St. Augustine Creek. These two 

acquisitions increased Fort Pulaski to 5,623 acres. In 

1959, the old Cockspur Island Lighthouse 

Reservation on two and one half acres at the 

southeast corner of the island was also added to the 

monument.2

 With the exception of minor rights-ofway shifts for bridge relocations on U.S. Highway 

80, Fort Pulaski’s land status has not changed since 

1959.3

New Deal Agencies and 

Programs at Fort Pulaski 

NM, 1933-1941

When the United States entered the Great 

Depression in the early 1930s, unemployment 

among young men and women grew faster than 

among older working adults. In fact, 30 percent of 

employed youth worked only part-time. President 

Herbert Hoover attempted to bolster the devastated 

economy by appropriating money for road 

construction in national parks and monuments. 

This public works construction did little to improve 

the economic condition of the country. Large-scale 

improvements awaited the election of President 

Franklin Roosevelt in 1932. As governor of New 

1. Farris Cadle, “Title Abstract for Cockspur Island,” 2000, park files, Fort Pulaski National Monument (hereafter, FPNM).

2. Ibid.

3. “Addendum to Land Protection Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1992, park files, FPNM. 
24 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

York, Roosevelt gained experience in implementing 

emergency relief work when he created forestry 

projects for the unemployed in the areas of 

reforestation, fire-fighting, insect control, road and 

trail construction, and many other projects. Several 

other states established similar programs.4 

Roosevelt’s prior experience with relief work helped 

launch the New Deal during the first year of his 

presidency. Under the New Deal several new 

federal agencies and programs were created that put 

thousands of men and women to work, often in 

projects to revitalize the country’s natural and 

historic resources. 

In 1933, the NPS acquired Fort Pulaski NM from the 

War Department, but years of prior neglect ensured 

that years of further effort were required to 

rehabilitate the fort and its grounds. The first steps 

in this process centered on park development. 

Fortunately, several New Deal agencies, especially 

the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Civilian 

Conservation Corps (CCC), and the Public Works 

Administration (PWA), were able to help Fort 

Pulaski achieve many of its early development goals.

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

On November 9, 1933, the short-lived Civil Works 

Administration was established with the goal to 

employ four million Americans. The CWA, which 

was established only to provide support through the 

winter of 1933-1934, consisted of a temporary federal 

agency designed to repair and renovate existing 

facilities for small projects that required “a 

minimum of materials” and could be completed by 

February 1934. Most CWA funding came out of the 

PWA.5

From December 1933 to late April 1934, funds 

appropriated under the CWA program enabled the 

earliest work at Fort Pulaski. A unit of 212 men 

began cleaning up Cockspur to prepare for the 

development of the monument.6 These small 

projects included removing dense vegetation from 

the parade ground and fort walls, and conducting a 

general engineering survey. The CWA work also 

constructed a small landing walk eight feet wide for 

ferry transport on the South Channel. Laborers 

partially excavated the main drainage canal, but the 

termination of CWA money postponed this 

development task. While brief in duration and small 

in scope, the CWA work succeeded in 

accomplishing a general clean-up of Cockspur 

Island for the incoming CCC enrollees and PWA 

projects.7

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

On March 31, 1933, an emergency relief bill proposed 

by President Roosevelt was signed into law. The bill 

created the Civilian Conservation Corps, a program 

to provide vocational training and employment for 

4. John Paige, The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History 

(Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1985).

FIGURE 10. CCC enrollees place concrete footings in parade 

ground for gorge sidewalk construction, October 1934

5. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1937, park files, FPNM.

6. “Fort Pulaski Project to be Developed on Generous Scale” Savannah Morning News, 3 February 1934, in “The Story of Fort 

Pulaski, Savannah River, Georgia,” 1945, The Gamble Collection, Savannah Public Library, Savannah.

7. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1936, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 25

single young men between the ages of 18 and 25. To 

initiate the program, the Department of Labor 

recruited some 250,000 enrollees. The Army 

prepared and eventually supervised work camps, 

and the NPS and the U.S. Forest Service supervised 

assignments. CCC workers performed their duties 

under a military-like regime of fitness and discipline 

and were usually required to send $25 of their $30 

monthly paycheck home to their families. However, 

CCC positions were highly competitive and eagerly 

sought by enrollees. Until 1937, the CCC was 

officially called “the Emergency Conservation 

Work.” After press reports continued to use the 

former term, however, the name was changed to the 

Civilian Conservation Corps. By May 1933, the NPS 

had prepared 12,600 men to be employed within 

national parks and monuments in sixty-three 

camps. The Washington Office approved CCC 

projects, but park superintendents administered the 

program. Architects, foresters, engineers, and 

historical technicians also reviewed plans for NPS 

projects involving natural and cultural resources.8

 In the early years, CCC enlistments gradually 

increased. The peak year was 1936 when the CCC 

workforce reached 350,000. Realizing that the 

program was politically and economically 

unsustainable at this level, program officials 

unsuccessfully sought to transform the CCC into a 

smaller, but permanent government agency. 

Funding cutbacks, planned force reductions, and 

the closing of more CCC camps each year gradually 

curtailed CCC projects, especially after Congress 

voted against the establishment of a permanent 

agency. Later, the CCC even lost its status as an 

independent agency when Roosevelt consolidated 

all federal relief programs under the Reorganization 

Act of 1939. In 1940, the demise of the CCC was 

assured by the onset of war in Europe and growing 

congressional opposition to continuing Roosevelt’s 

New Deal.9 Fewer applicants and enrollees, and 

increased program desertion for better jobs, also 

helped decrease the size of the CCC. Moreover, 

public support for the program declined as 

unemployment became less severe and as calls 

mounted for building the nation’s defense. In 1941, 

the entry of the United States into World War II 

prompted the NPS to close all CCC camps not 

related to the war effort. Congress finally voted to 

terminate the CCC in July 1942.10

8. Paige, The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History, 10-11, 40.

FIGURE 11. CCC enrollees excavate a ditch at Fort Pulaski, May 1936

9. Ibid., 12-29.

10. Paige, The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History, 29-34.
26 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

The Civilian Conservation Corps was ultimately 

impossible to sustain, but it made contributions to 

the development of the nation’s parks that are in 

many ways unparalleled. CCC work at Fort Pulaski 

NM is a case in point. In May 1934, the Treasury 

Department authorized the NPS to establish CCC 

Camp 460 on the northwest shore of Cockspur 

Island directly east of the old Public Health Service 

Quarantine Station. This location proved to be ideal 

because of its access to a first class ship’s dock and 

short fifteen-minute walk to the fort. Extra 

buildings at the quarantine station, built at the end 

of World War I, provided quarters for enrollees. 

Some buildings were moved or demolished to 

accommodate the CCC camp. The Public Health 

Service cooperated with the NPS throughout the 

camp’s construction.11 

Originally, about 175 CCC men set up camp at Fort 

Pulaski. The first tasks performed by the new 

enrollees involved drainage, landscaping, and 

mosquito control. Enrollees also constructed a 

gorge sidewalk in the parade ground (Figure 10). 

They also excavated some 100,000 cubic yards, 

cleared 100 acres of forest, constructed 2500 cubic 

yards of superficial drainage, and built five miles of 

trails through the wooded areas on the island. 

Major CCC projects also included the rebuilding of 

the island’s dyke system to prevent flooding, the 

digging of canals and ditches (Figure 11), and the 

excavation of the moat surrounding the fort. The 

NPS devised a development plan to restore the 

outer dike of the old system and install modern tide 

gates along the inner component. CCC workers 

hand-excavated the moat and main ditch until 

excavation equipment, including a suction pump 

with a capacity of 30,000 gallons per hour, arrived in 

October 1934. In the late spring of 1935, workers 

disposed of an estimated 40,000 cubic yards of dirt 

by distribution to dikes, the parade ground (Figure 

12), low areas of the demilune, and to other such 

places.12 Salt water finally filled the moat in 

December 1935 when the metal tide gate was 

opened, letting in water from the Savannah River for 

the first time in 60 years.13 

During the first year of CCC work at Fort Pulaski, an 

average of 27.5 men per working day carried out 

duties to improve the park’s landscape.14 In July 

1934, the number of CCC enrollees dwindled to 

thirty men after 114 workers were discharged. The 

Superintendent’s Monthly Report in November 

requested the continuation of the CCC camp for 

another year should the CCC program carry 

through, and by January 1935, the camp size had 

increased to 242 men.15

FIGURE 12. Truck dumps moat dirt into parade ground trench, 

June 1935

11. Reaville M. Brown, Engineer, to Oliver G. Taylor, Chief, 27 March 1934, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, 

“Task Directive Administrative History Fort Pulaski,” 1994, park files, FPNM.

12. “Cockspur Island Now Modernized,” Savannah Morning News, 21 October 1934, in “The Story of Fort Pulaski, Savannah 

River, Georgia,” 1945, The Gamble Collection, Savannah Public Library, Savannah.

13. “Pulaski Moat to be Filled Today” Savannah Morning News, December 19, 1935, in “The Story of Fort Pulaski, Savannah 

River, Georgia,” 1945, The Gamble Collection, Savannah Public Library, Savannah.

14. “Report on Landscape Work Accomplished During the Fifth ECW Enrollment Period,” 1935, microfiche files, National Park 

Service, Southeast Regional Office (hereafter, NPS-SERO).
National Park Service 27

 By June 1936, the CCC had filled the swampy areas 

in the parade ground of the fort, built trails in 

wooded areas of the island using oyster shells, 

constructed several miles of truck roads, drilled an 

artesian well for use at the fort, and rebuilt tide 

gates. These projects enabled workers and visitors 

to access various parts of the fortification and 

Cockspur Island. Equally as important, restoration 

efforts allowed Fort Pulaski to convey its lost 

historic character, which greatly increased its appeal 

to visitors. Total CCC expenditures in this two-year 

period totaled $99,000.16

By the end of 1938, the CCC maintained the ferry 

service to and from the island. It also filled in 

marshes to prepare for the construction of a bridge 

across the South Channel. That same year, however, 

a significant portion of camp funds and labor was 

shifted from use at Fort Pulaski NM to the CCC 

camp at Robert Fechner Park southeast of 

Savannah. Other resources needed for Fort Pulaski 

restoration, such as engineering equipment, also 

became less available. Major jobs thus went 

unfinished and park maintenance declined. Still, 

the following year, the CCC demolished five 

buildings at the quarantine station, which had 

closed in March 1937, and performed miscellaneous 

maintenance and repairs on the fort, roads, and 

parking area.17

Cutbacks of the CCC work at Fort Pulaski NM 

foreshadowed the closing of the camp. Park 

Superintendent James Holland was dismayed about 

this prospect. He believed it would be a severe 

setback for the work that remained to be done at the 

park. During March and April 1940 Holland 

requested extensions to complete ongoing CCC 

projects, which the acting Regional Director 

granted. Transfers and discharges reduced the 

number of enrollees to one hundred, half the 

normal number. Some of the last CCC projects 

involved repairing the riprap at the main tide gate, 

digging trenches for expanding phone lines on the 

island, clearing ditches for mosquito control, 

hauling in dirt from Fechner Park, and erecting a 

sign for the park entrance. Despite Superintendent 

Holland’s concerns about remaining projects, CCC 

workers did complete most of their major 

assignments at Fort Pulaski by May 1941, when CCC 

Camp 460 was transferred to Florida for other 

15. Brown to Taylor, 18 January 1935, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Capps, “Task Directive Administrative History Fort 

Pulaski.” 

16. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1936, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 13. PWA installs domestic water tank supply on fort terreplein, November 1935

17. Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938-1939, park files, FPNM.
28 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

duties. A year later the CCC program itself was 

terminated as the nation shifted to a wartime 

economy.18

Public Works Administration (PWA)

On June 16, 1933, shortly after the creation of the 

CCC, President Roosevelt signed a bill giving birth 

to the Public Works Administration. Headed by 

Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, this act 

created an agency that administered the 

construction of various public works such as public 

buildings, bridges, dams, and housing 

developments. The PWA provided funds to pay 30 

percent of the costs for labor and materials and 

often loaned the remaining balance to the state or 

municipality if necessary.19

 At Fort Pulaski NM, the CCC labored on projects 

that required mostly digging while the PWA 

concentrated on more technical jobs. PWA workers 

were highly skilled and experienced craftsmen who 

accomplished technical repairs while CCC workers 

carried out any project-related excavation or 

backfilling. Actual PWA work began in September 

1934 after months of planning fort restoration. One 

important project used both CCC labor and PWA 

expertise to excavate the fort’s terreplein to fix the 

lead roof and install three water storage tanks 

(Figure 13) to meet domestic and fire-fighting needs. 

Other PWA work during 1935 consisted of restoring 

the officers’ quarters and barracks rooms in the fort 

gorge, repairing the gorge walk and piazza, and 

rebuilding the wooden casemate fronts. PWA 

workers also rebuilt the fort’s northwest stairway 

and repointed brickwork throughout the fort and 

scarp wall of the demilune. The gorge and demilune 

rooms received wiring for electric lights and a PWAfunded phoneline was installed between the fort 

and the quarantine station. By December 1935, the 

fort’s newly restored interior featured a park 

administrative office, a museum room, and comfort 

stations. Bowing to cultural conventions of the 

time, Casemate 57 had restrooms designated for 

“white” visitors while Casemate 55 contained 

restrooms designated for “colored” visitors. Despite 

segregation, however, these facilities indicate that 

Fort Pulaski NM was a federal park open to visitors 

of all colors. Often Southern state parks and beaches 

were not so accommodating. The bulk of PWA 

funding for work at Fort Pulaski was consumed by 

June 1935 with the completion of the piazza and 

erection of a flagpole. A final PWA project to 

reconstruct the drawbridge, using original plans, 

18. Ibid; “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” March-April, 1940, May 1941, park files, FPNM.

19. Michael S. Holmes, The New Deal in Georgia: An Administrative History (London: Greenwood Press, 1975).

FIGURE 14. CCC enrollees work on South Channel Bridge approach, October 1938
National Park Service 29

was complete in June of 1936. By that date, program 

costs amounted to $93,876.20

Perhaps the most significant PWA project at 

Cockspur Island was the construction of the South 

Channel Bridge. In anticipation of building a bridge 

across the channel, the NPS acquired nearly 278 

acres of marshland on McQueen's Island in 1935 for 

a bridge approach.21 Bids opened for the project in 

late 1936 and, by January 1937, W.G. Meagher of Bay 

City, Michigan signed the building contract for a low 

bid of $76,066. Workers finished the composite 

wood and concrete bridge in April 1938, and it 

opened to the public in May (Figure 14). The total 

building cost of the South Channel Bridge 

amounted to $101,106 since construction required an 

additional 120 days and much deeper pilings than 

originally estimated.22 After automobile access to 

Fort Pulaski was established, the park discontinued 

its passenger ferry service. 

The extension of the water and sewer system and 

electric power lines at Fort Pulaski NM began in late 

December 1938. Using PWA funds, the CCC helped 

to install a power cable from U.S. 80 to the fort and 

administrative buildings. This work was the last 

significant PWA project at the park.23

The sudden end of New Deal work projects left 

much unfinished work, but New Deal efforts 

nevertheless greatly improved the landscape 

surrounding the historic fortification and its general 

condition. In late 1941, the U.S. Navy established a 

section base on Cockspur Island for use by small 

coastal patrol ships. The Navy’s occupation of Fort 

Pulaski NM lasted the duration of World War II and 

ended in 1947. 

Mission 66 at Fort Pulaski 

NM, 1956-1966

The years following World War II left national parks 

in America in need of funding for maintenance. 

Parks turned into “victims of the war,” as NPS 

Director Newton Drury described in 1949. As a 

result of growing park neglect, the NPS created the 

“Mission 66” program in 1956. Its goal was to 

develop parks from congressional funding in a 

period of ten years. Through this program, the NPS 

sought to construct numerous roads, bridges, and 

trail systems, as well as thousands of residential, 

maintenance, and administrative facilities. Conrad 

Wirth, chief Mission 66 proponent and NPS 

Director from 1951 to 1964, obtained 670 million 

dollars from Congress to achieve park 

improvements in time for the fiftieth anniversary of 

the National Park Service in 1966. Architecturally, 

the natural materials of the Park Service Rustic 

Style, designed in the 1920s and 1930s, represented 

the signature building style for the NPS. The idea of 

using modern architecture in the Mission 66 

program provoked opposition from many people, 

particularly environmentalists and nostalgic visitors. 

To some extent, Wirth bowed to this pressure and 

advocated designs that blended the utilitarian 

modern buildings into the landscape in ways that 

would draw a minimum of attention to the 

structures. However, Mission 66 visitor centers 

remained stylistically modern and also displayed a 

fairly uniform appearance to reinforce a sense of the 

“system” of the national parks. As a result, Mission 

66 architecture became known as the Park Service 

Modern Style. This style also influenced park 

design both at the state level and internationally.24

Mission 66 marked a highly significant period in the 

history of park development, especially at Fort 

Pulaski NM. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, 

little development occurred at the park despite the 

deterioration of the fort and its environs as a 

consequence of Navy administration during World 

War II. In 1950, Savannah State College bought two 

of the Navy buildings, but the park deemed nearly 

all the rest to be unsalvageable. These dilapidated 

Navy-surplus structures were thus razed in 1952 

and 1953.25 The removal of such “eyesores” helped 

to restore the appeal of the park’s historic 

fortification, but dramatic park enhancements 

required much more work and funding. Moreover, 

in October 1947 a powerful hurricane damaged the 

20. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1937, park files, FPNM.

21. “General Information Report, Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1940, microfiche files, NPS-SERO.

22. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939, park files, FPNM.

23. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” October, November 1940, park files, FPNM. In 1940, additional funding also was 

provided by the Emergency Relief Administration for landscaping and to preserve Battery Hambright.

24. Sarah Allaback, Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of a Building Type (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2000).

25. “Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Reports,” August 1950, July 1952, April 1953, park files, FPNM.
30 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

park’s dikes and drainage system, as well as other 

equipment and facilities, an impairment that 

persisted for many years. Fort Pulaski’s Mission 66 

Final Prospectus, completed in 1956, sought to put 

the park “back on its feet.” Mission 66 promised to 

make all park structures safe and properly 

maintained, to establish satisfactory interpretive 

services, and to obtain funds and personnel for 

effective management, protection, interpretation, 

and maintenance. The original estimated cost of 

physical development at the park amounted to 

$265,000.26 

Visitor Center Construction

The park justified the construction of a separate 

Visitor Center with the intention of presenting the 

fort as a period exhibit without intrusive modern 

features.27 The NPS invited bids on the 

construction of the new Visitor Center on June 7, 

1962 for a budget of $150,000 to $175,000. The 

contract for the Visitor Center building contained 

the following specifications:

a one-story fire resistant structure, generally 

circular in shape, having a floor area of about 

3500 square feet, constructed of reinforced 

concrete and brick with some light steel 

framing...

The project description of work also included a 

water supply system for a pumphouse, a sewage 

disposal system, and the installation of electric 

service.28 In July, the NPS awarded the contract to 

Hugh Jackson of Savannah to finish the project 

within 240 calendar days after receipt of notice and 

to proceed at a cost of $136,124. Donald S. Nutt 

served as supervising engineer, and supervising 

architects for the project were Levy and Kiley of 

Savannah. An eighteen-day delay, as a result of a 

carpenter’s strike in the Savannah area, postponed 

the construction until September 24, 1962.29 

The Visitor Center was designed by the NPS Eastern 

Office of Design and Construction (EODC) in 

Philadelphia. According to Henry Levy of Levy and 

Kiley, Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Chapel (1955) at the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology provided the 

inspiration for the circular plan, base arches, 

rusticated brick, and surrounding gravel moat of the 

Visitor Center ( Figure 15). To keep the Visitor 

Center from intruding upon the fort, the height of 

the new building was kept low. The builders drove 

wood pilings fifty feet into the sandy soil to solidly 

support the building, the same type of action 

employed during the construction of Fort Pulaski. 

Unlike the fort, the Visitor Center is made of bricks 

from Connecticut, many of them second-grade. 

Both Levy and park Superintendent Ralston 

Lattimore disapproved of the EODC’s decision not 

to use the indigenous “Savannah Gray” brick from 

which the fort was constructed. Their concerns 

were overridden, however, by senior managers who 

approved the use of lower grade brick because it was 

available and less expensive than the Savannah 

Grays.30 

Other interesting architectural details of the Visitor 

Center include a functional sunscreen, consisting of 

aluminum panels positioned vertically on brackets, 

along the southwest side of the building. Another 

brick screen, since modified to permit the passing of 

light into windows, was originally built in front of 

the women’s restroom, now used as office space. 

EODC staff involved in the Visitor Center 

construction project included an office head 

engineer and a site engineer, both by the name of 

Smith, and an EODC architect named Casey.31 

As construction of the Visitor Center neared 

completion, record-breaking cold temperatures and 

rains prompted a forty-five-day extension of the 

project, making June 27, 1963, the completion date. 

The final cost of construction amounted to 

$139,320.32 While the Visitor Center stood 

completed, the building remained closed to the 

public to finish the interior work. The floor of the 

Visitor Center consisted of terrazzo, a mixture of 

marble aggregates and Portland cement. 

Landscaping around the Visitor Center, also 

contracted to Hugh Jackson, took place during the 

26. “Mission 66 for Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1956, park files, FPNM.

27. Regional Director to Superintendent, 9 September 1959, File 212, park files, FPNM.

28. “Construction Contract,” 1962, “Visitor Center Construction” file (No. 240), park files, FPNM.

29. Robert Smith, Chief Architect, to Superintendent Lattimore, 7 September 1962, “Visitor Center Construction” file (No. 

240), park files, FPNM.

30. Brian Coffey, NPS-SERO, telephone conversation with author, 12 October 2001.

31. Ibid. 

32. “Construction Contract,” “Visitor Center Construction” file (No. 240), park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 31

summer of 1964 and cost $8,402. This work 

included filling and clearing the area west of the 

Visitor Center and planting several palmetto trees.33 

The new Fort Pulaski Visitor Center finally opened 

to the public on October 25, 1964.34

Other Mission 66 Projects

The construction of the Visitor Center was the 

largest Mission 66 project at Fort Pulaski, but the 

ten-year program also saw many other development 

efforts. Mission 66 called for several “first priority” 

projects such as reconstructing the parking area; 

improving the water, power, drainage, dike, and 

telephone systems; and various repairs to the fort.35 

In 1958, the park contracted architect J.W. 

McBurney to inspect and collect mortar and brick 

samples from the fort to determine the causes of 

their deterioration. His laboratory analysis 

recommended future repair and treatment methods 

to minimize damage.36 Fort repairs completed that 

year consisted of repointing and relining all gorge 

casemates, repairing rifle loopholes on the gorge 

wall and sallyport opening, the waterproofing of the 

broken parapet and gorge wall, repairing brickwork 

and stonework in gun positions, and fixing stones 

and stucco along the underground passageways 

leading out of the gun pits. To improve the island’s 

badly damaged drainage system, workers dug 2,200 

feet of new ditches and re-excavated nearly 2,700 

feet of old ditches by August 1960. This work 

redirected field drainage through the main canal 

south of the fort entrance. By 1963, crews excavated 

7,000 feet of ditches by hand and finished the 

installation of tide gates, concrete culverts, and 

canals later in the year. Workers restored the fort 

33. “Mission 66 Construction Completion Report,” September 1963, park files, FPNM.

34. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” October 1964, park files, FPNM. Curiously, available records make no reference to 

any ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Visitor Center.

35. “Mission 66 Final Prospectus,” 1956, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 15. Workers construct the Visitor Center at Fort Pulaski, 1962-1963

36. J.W. McBurney, “Report on Fort Pulaski,” July 1958, park files, FPNM. 
32 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

demilune by clearing vegetation in 1960. The same 

year, Battery Hambright received concrete repairs 

and waterproofing, brick retaining wall restoration, 

and the removal of vegetation.37 In September 1962, 

the park also awarded a contract for road and 

parking area improvements to the Whaley and 

Minter Construction Company for $38,325.38 In 

July 1963, workers installed an air-conditioning 

system in Casemate 59, which served as a visitor 

lounge.39 In 1964, a $46,408 contract was awarded 

to Hugh Jackson, with Sewell and Associates acting 

as supervising engineers, to repair the South 

Channel Bridge.40 Picnic facilities, improvements to 

service facilities, and new interpretive displays were 

other important results of Mission 66 at Fort 

Pulaski. Such improvements included twenty picnic 

tables placed at the west end of Cockspur Island in 

June 1965. Another example, and the final Mission 

66 project at Fort Pulaski, was the series of signs and 

markers posted along the approach to the park on 

U.S. Highway 80.41 

Additional Park 

Development, 1966-2000

After the completion of Mission 66 development at 

Fort Pulaski NM, park managers shifted concern to 

maintaining the fort, Visitor Center, administrative 

buildings, roads, trails, the South Channel Bridge, 

and other landscape features. Smaller development 

projects continued, however. In 1968, for example, 

the park installed a fee collection station and 

entrance gate at the south end of the South Channel 

Bridge. Other small projects included 

reconstruction of the broken walls of the main 

drainage ditch at the fort as well as the sallyport 

drawbridge at the south end of the demilune, which 

was rebuilt in 1975.42 

During the 1970s, park managers attempted to 

improve the historic character of Fort Pulaski and its 

surrounding landscape. To achieve a more historic 

appearance, the park covered asphalt walks and 

roads with a pebble aggregate mixture in 1972. In 

1974, managers also reconstructed a replica of the 

fort’s historic flagpole, which the Army airlifted into 

place. Another effort to keep the historic character 

of the park arose between 1976 and 1977. The 

Savannah Electric and Power Company (SEPCO) 

agreed to remove overhead power lines and poles 

along the approach road to the fort and installed 

these underground.43

During the 1980s, most of the maintenance costs at 

Fort Pulaski NM were incurred for the labor needed 

for grounds mowing and general maintenance.44 

However, the aging South Channel Bridge required 

extensive repairs throughout the decade. A U.S. 

Coast Guard tender replaced nineteen cross braces 

on the bridge in 1982 and thirty-one cross braces 

two years later. In 1987, a $40,000 contract repaired 

bridge expansion joints and spalls and provided 

funds to paint the structure. The fort received an 

important interior modification in 1985 when a 

prefabricated “Bally” building for the storage of 

museum collections and archival materials was 

installed in one of the fort’s casemates. A crew also 

resurfaced park roads and trails that same year for a 

total of $222,000. Park maintenance also renovated 

the fort restrooms, replacing all plumbing fixtures, 

in 1989.45

Recent development at Fort Pulaski NM has 

included completion of the Savannah/Tybee 

Railroad Historic Scenic Multi-Use Trail in 1992. 

Between 1994 and 1995, the park rehabilitated the 

Visitor Center by resurfacing the roof and 

constructing an auditorium by partitioning off a 

portion of the lobby to show visitors a video about 

the fort’s history. In 1997, handicapped accessible 

restrooms at the F were completed at a cost of 

$141,000. In 1994, an interagency agreement 

between the NPS and the Army Corps of Engineers 

allowed Fort Pulaski’s historic dike system to be 

37. Superintendent Lattimore to Regional Director, 26 October 1958, park files, FPNM.

38. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” September 1962, park files, FPNM.

39. “Mission 66 Construction Completion Report,” September 1963, park files, FPNM.

40. “Mission 66 Construction Completion Report,” February 1964, park files, FPNM. 

41. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” June 1965, park files, FPNM; “Mission 66 Construction Completion Report,” 

November 1966, park files, FPNM.

42. Ever, Civil Engineer, to Regional Chief of Maintenance, 22 May 1968, park files, FPNM.

43. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1972-1977, park files, FPNM. In 1993, NPS also signed a ten-year MOU with SEPCO to 

install and service an underground power line running between the fort and Visitor Center.

44. “Fort Pulaski National Monument Maintenance Management Implementation Final Report,” 1989, park files, FPNM.

45. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1982-1989, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 33

stabilized. The Corps of Engineers assigned the 

project to the Clifton Construction Company, which 

restored the dike to its original twelve-foot height 

and configuration. The contract was completed in 

1997.46 The park also replaced a well house behind 

the Visitor Center in 1998 while the following year a 

$200,000 federal highway project repaired the 

South Channel Bridge by replacing all damaged 

parts and resurfacing the asphalt decking.47

Both the New Deal and Mission 66 programs at Fort 

Pulaski NM focused on large-scale projects to 

improve the park. Small-scale projects, however, 

have characterized development in recent years. 

The common goal of these projects has been to 

enhance Fort Pulaski’s historic character, maintain 

its historic buildings, structures, and landscape, and 

improve the park’s ability to serve thousands of 

annual visitors. Efforts to improve the interpretation 

of Fort Pulaski’s historic features are the subject of 

the next chapter.

46. Interagency Agreement, 1994, “Historic Dike” file, Fort Pulaski; “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997, park files, 

FPNM.

47. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1990-1999, park files, FPNM.
34 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 35

Chapter Four: Interpretation and 

Visitor Services

The interpretation program at Fort Pulaski National 

Monument has developed gradually since the 1930s. 

Park interpretation in the early years focused on 

preserving artifacts and transporting visitors by boat 

to and from the island. When the Mission 66 Visitor 

Center opened to the public in 1964, park interpretative activities were greatly expanded. 

Consequently, the 1971 Interpretive Prospectus also 

produced significant change in park interpretation 

by prompting management to evaluate and prioritize the park’s interpretive needs. Throughout the 

1970s, living history programs using local volunteers 

and educational programs focused especially on 

youths increased local involvement and visitation. 

Beginning in the 1980s, new park policies promoting 

commemorative exhibits and programs helped to 

broaden Fort Pulaski’s general appeal.

Early Park Interpretation 

and Visitation, 1934-1938

After the National Park Service acquired Fort 

Pulaski NM, it immediately focused on the physical 

improvement of the park through New Deal programs. The establishment of a museum naturally 

followed the restoration of the fort’s interior, 

allowing both better interpretation and space for 

artifact storage and display. To create the museum 

and for other interpretative purposes, NPS 

researchers gathered background information on 

the history of Cockspur Island. In February 1934, a 

small group of researchers combed through the 

Georgia Historical Society, the Savannah Public 

Library, and Washington, D.C-area archives seeking 

relevant historical records. Two of these historians 

were Ralston S. Lattimore, future Fort Pulaski 

Superintendent, and Rogers W. Young, Historical 

Assistant. Lattimore helped manage the Historical 

Division Office for Fort Pulaski NM from the 

Savannah Bank and Trust Building in Savannah, 

while Young worked in Washington, D.C. Topics 

investigated by the researchers included the Port of 

Savannah, the construction of Fort Pulaski, congressional debates and appropriations, political 

prisoners at the fort (1865-1866), and the history of 

Fort George and Fort Greene. Examples of the documents they obtained include a photostat copy of 

the fort’s original plans and two copies of five letters 

written by Robert E. Lee.1

 In late 1934 the Historic 

Division updated its research program by including 

Cockspur Island geology, geography, flora, and 

fauna.2

 To prepare artifacts in the museum collection for display and storage, the park hired a 

chemistry student to work on the collection. 

Despite the accumulation of historical archives and 

museum collections, and artifact conservation 

efforts in the 1930s, Fort Pulaski NM lacked funds 

and technical assistance to set up museum exhibits 

in newly installed cases. These cases remained 

vacant in 1938 since money went primarily toward 

the park’s physical development.3

 However, the 

Park Service was determined to develop an interpretative program and appointed the 

knowledgeable Lattimore as Assistant Research 

Technician in late 1938. His responsibilities included 

completing a museum plan and labeling and 

arranging the collection for fort exhibits.4

1. Arthur F. Comer, Historical Technician to Verne E. Chatelain, NPS Chief Historian, 1 February 1934, File 26, Fort Pulaski 

National Monument (hereafter, FPNM); “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” June 1935, park files, FPNM.

2. Lattimore to Young, 16 August 1934, park files, FPNM.

3. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938, park files, FPNM.

4. Coordinating Superintendent to Regional Director, 1 October 1938, RG 79, Box 69, National Archives, Philadelphia. 
36 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Exhibit funding was not to be a priority until after 

visitation at Fort Pulaski NM increased. Beyond 

restoration, access to the fort had to be improved. 

At first, only visitors with private boats could reach 

Cockspur Island, which was open between the 

hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. seven days a week. Not 

surprisingly, only 290 people visited Fort Pulaski 

during August 1934. This situation did not last long, 

however, as the NPS had already acquired two boats 

from the U.S. Coast Guard. From May 1934, these 

boats were used to ferry CCC and PWA personnel, 

materials, and supplies to Cockspur Island from 

Lazaretto Creek. By fall 1934, the NPS also began 

using these ferries to provide a passenger service, 

which was an immediate success. In fact, by spring 

1935, Sunday visitors filled the larger sixty-sevenfoot long, one hundred-passenger boat (Figure 16) 

to capacity. Overflow groups were then transported 

in the smaller twenty-six-foot boat. By 1935, only a 

year after ferry service began, the number of August 

visitors had increased to 2,400. By June 1937, the 

NPS had ferried 55,000 visitors to Fort Pulaski. 

Cold and rain limited travel to fair-weather days, 

however, and ferry service was also occasionally 

suspended while the park was closed for construction work, such as moat excavation.5

 

Once the South Channel Bridge opened on May 13, 

1938, a far greater number and variety of visitors 

came to Fort Pulaski. Visitation rapidly increased 

from 12,471 in 1937 to 50,883 in 1938. However, a tencent entrance fee introduced in fall 1938 apparently 

caused a decline in the number of visitors. Roughly 

forty thousand guests toured the fort in 1939. Fort 

Pulaski staff believed that many visitors opposed the 

fee on principle, not because it was viewed as exorbitant, and stayed away from the monument for this 

reason. The fee question was soon irrelevant, of 

course, when visitation fell to zero after the park was 

closed for the duration of World War II.6

Fort Pulaski NM was forced to meet another early 

need through expediency when the park’s authorized budget omitted funding for park guides. In 

response, a small number of CCC enrollees were 

transferred from manual work projects to serve 

instead as park interpreters. In November 1934, this 

guide service, entirely composed of six CCC 

members, showed visitors around the park. The 

number of CCC interpreters increased on the 

weekends to ten guides who focused their duties 

mostly on crowd control.7 In 1937, the park took 

steps to broaden the responsibilities of the CCC 

5. Reaville M. Brown, Engineer, to Acting Chief, Eastern Division of Engineers, 9 April 1934, and Brown to Oliver G. Taylor, 

Chief of Engineers, 20 March 1935, both in Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive Administrative 

History Fort Pulaski,” 1994, park files, FPNM; “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” November, December 1934, and August 

1935, park files FPNM; “Superintendent’s Annual Report,”1936, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 16. The NPS’s 67-foot diesel boat carries passengers to Fort Pulaski, March 1936

6. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938, park files, FPNM.

7. Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” November 1934, park files, FPNM; Brown to Oliver G. Taylor, Chief of Engineers, 20 

March 1935, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive Administrative History Fort Pulaski.”
National Park Service 37

interpreters by instituting the Public Contact 

program. Public Contact work began with the 

selection of five to seven qualified CCC enrollees 

who received intensive training in techniques 

needed to ensure that visitors were properly guided 

through the fort (Figure 17). The enrollees attended 

a Fort Pulaski history and interpretation class taught 

by park officials on Fridays. Later, the Savannah 

Park and Tree Commission built a small granite 

building at the intersection of Bull Street and 

Victory Drive in Savannah to serve as a contact 

station. Two CCC enrollees were stationed at the 

convenient kiosk to provide information about Fort 

Pulaski to potential visitors.8 

Fort Museum, 1939-1956

Casemate Exhibits and Fort Tours

Despite entrance fees, the South Channel Bridge 

brought a sustained increase in visitation after 1938. 

Pressure mounted to open a museum at the monument where historic artifacts could be displayed. 

Superintendent Lattimore’s museum plan gained a 

new priority and, in 1939, he completed Fort 

Pulaski’s Interpretive Plan. Lattimore outlined a 

supervised tour that led visitors through a complete 

circuit of the fort. He considered Fort Pulaski “itself 

an item for museum exhibition,” but also saw the 

casements as a place where “formal museum” 

exhibits could be displayed. Many of the spots 

along the proposed tour thus featured fort rooms 

slated for future restoration. The plan suggested 

stopping the tour at three museum rooms in Casemates 64, 65, and 66. Historians at Fort Pulaski set 

up Casemate 66 as an experimental museum in 1939. 

This room contained glass bottles, sketches, and 

diaries to depict the soldier’s garrison life. Most of 

the displayed nineteenth-century bottles stemmed 

from the 1934-1935 moat excavations. 9

In 1939, soon after the implementation of Fort 

Pulaski’s Public Contact program, the number of 

CCC enrollees decreased as national funding was 

curtailed. The guides were popular with the public, 

but the reduced budget left no funding to substitute 

regular employees. This discontinuance of the CCC 

guides left Superintendent Holland dismayed. By 

spring 1940, only two park interpretive guides 

remained.10 Within a few months, CCC funding 

8. Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 17. Fort Pulaski CCC guide force in 1939

9. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939, park files, FPNM; “Interpretive Plan,” 1939, park files, FPNM.

10. “Superintendent Monthly Report,” April 1940, park files, FPNM
38 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

increased temporarily, and the park had four CCC 

guides, supplemented by four Emergency Relief 

Administration (ERA) guides. The park introduced 

a slide lecture series in May 1940, which illustrated 

the history of the fort through restoration. At the 

end of the fort tour, visitors could view a collection 

of contemporary photographs, plans, and sketches 

not previously displayed, before watching the slide 

show.11 Two cannons were restored and mounted on 

the fort terreplein in early 1940, adding authenticity 

to the fort tour. 

Interpretation at Fort Pulaski NM remained under a 

cloud of uncertainty throughout 1940 and 1941. On 

the one hand, the quality of tours improved, but 

constant funding shortfalls and the end of CCC 

support posed a serious problem. The beginning of 

World War II put all interpretive activity at the park 

on hold. When the monument was closed to the 

public in 1942, park interpretation simply ceased 

and was not restored until late in the decade. 

Collections Transfer to Ocmulgee 

National Monument, 1942-1947

Perhaps mindful of the War of 1812, when invading 

British forces burned the U.S. capitol, national 

leaders moved quickly in the wake of Pearl Harbor 

to secure the country’s historic treasures. Waldo G. 

Leland, Chairman of the Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources, wrote to Fort Pulaski 

NM in January 1942, stating that any area within one 

hundred miles of a U.S. coast must be considered 

vulnerable to enemy air attack. He urged federal 

agencies to evacuate any cultural, scientific, and historic materials in their custody in the coastal regions 

to small interior towns removed from any potential 

military target.12 When Fort Pulaski became a naval 

section base in 1942, the possibility of losing the 

park’s historic documents to fire caused by enemy 

attack greatly increased. Therefore, for safe storage 

for the duration of the war, the NPS moved the 

park’s irreplaceable records, manuscripts, books, 

and maintenance equipment to Ocmulgee National 

Monument, located deep in the interior of Georgia. 

The materials remained at Ocmulgee until January 

1947, when Superintendent William W. Luckett 

brought them back to Fort Pulaski.13

Post-World War II Years

In 1947, Fort Pulaski NM reopened to the public 

after U.S. Navy operations halted at Cockpsur 

Island. Park Superintendent Luckett and St. 

Augustine historian William Jackson immediately 

took on the task of interpretation at the park. The 

setback of the park’s closing and loss of CCC guides 

created a sense of having to start the park’s interpretation program from scratch. Besides their 

interpretative efforts, Luckett and Jackson worked 

on an electric map of the siege and surrender of Fort 

Pulaski. Later in the year, Luckett secured surplused fluorescent lighting to brighten the fort’s 

exhibit room. After 1948, Superintendent Lattimore, who returned to the park following his 

military service, accomplished more improvements 

by drawing upon his long-time experience with the 

fort museum. Understaffing and focus on physical 

repairs at the park made progress slow, however. 

Lattimore wanted artifacts and manuscripts to be 

stored in proper cabinets. Thus, it was not until 1951 

that maintenance finished six glass cases for the 

display of a bottle collection representing the years 

1840 through 1865. These cases, installed along the 

walls of Casemate 58, featured fluorescent lights to 

display the colors of the bottles.14 Despite Lattimore’s efforts, major improvements in park 

interpretation would have to wait for funding 

through the Mission 66 program. 

Commemorative Markers and 

Interpretive Signs and Aids

Slowly, small efforts began to improve interpretation 

along the tour route at Fort Pulaski. On October 9, 

1939, the Daughters of the Confederacy placed a 

bronze tablet on the northwest parapet of the fort to 

commemorate Lieutenant Hussey and Private 

Latham. These two soldiers recovered the Confederate flag on the parapet when it fell during Union 

fire.15 After a visit to Fort Pulaski NM, the Georgia 

Society of the Colonial Dames of America purchased a memorial for John Wesley, founder of 

American Methodism and early visitor to Cockspur 

Island, and gave the monument to the park in 

November 1950. The concrete cross, placed atop an 

eight-foot-high brick pillar, still stands in the general 

area where Wesley supposedly held his first service 

11. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” May 1940, park files, FPNM.

12. Waldo Leland to Superintendent, 9 January 1942, File 177, park files, FPNM.

13. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” January 1947, park files, FPNM.

14. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” November 1951, park files, FPNM.

15. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 39

on the island. On occasion, Methodist church 

groups visit Fort Pulaski specifically to see the John 

Wesley Memorial.16 The Morgan Monument, 

moved from Fort Screven to Cockspur Island in 

1950, honored Henry Sims Morgan, a lieutenant 

who perished in an attempt to rescue a Norwegian 

ship during the hurricane of 1898. This monument 

was returned to the Tybee Island Historical Society 

in 1994.17

New interpretive markers enabled self-guided tours 

in 1947. January 1954 saw the completion of the 

exterior sign program for Fort Pulaski and the surrounding area. Fifteen aluminum panels in 

simulated brown sandstone contained both directional and interpretive texts. The park also 

positioned five traffic signs along U.S. 80. The 

Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association covered the $382 cost of the signs.18 

In 1949, Superintendent Lattimore predicted that an 

interpretive booklet on Fort Pulaski would make a 

fine sales item.19 He therefore set to work on his Fort 

Pulaski National Monument Historical Handbook 

Number Eighteen, which was completed in October 

1952 and made available to the public two years 

later.20 The Fort Pulaski handbook, republished in 

1961, served as a valuable guide to park visitors and 

staff for many years. 

Mission 66 Interpretation, 

1956-1966

The few personnel at Fort Pulaski NM from 1947 to 

1955 conducted business and services amidst “much 

hubbub and confusion.”21 Both administrative work 

and interpretive activities functioned in Casemate 61 

at the fort. Although the park staff, consisting of a 

superintendent, historical aid, clerk-cashier, and 

two laborers, moved the administrative section to 

Casemate 59 in 1955, the limited funding and personnel reduced interpretive services in these postwar years to occasional talks and directional information.22 In 1956, the park installed audio-visual 

equipment, consisting of five recorded talks and one 

“projectograph,” that roused public interest in 

touring the fort.23 By educating visitors about Fort 

Pulaski’s history, the audio-visual program helped to 

relieve the understaffed park with an alternative 

interpretive aid. However, park employees believed 

their interpretive services for the public remained 

unsatisfactory. 

The Mission 66 program at Fort Pulaski NM largely 

concentrated on improving interpretive services. 

Starting in 1956, Mission 66 funds made possible the 

construction of a Visitor Center and the production 

of a new Interpretive Prospectus (1959). As plans for 

the building materialized, Regional Director Elbert 

Cox advised Superintendent Lattimore to remove 

any discussion of proposed museum exhibits, 

administrative office and workspace construction 

(including air-conditioning equipment), and other 

park visitor use facilities needed in the fort from 

comment in the Interpretive Prospectus. Money 

needed for this expensive work could be channeled 

through the Visitor Center construction. Cox justified the construction of a separate Visitor Center 

because it let the fort stand as a period exhibit. 

Placing visitor contact, administrative, and museum 

functions in a separate Visitor Center limited the 

need for ducts and equipment in the fort, helping 

preserve its historic character.24 Shortly before the 

Visitor Center opened in October 1964, the park set 

up a temporary museum in the fort. 

The Visitor Center served as a central place for dispensing information and selling tickets and Fort 

Pulaski merchandise. Its opening brought a more 

rewarding experience for the park visitor. In 1965, 

the park initiated guided group tours, off-site talks at 

local clubs and organizations, and summer weekend 

campfire programs of showing films and slides at 

the Visitor Center. Modern audio-visual devices 

16. John Breen, FPNM, telephone conversation with author, 29 January 2002.

17. Lattimore to Col. F.W. Alstaetter, 29 March 1950, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive 

Administrative History Fort Pulaski.” 

18. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” February 1954, park files, FPNM.

19. Lattimore to Regional Director, 8 August 1949, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive 

Administrative History Fort Pulaski.” 

20. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” October 1952, February 1954, park files, FPNM.

21. “Annual Report on Visitor Services,” 1955, park files, FPNM.

22. “Mission 66 for Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1956, park files, FPNM.

23. “Annual Report on Visitor Services,” 1957, park files, FPNM.

24. Elbert Cox to Lattimore, 6 September 1959, File 212, FPNM. 
40 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

and a display of historic flags donated by the 

Georgia Historical Society were set up in the fort 

casemates. Interpretive markers explained the significance of two Confederate battle flags and a large 

banner to visitors. The park also installed new 

interpretive markers for self-guided tours through 

the monument. 25

Several management issues arose shortly after construction of the Visitor Center. Despite the its 

benefits, the park worried about the design and 

placement of the front desk that left desk employees 

with their backs toward the entrance, but the 

problem remained unresolved. Crowded work 

spaces in the Visitor Center and insufficient staffing 

helped to prompt a revised Interpretive Prospectus 

in 1971. 

Interpretive Prospectus, 

1971

Interpretation steadily improved at Fort Pulaski NM 

in the 1960s, and by 1971, an updated Interpretive 

Prospectus presented goals to instill in the visitor a 

more “clearly defined” view of the significance of 

Fort Pulaski’s history. Park management hoped that 

demonstrations with personnel in period uniforms, 

removing vegetation to make the fort more visible, 

and acquiring more cannons would create a more 

authentic visitor experience. The park proposed to 

establish living history programs and to participate 

in an Urban Youth Program for Savannah kids that 

focused on historical and environmental awareness. 

Managers of the 1970s and 1980s met all of these 

interpretive program goals. The prospectus also 

recommended the creation of new nature trails 

leading to a mortar battery and the old Cockspur 

Island Lighthouse. However, the battery trail was 

not realized and the lighthouse, surrounded by 

water, remained accessible only by boat.26 

The Interpretive Prospectus called for the completion of a Historic Furnishing Plan, a plan written 

and funded by the NPS in 1967. The historic furnishings plan outlined recommendations on the 

types of antiques or reproduction articles that 

should be acquired to convey most accurately the 

living conditions of garrison soldiers in the 1860s. 

The prospectus stated that the partially furnished 

fort casemates would continue to receive attention 

under the plan.27 Over the next several years, the 

park gradually added replicas of historic furnishings 

to fort rooms, according to recommendations in the 

Historic Furnishing Plan.

Other priorities discussed in the Interpretive Prospectus included installing casemate security, 

repairing a damaged wall exhibit, posting labels to 

describe garrison life in the fort rooms, and 

installing a climate control system. Air-conditioning 

was banned for use in staff offices, as were the 

offices themselves, because of inconsistency with 

the structure’s historic character. However, climate 

control was still required to maintain humidity 

within the casements where historic objects might 

be presented. The plexiglass enclosures just inside 

the door of each casemate were used to seal the 

interior and also to protect their contents from theft 

or vandalism. The Prospectus described an 

enclosure that would project far enough into the 

room to give the visitor the impression of standing 

inside of it.28 Another important recommendation 

in the Prospectus was to shift interpretive activities at 

the Visitor Center back to the fort. The motive for 

this policy was simply that, having obtained a 

desired increase in the number of park staff, office 

space was now cramped in the Visitor Center. In 

addition, because of the vegetative screen in 

between the parking lot and the fort and signs 

directing visitors to the “inclusive” exhibits at the 

Visitor Center, many visitors neglected to venture 

over to the fort. The park had tried to solve the 

problem of a crowded Visitor Center by constructing an entrance gate at the South Channel 

Bridge in 1968, but the problem persisted. To 

address the issue in 1971, the Prospectus recommended the removal of the visual vegetation barrier 

to help entice visitors over to the fort. More interpretive activity at the fort would also redirect visitor 

flow so that the Visitor Center could be utilized as 

office and storage space.29 

25. “Annual Report on Visitor Services,” 1965, 1966, park files, FPNM.

26. Interpretive Prospectus, 1971, park files, FPNM.

27. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1972-1974, park files, FPNM.

28. Interpretive Prospectus, 1971, park files, FPNM.

29. Ibid.
National Park Service 41

Through the Interpretive Prospectus of 1971, the park

sought to improve programs, collections management and security, and the park landscape. 

Because the Prospectus was fortunately released 

concurrent with the 1971 Master Plan, nearly all of its 

priorities were implemented over the next two 

decades.

Living History and 

Reenactments

One of the interpretive goals discussed in the Interpretive Prospectus of 1971 was developing a Living 

History Program for Fort Pulaski NM. In 1972, 

living history at the park consisted of a uniformed 

soldier giving musket demonstrations and performing roving interpretations and a small group of 

women in period clothing serving hardtack, pea 

soup, and coffee.30 These “Volunteers in the Parks” 

or VIPs, who were mostly from local communities, 

boosted a successful decade of living history at Fort 

Pulaski. The local volunteers brought park history 

to life in unprecedented ways. 

The Living History Program expanded over the 

next few years with the help of hired seasonal 

employees. Cannon firing demonstrations by the 

VIPs attracted the public to the monument.31 In the 

summer of 1973, the park initiated Candle Lantern 

Tours (Figure 18), which followed the showing of 

Sunday night movies in the Visitor Center. With the 

help of seasonal employees, VIPs, and the full-time 

staff, these tours presented an historic view of 1860s 

garrison life devoid of modern technology.32 Highly 

popular among park visitors, tours consistently sold 

out quickly. Although the Candle Lantern Tours 

authentically recreated the Civil War era, the tours 

required extra energy usage, plus paying employees 

overtime. The overtime expense and energy consumption resulted in the discontinuation of the 

Candle Lantern Tours in early 1980.33

Beginning in 1962, the North-South Skirmish Organization, a national military reenactment group 

formed in the 1950s, held yearly invitational muzzleloading matches at Fort Pulaski NM. The participating shooters dressed in period costumes and 

competed for individual team honors. According to 

park annual reports, these skirmishes ceased by 

1977. One of the reasons for ending the skirmishes 

at the monument involved the difficulty of distinguishing between battle reenactment gun shells left 

scattered on the ground and genuine historic park 

artifacts.34 Safety was probably an additional 

concern, as it always is when reenactors use black 

powder. Moreover, new NPS prohibitions on socalled “opposing line” battle reenactments 

dampened the enthusiasm of some living history 

reenactors to participate in park-based events. 

Nevertheless, other living history events continued 

at Fort Pulaski. For example, starting in 1974, visitors could play a baseball game with a period bat, 

ball, and rules. Union troops occupying the fort 

played this game, their first recorded score being in 

30. Regional Director to Superintendent, 12 January 1973, reading files, FPNM.

31. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1972, 1973, park files, FPNM.

32. “Lantern Tours Resume,” Savannah Evening Press, 9 June 1978, Fort Pulaski National Register file, Georgia State Historic 

Preservation Office.

33. Regional Director to Superintendent, 1 May 1 1980, reading files, FPNM. This decision was made in the context of the 

perceived national energy crisis of the late 1970s.

34. Talley Kirkland, FPNM, conversation with author, 1 November 2000.

FIGURE 18. Park employees prepare a Candle Lantern Tour, 1978
42 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

1863 when the 48th New York defeated the 47th 

New York by a score of 20-7. A few year later Fort 

Pulaski became historic for another reason as being 

the site of the earliest known photograph taken of 

men playing baseball in the United States.35

The Living History Program further expanded the 

next year by adding demonstrations involving 

infantry drills, artillery drills (including howitzer 

and Parrott-gun firing), bugle calls, and semaphore 

flag drills. Reenactors simulated the fort’s Civil War 

practice of sending messages to the Federal headquarters at Hilton Head by using semaphore flags. 

Other new interpretive activities included retreat 

ceremonies, prison talks, and discussions about 

how the fort’s walls were breached. These talks 

were given on weekends during the summer season. 

In the mid-1970s, the park initiated a type of overnight training for park interpreters, who did without 

modern conveniences to immerse themselves more 

authentically in the camp life conditions at Fort 

Pulaski during the mid-nineteenth-century.36 

The Living History Program at Fort Pulaski NM 

peaked during the nation’s Bicentennial in 1976. 

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the park continued to feature living history encampments in 

commemoration of various historic events. Volunteer reenactments and firing demonstrations 

occurred mostly on holidays such as Veteran’s Day, 

St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 

Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and National Parks 

Day. For summer programs, the park still presented 

visitors with infantry and artillery drills; musket 

demonstrations; period food demonstrations 

(Figure 19); slide shows; and talks about garrison life, 

prison, and period medicine. Bus tours to Fort 

Pulaski steadily increased after 1981 so that by 1983, 

two interpreters were hired specifically to relieve 

the park’s “on demand” interpretive service.37 From 

the late 1980s to the present, the park has hosted 

another yearly reenactment. Every December 26th, 

the park sponsors a recreation of the Confederate 

“Nog Party” of 1861. The festivities let visitors participate in the reenactment of the historic three-day 

party just prior to Union seizure of the fort. A 

candle-light tour and the singing of Christmas 

carols around the fort add to the ambience of this 

popular and consistently sold-out event.38

Fort Pulaski’s living history programs were quite 

popular and, as a result, years of encampment activities took a toll on fort exhibits. Reenactors lived, 

ate, and slept in furnished casemates and used historic objects during the encampments. The park 

adopted the practice of removing museum objects 

before encampments and cleaning the exhibit 

rooms after the reenactments to help with the 

problem. However, in 1994 park staff began to 

employ another approach to protect the collections. 

Many objects were simply removed and replaced 

with modern reproductions.39 This procedure also 

promoted management’s goal of increasing public 

accessibility to the rooms.

Interpretation, Collections, 

and Visitor Services in the 

1980s and 1990s

The historic collections at Fort Pulaski NM have 

played important roles in interpretive programs 

since the park’s early years. In 1964, displayed collections in the newly completed Visitor Center used 

objects to educate the public about the construction, surrender, and restoration of Fort Pulaski. 

35. Superintendent’s Annual Report, 1972-1978, park files, FPNM; Bob Blythe, discussion with Cameron Binkley, 20 June 2002.

36. Ibid.

FIGURE 19. Living History volunteers demonstrate nineteenth 

century food preparation at Fort Pulaski, 1996

37. Superintendent’s Annual Report, 1980-1999, park files, FPNM.

38. “Confederate Nog Party,” Savannah Good Times, 21 December 1991, park files, FPNM.

39. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, Fort Pulaski National Monument Collection Management Plan (Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 

1995).
National Park Service 43

Materials from archival or museum collections have 

also been used in wayside exhibits and publications, 

and to model modern reproductions. Casemate 

exhibits were furnished in the 1970s and, in 1991, a 

rare historic artillery sling cart display was acquired. 

Research using historic documents and building 

fragments continues to aid preservation and restoration efforts at the fort and its surrounding 

landscape, which includes the Cockspur Island 

Lighthouse, Battery Hambright, the Workmen’s 

Village, the dike system, the North Pier, the historic 

cisterns, the cemetery, and the South Channel 

Bridge.40 

In the 1980s and 1990s, Fort Pulaski NM instituted 

new exhibits and interpretive programs designed for 

broader appeal. Traditional museum exhibits 

focused visitor attention on the Civil War battle and 

garrison life in the 1860s. In 1990, the Visitor Center 

began to feature special exhibits for Black History 

Month, Women’s History Month, and Hispanic 

Heritage Month using historic documents and 

objects relevant to local historic themes. These 

exhibits placed Fort Pulaski’s history in a larger 

social context and reflected the nation’s growing 

effort to commemorate diversity. In 1991, to accommodate disabled visitors, a cannon projectile display 

was set up in the Visitor Center that allowed tactile 

interpretation for visually impaired visitors. 

Between 1997 and 2000, the Visitor Center was retrofitted to accommodate visitors with disabilities.41 

African-American history, in particular, was incorporated into park interpretation as a result of 

research conducted by Dr. Charles Elmore, a professor from Savannah State University, contracted 

by the NPS in 1999. The historical knowledge 

gained from his research, which encompassed 

events such as General Hunter’s emancipation order 

in 1862 and the larger social history of AfricanAmericans in Savannah and at Fort Pulaski during 

Reconstruction, proved quite useful, and the park 

sought its publication. Since 1999, interpretive talks 

by park rangers at the monument have included this 

recently uncovered African-American history. The 

park also developed a display in the Visitor Center 

of a photograph of African-Americans who reached 

the Union lines at Fort Pulaski after Hunter’s emancipation order. Furthermore, the park plans to 

update the current introductory film shown at the 

Visitor Center auditorium to include this AfricanAmerican history.42 

New park programs in the 1980s encouraged visitation by young people. In 1984, youths from 

Savannah playgrounds began summer-time tours of 

the fort under an agreement with the Savannah 

Parks and Recreation Department. By 1989, the 

park had contracted Savannah’s Leisure Services 

Bureau to help transport to the monument “at risk” 

urban youths for educational and recreational field 

trips. In 1999, to help visitors better understand the 

significance of Fort Pulaski’s cultural and natural 

resources, the park entered into a Memorandum of 

Understanding with the Oatland Island Educational Center, which currently conducts onsite 

educational programs.43 

Since the 1990s, Fort Pulaski NM has offered 

another interpretive aid to the public through its 

web site. In 1999, the park’s web site was expanded 

to provide information on the fort’s construction, 

the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rifled cannon, 

and the “Immortal Six Hundred.” Of course, information relating to park programs and events, park 

volunteers, and the Cockspur Island Lighthouse is 

also offered. Information related to daily scheduled 

events for 2002 included interpretive presentations 

on artillery, seacoast defense, slavery, and soldier 

life as well as natural history.44

As the content of the park’s web site suggests, visitors to Fort Pulaski NM continue to be primarily 

interested in the park’s Civil War-era history. Park 

managers during the 1990s sought to emphasize 

broader historical and natural themes, but the 

Visitor Center also continued to focus visitor 

attention on the fort’s military history, as evidenced 

by the film shown in the Visitor Center’s new auditorium. After 1995, groups gathered there for 

orientation before beginning their tour of the scenic 

fortification.

40. “Fort Pulaski National Monument Scope of Collection Statement,” 1997, History file, FPNM.

41. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1984-2000, park files, FPNM.

42. John Breen, FPNM, telephone conversation, 29 January 2002.

43. Memorandum of Understanding between FPNM and Oatland Island Educational Center, 8 January 1999, reading files, 

FPNM.

44. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 2000, park files, FPNM. The web site address for Fort Pulaski National Monument is: 

www.nps.gov/fopu.
44 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Visitation Statistics and 

Trends

 The park has always logged visitation statistics, 

although not always with great accuracy or consistency. Annual reports of the 1930s indicate that CCC 

enrollees often counted park visitors. The task was 

probably not too demanding until 1938 because 

most visitors arrived on the NPS ferry, although 

those who arrived by private boat may have been 

missed in the official counts. Moreover, pre-World 

War II annual report statistical tables reflected the 

number of visitors “since the inception of the CCC 

guide force,” suggesting that the earliest visitors may 

not have been regularly counted at all. Visitation 

patterns in the 1930s, which peaked at 50,883 in 1938, 

were affected largely by improvements in visitor 

access. Large increases were reported after the 

introduction of a ferry service in 1934 and after the 

completion of the South Channel Bridge in 1938. 

The introduction of use fees apparently caused a 

decline in visitation thereafter until the park was 

closed for World War II.45

Between 1947, when Fort Pulaski NM reopened following the war, and 1957, Superintendent Lattimore 

recorded visitors in most of his monthly reports. 

Unfortunately, during this period he occasionally 

described monthly visitation as "a slight increase 

over last month" or something to that effect. Annual 

counts during this period are probably only approximations and not based upon a rigorous counting 

methodology. It appears that mechanical traffic 

counters were installed at the park only in the late 

1950s. From 1958 onward available figures track a 

general steady increase in visitation as noted in the 

accompanying table and graph. Such figures 

roughly match national trends. Presumably, visi45. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938, park files, FPNM.

Fort Pulaski Visitation 1958 - 2000

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

1958

1960

1962196419661968

1970

19721974

19761978

1980

19821984

19861988

1990

1992199419961998

2000

Year

Number of Visitors

Table 1: Fort Pulaski National Monument Annual 

Visitation Statistics

Year Visits Years Visits

1934 1,739 1976 328,758

1935 15,241 1977 271,917

1936 12,169 1978 348,896

1937 12,471 1979 283,708

1938 50,883 1980 288,283

1939 39,516 1981 245,659

1940-1957 No data 1982 291,823

1958 116,631 1983 313,945

1959 145,780 1984 398,240

1960 136,092 1985 411,536

1961 123,163 1986 509,659

1962 161,596 1987 410,268

1963 176,287 1988 314,028

1964 252,263 1989 490,530

1965 261,506 1990 370,907

1966 230,315 1991 402,587

1967 269,510 1992 392,779

1968 266,793 1993 373,763

1969 161,596 1994 367,261

1970 176,287 1995 342,679

1971 214,777 1996 372,506

1972 289,605 1997 383,840

1973 275,744 1998 389,904

1974 293,332 1999 387,510

1975 301,247 2000 383,700
National Park Service 45

tation during the 1950s matches similar national 

trends as well. Since June 1968, a traffic counter 

installed at the entrance has recorded visitation. 

Another such counter was installed on McQueen’s 

Island at the Lazaretto Creek boat ramp. The 

entrance station and counter improved the park’s 

ability to monitor park visitation, as well as 

enhancing fee collection and security. 

In the modern method employed to count visitors, 

each vehicle that enters the park is logged. Various 

complex rules are then applied to determine how 

many persons-per-vehicle should be counted. At 

first, passenger vehicles were multiplied by a factor 

of four. This factor was later adjusted to 3.5. Buses 

are counted separately and deductions are made for 

non-recreation visits (e.g., service vehicles). These 

methods are an improvement over early methods of 

counting visitors, although they can still yield problematic results. For example, visitors are sometimes 

counted more than once when moving between two 

areas of the park. Moreover, the Master Plan of 1971 

found that visitor trends in the 1960s were difficult 

to analyze because the park changed two major policies. First, the installation of the fee collection 

station at the entrance probably drove some visitors 

away. Moreover, before the gate was established, 

some visitors were probably not paying the required 

fee. The visits of these park patrons may have gone 

unrecorded. Secondly, the new entrance station and 

gate allowed the park to prevent visitor access after 

park facilities were closed for the evening. 

According to the Master Plan, most after-hours visitors did not come to the park for reasons having to 

do with its establishment, so the nightly closings 

were appropriate. These changes, however, resulted 

in significant decreases in reported visits in 1968 and 

1969. Visitation declined immediately by 30 percent 

after the installation of the entrance station and gate. 

According to the statistics, again difficult to read, 

total visitation declined a whopping 40 percent 

from 269,510 in 1967 to 161,596 in 1969.46

Special Events

Over the years, Fort Pulaski NM has sponsored a 

variety of special events to celebrate the history of 

Cockspur Island and various holidays. Some events 

drew thousands of visitors, required special 

exhibits, and attracted much publicity. Other events, 

such as annual observances, drew smaller crowds. 

Special events at Fort Pulaski typically involved educational experiences and opportunities for 

community involvement. According to visitor use 

analysis in 1989, local residents comprised an estimated 60 percent of the annual visitors to the 

monument.47 Through its special events, the park 

has provided a venue for the nearby community to 

recognize and celebrate the groups and individuals 

with important roles in local history. 

On August 7, 1938, Florence Martus, known as the 

“Waving Girl,” was the focus of what was probably 

the largest celebration at Fort Pulaski NM to that 

time. The daughter of an ordnance sergeant once 

stationed at the fort, Martus reportedly waved to all 

vessels passing through the Savannah Harbor from 

the old lighthouse at nearby Elba Island. Passing 

ships sounded off in reply. She maintained this 

46. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, park files, FPNM, 8-9.

47. “Statement for Management,” 1989, microfiche files, NPS-SERO.

FIGURE 20. Photo of Florence Martus, “the Waving Girl,” 1938
46 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

routine for forty-four years. (See Figure 20.) In 

honor of her seventieth birthday, the Port of 

Savannah sponsored a “Waving Girl” celebration at 

Fort Pulaski. Local radio station WTOC broadcast 

the festivities, attended by four thousand people, 

including members of the Coast Guard, CCC 

enrollees, Sea Scouts, two musical bands, and the 

public.48

A second important early gathering at Fort Pulaski 

NM was “The Centennial Celebration” of October 

11, 1947, an event that marked the completion of the 

fort one hundreds years earlier. The event featured 

a pageant, formal exercises, and a thirty-minute 

radio broadcast to Europe. The next major park 

celebration occurred on October 15 and 16, 1949. 

Four thousand people from twenty-four organizations attended the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 

establishment of Fort Pulaski as a national monument. Special military and historical exhibits, 

including two military aircraft engines that required 

careful maneuvering in and out of the parade 

ground, were placed on display. 49

In 1950, the first of several CCC Camp 460 reunions 

was held at Fort Pulaski. Two hundred former 

enrollees participated in the first reunion. Subsequent CCC Camp reunions were held sporadically, 

but after 1989 these gatherings became more 

routine.50 From then on, enrollees have met yearly 

at the monument to reminisce about the seven-year 

history of their camp on Cockspur Island. The 

group is not formally organized. Therefore, participants living in different states are informed of the 

reunion plans each year through telephone contact 

with one another.51 The thirteenth CCC reunion 

was held at the park in 2000. In conjunction with 

these reunions, students from Savannah’s Armstrong Atlantic State University (AASU), under the 

direction of history professors June Hopkins and 

Barbara Fertig, have conducted oral history interviews with former CCC enrollees to collect stories 

about CCC life at Fort Pulaski. These interviews 

were recorded on VHS tape, although the tapes have 

not been transcribed and are not currently available 

for research use. It is hoped that these tapes can 

eventually be made available to the park or the 

special collections department of AASU’s Lane 

Library.52

The park also commemorated the Centennial Celebration of the siege of Fort Pulaski in April 1962. 

Volunteer men and women performed reenactment 

demonstrations for visitors (Figure 21). The bicentennial of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 

widely celebrated in 1976, encouraged the park to 

sponsor several special events at Fort Pulaski. These 

events included various living history demonstrations throughout the year, a period fashion show 

staged in March, and the filming of three scenes of 

the television serial “Roots,” which took place at 

Fort Pulaski in May. In July, a Polish delegation presented a special urn of soil from Casimir Pulaski’s 

birthplace in Poland to the city of Savannah. The 

Fort Pulaski Visitor Center later displayed the urn. 

The appeal of such bicentennial events resulted in a 

13 percent increase in park visitation during 1976.53

Between April 10 and 12, 1987, Fort Pulaski NM 

hosted events commemorating the 125th anniversary 

of the siege and surrender of Fort Pulaski during the 

Civil War. Three thousand visitors enjoyed a candle 

lantern tour of the fort and gun positions on Tybee 

Island, fort-life demonstrations, a flag ceremony, 

and a concert by the 24th Infantry Division Band 

48. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939, park files, FPNM.

49. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1946-1954, park files, FPNM.

50. John Breen, FPNM, letter to author, 30 July 2001.

51. John Breen, FPNM, telephone conversation, 29 January 2002.

52. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1946-1954; “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1990-2000, park files, 

FPNM; Caroline Hopkingson, AASU Archivist, conversation with Cameron Binkley, 5 April 2002. Dr. Fertig was reluctant to 

provide access to these interviews for this study.

53. “Report of National Park Service Bicentennial Activities,” 1 September 1976, reading files, FPNM.

FIGURE 21. Centennial Celebration of the siege of Fort Pulaski, 

April 1962
National Park Service 47

from Fort Stewart, Georgia. In 1991, Fort Pulaski 

NM celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 

NPS. The Visitor Center set up an anniversary 

display, and the program included living history 

demonstrations from the 3rd Rhode Island reenactors and another concert by the 24th Infantry 

band.54 Beginning in 1986, the Savannah Symphony 

performed at Fort Pulaski in honor of Pulaski Day 

every September or October.

Special park events and interpretive programs have 

provided opportunities for community involvement 

throughout the monument’s history. However, significant local involvement, attention toward 

implementing living history, and more diverse 

exhibits and programs occurred only after the 

broad social changes of the early 1970s. These 

changes then encouraged the development of NPS 

planning documents that park managers have used 

to guide their interpretive programs over the last 

thirty years. Further discussion of park planning is 

found in the following chapter. 

54. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1987, 1991, park files, FPNM.
48 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 49

Chapter Five:

Park Planning

The National Park Service and Fort Pulaski National 

Monument have produced various planning documents to reach development and management goals. 

Over time, changes brought on by periods of major 

park development generated new planning requirements. Civilian Conservation Corps work of the 

1930s and growing naval activity on Cockspur Island 

led to the 1939 and 1942 Master Plan editions. 

Master plans set forth the major development goals 

of a park, although they were static and limited in 

scope. In 1965, concurrent to the implementation of 

Mission 66 at Fort Pulaski, the park received an 

updated master plan. The 1971 Master Plan

improved on this plan by listing by priority the 

needs of park planning, development, interpretation, land acquisition, and management. New 

legislation related to natural and cultural resources 

from the late 1970s through the 1990s also necessitated supplemental park planning documents. In 

1984, therefore, Fort Pulaski began to produce a 

biennially updated Land Protection Plans (LPP). 

In the 1990s, the park took efforts to improve collections management and interpretation by producing 

a Collections Management Plan (CMP). A specific 

park planning process to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which 

requires federal agencies to measure their performance through established standards, was also 

implemented. This new process helped to set strategic long-range plans rather than focusing on 

short-term goals. In 1998, with similar goals in mind, 

the Park Service began planning for the development of Fort Pulaski’s first modern General 

Management Plan (GMP), the most comprehensive 

of all planning documents. 

Master Plans

Master Plans, 1939 and 1942

The New Deal programs in the 1930s provided Fort 

Pulaski NM with the funding to make improvements such as fort repairs, walkway construction, 

dike and moat excavation, and vegetation removal. 

In 1938, the completion of the South Channel Bridge 

brought a rapid rise in the number of park visitors. 

In 1939, however, CCC labor began to decrease, 

prompting concern for how the park would carry 

out planned renovations while the CCC still 

remained on Cockspur Island. These events 

prompted NPS planning for the long-term development of the park. As a result, the first Fort Pulaski 

Master Plan was published in 1939. The areas of 

development discussed in this plan included roads 

and trails, utility lines and buildings, and the park 

boundary. 

While the new South Channel Bridge allowed visitors easy access to Fort Pulaski, the road system on 

the island needed work to accommodate the traffic. 

The 1939 Master Plan proposed a treatment for the 

entrance road at either side of the bridge and the 

improvement of a parking area north of the fort’s 

demilune. Developing the park entrance became 

the top priority of planned road improvement in 

1939, because the park perceived the area as being 

dangerous for travelers. The plan called for the 

completion of easily maintained shell walkways that 

wound through the woods connecting the various 

historic sites on Cockspur Island. The plan also 

emphasized surfacing the secondary road leading to 

the former quarantine station on the west end of the 

island.1

 

1. “1939, 1942 Master Plan” file, park files, Fort Pulaski National Monument (hereafter, FPNM).
50 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

The 1939 Master Plan considered the administration, residential, and utility group of twelve frame 

buildings on the island’s west end as temporary 

structures, except for a one-story tool room. These 

buildings were to be used by the park until permanent structures could replace them.2

 Although 

PWA workers had already installed an underground 

electric system, the plan defined other miscellaneous electric improvements that were required, 

including the installation of an inter-office phone 

system to connect the fort with the CCC camp, 

administrative buildings, and entrance station.3

 

The 1939 Master Plan discussed a manifold effort to 

acquire land authorized within the park’s existing 

and proposed boundaries. Planners wanted to 

increase the size of the park by incorporating nearby 

historic sites to allow more complete interpretation 

both of Civil War events and of antebellum southern 

culture. Planners hoped the proposed expansion 

would also yield a larger income for the maintenance of Fort Pulaski. The last component of the 

boundary plan included protecting the existing and 

proposed new park areas, which primarily consisted 

of salt and fresh water marshes.4

Superintendent James Holland recommended that 

the next master plan edition contain figures illustrating the fort and island, restoration detail, and 

corresponding interpretive information.5

 He was 

to get a new plan much sooner than expected. With 

the closing of the CCC camp, whose enrollees provided park labor and gave interpretative tours, and 

the building of the Navy section base at Cockspur 

Island in 1941, Fort Pulaski was forced to reevaluate 

its needs, especially with regard to development and 

interpretation. As a result, the 1939 Master Plan was 

soon outdated, and work began on its revision.

A new Master Plan was published in 1942. This 

edition graphically illustrated Fort Pulaski’s general 

development plans, in addition to its administration, 

residence, service area, and utility plans. Under the 

rubric “General Development Plan” (Figure 22), the 

1942 Master Plan proposed a north overlook for 

tour groups to rest, the construction of a replicated 

“hot shot” oven in the parade ground, and an addi2. “General Information Report,” 1940, microfiche files, National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office, Atlanta (hereafter 

NPS-SERO).

3. “1939, 1942 Master Plan” file, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 22. General Development Plans drawing illustrates proposed development, c. 1940

4. Ibid.

5. Superintendent Holland to NPS Director, 3 January 1940, File 180A, FPNM.
National Park Service 51

tional parking area at the south end of the demilune. 

Other proposals included a contact station, sign, 

and flag to be located at the park entrance from the 

highway, and a new administration building to be 

located along the road to the utility area. Plan 

drawings also showed electric and telephone wiring 

diagrams, and a historic base map (see Figure 3).6 

The 1942 Master Plan also devised an historic tour 

plan, divided into a longer and a shorter tour. In the 

long tour, visitors began and ended their tour at the 

parking area. This tour gave the visitor a better 

understanding of the demilune, moat, and old dock 

and more time to digest the information. The short 

tour featured the same introductory talk as included 

in the long tour but began at the sallyport fort 

entrance. The plan also outlined a slide lecture to 

aid in orientation.7

According to the 1939 Master Plan, most of the 

administrative, residential, and utility group 

buildings were not deemed worthy of salvaging. 

The CCC soon razed several of the buildings. The 

1942 Master Plan outlined the development of new 

structures on Cockspur Island’s west end to accommodate park staff, maintenance, utility storage, and 

safety precautions. Park managers believed that 

implementing the plan’s fire protection measures 

were of particular importance. Indeed, immediately following the approval of the 1942 Master Plan, 

a fire pump house and firehouse were built on the 

west end. 

Most changes sought by the 1942 Master Plan had to 

wait until after World War II. Moreover, when the 

Navy finally vacated Cockspur Island, it left behind 

many ramshackle buildings that NPS planners had 

to consider. By 1949, the NPS had drafted a 

“Developed Area Plan” (Figure 23) that proposed to 

remove fifty-seven buildings, many of them from 

the Navy occupation. However, to redevelop the 

residence and utility area as specified in the 1942 

Master Plan, eight buildings were to be retained and 

used for park purposes: three residences, the fire 

pump house and firehouse, a transformer house, a 

small magazine, and a lumber shed.8 Some parts of 

the 1942 Master Plan were not carried out, including 

development of the south parking area, additional 

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. “Developed Area Plan at Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1949, microfiche files, NPS-SERO.

FIGURE 23. Developed Area Plan for the residence/utility area shows Navy buildings slated for removal, 1949
52 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

administration building, and the hot shot oven 

reproduction.

Master Plan, 1965

In the wake of World War II, management at Fort 

Pulaski NM focused on repairing damage to the fort 

and landscape caused by weather and the Navy’s 

occupation. Temporary exhibits were established 

and little effort was expended to develop a new 

master plan. Although Fort Pulaski lacked updated 

planning documents, park officials leapt at the 

chance offered by Mission 66 to obtain funds to 

improve park management and interpretation. 

These changes, of course, generated new issues in 

visitor services, storage and office space, resource 

protection, and security. Consequently, in 1965, a 

new Master Plan was drafted to outline management concerns of the mid-1960s. Some of these 

areas included insect, plant, and tree disease 

control; vandalism control; and the repair of historic 

structures, utilities, signs, and markers. 

The 1965 Master Plan explained that increased 

staffing would help eradicate undesirable plant 

species and better protect the park from vandalism. 

Moreover, while Mission 66 improved the fort’s 

condition, additional staff would help management 

maintain a regular inspection schedule for all historic structures.9

According to the 1965 Master Plan, park interpretive 

services, recreational facilities, and traffic safety also 

needed improvement. The Visitor Center that 

opened in 1964, for example, was a major upgrade 

for Fort Pulaski’s interpretive program, but traffic 

flow within the center proved problematic. The 

Master Plan recommended that the park operate a 

collection fee station at the entrance to the park on a 

seasonal basis, which was intended to reduce the 

volume of visitors coming into the Visitor Center 

solely to pay that fee (as implemented it also 

reduced the number of visitors; see the statistical 

section under Chapter Four). Another recommendation was for audio-visual evening programs at the 

Visitor Center for children and adults, along with 

off-site slide and film programs at local schools. The 

plan also emphasized a better self-guided fort tour 

and the establishment of a permanent picnic and 

campsite area at an accessible site on the island. 

Finally, concern for traffic safety prompted a recommendation for additional directional and speed limit 

signs along park roads.10 Not all of these changes 

were enacted, however, before yet a new Master 

Plan was in the works. 

Master Plan, 1971

Park staff drafted Fort Pulaski’s 1965 Master Plan. 

Although it contained detailed management evaluations and improvement suggestions, the plan was 

long on detail while short on organization and 

effective guidance. Many recommendations in the 

planning document, therefore, went without action. 

Non-park reviewers of the plan also recognized the 

necessity of prioritizing management goals in a more 

comprehensive and thoroughly researched study. 

As a result of inadequacies in Fort Pulaski’s 1965 

Master Plan, the NPS assembled a multidisciplinary 

research team composed of historians, architects, 

and engineers. The team’s mission was to draft a 

full-scale Master Plan that clearly prioritized park 

needs in the immediate-, short-, and long-term. 

The 1971 Master Plan team was also influenced by 

the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 

January 197o, which created an urgency to study and 

protect natural and cultural resources, especially on 

federal lands. The 1971 Master Plan reflected this 

new emphasis through its extensive consultation 

with experts in the areas of national park design and 

resource management. Not only did the new plan 

better direct park improvements, but it successfully 

guided Fort Pulaski management for many years 

thereafter. 

Under the 1971 Master Plan, the park’s priority was 

to fill vacant staff positions, write management documents, prepare an interpretive prospectus to attain 

a “dramatic and lively method of interpretation,” 

and construct new park signs and a new entrance 

station and gate at the South Channel Bridge. The 

other high priority needs involved conducting a 

visitor use survey and a natural history survey to 

manage the wetlands more effectively, continuing 

good public relations, clearing vegetation around 

the fort, and installing security systems in the Visitor 

Center museum.11

9. Master Plan of Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1965, park files, FPNM.

10. Ibid.

11. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 53

Next, the plan outlined short-term actions to be 

carried out at the monument. These tasks included 

improving park appearance and public safety. For 

example, park managers prohibited boat-launching 

from the island and fishing from the South Channel 

Bridge. Other plans consisted of building an additional employee residence, acquiring and preserving 

adjacent lands related to Fort Pulaski’s historic 

themes, improving pest control, posting the 

shoreline boundary to reduce hunting, and providing a boat and additional seasonal ranger for 

patrol. These plans also included cooperation with 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to resolve issues 

related to spoil deposits, dredging practices, and 

shore erosion on Cockspur Island. The Master Plan

emphasized relocating spoil areas on Cockspur 

Island to nearby Oyster Bed Island to avoid incompatibility with the historic atmosphere of the park.12

Regarding long-term priorities, the 1971 Master Plan

discussed four goals to be achieved only when circumstances made them feasible. These goals 

included constructing a second employee residence, 

expanding the picnic facilities, and encouraging the 

Savannah Bar Pilots to replace their “unsightly” outmoded structures on Cockspur Island with ones 

approved by the NPS. The plan also recommended 

connecting the bronze boundary markers on the 

west end of the island to fixed points. The markers 

were set in concrete that could not be moved or 

destroyed by vandals or foul weather.13

Many of the high priority goals of the 1971 Master 

Plan were met in the next several years. After the 

release of the park’s 1971 Interpretive Prospectus, a 

product of the Master Plan, Fort Pulaski’s interpretation program developed significantly. For 

example, a living history program was successfully 

instituted with the help of volunteers. New natural 

resource management and educational programs 

were also implemented shortly after the approval of 

the Master Plan, and a new security system was 

installed to safeguard the park’s historic objects. 

Other goals were not as readily met, however. For 

example, the Park Service continued to tolerate 

fishing from the South Channel Bridge because it 

was too difficult to prevent after hours. Funding to 

build an additional employee residence also did not 

materialize. 

A more important unmet goal was the park’s 

inability to acquire two parcels of land. The first 

parcel was the privately owned Goat Point, which is 

located on Tybee Island across the South Channel 

from the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. Goat Point 

once contained archeological remains of four Union 

batteries, although site disturbances have all but 

obliterated any archeological remains. Unfortunately, the park never acquired Goat Point. Fort 

Pulaski’s enabling legislation requires this property 

to be donated, a gesture the property’s three owners 

were unwilling to make. Fortunately, the historic 

value of the land, at least its importance as part of 

the historic setting of Fort Pulaski, is understood, 

and the City of Tybee Island currently maintains 

zoning restrictions that limit industrial and heavy 

commercial development. The second parcel was a 

two hundred-foot-wide strip of state-owned land 

containing the abandoned Central of Georgia 

Railroad roadbed that crosses McQueen’s Island 

within the park’s authorized boundary. Park managers worried about the old roadbed because it was 

easily accessed from U.S. 80 by the vehicles of fisherman and hunters poaching on monument lands. 

These used the strip as a motorway that degraded 

the scenic and ecological function of McQueen’s 

Island as a scenic approach and ecological preserve 

en route to Fort Pulaski. In 1991, however, the parcel 

became part of the McQueen’s Island Trail by 

means of the “Rails to Trails” project (an initiative 

that seeks to convert abandoned railway grades into 

recreational trails). According to park officials, 

public visitation was so high after the trail opened 

that illegal hunting activity was soon precluded.14 

The park’s 1994 Statement for Management indicated some initial concern that this trail, and the 

resources along it, might not be maintained to NPS 

standards, but such concerns, if still present, have 

not proved to be salient issues.

Land Protection Plan, 1984

In 1982, Fort Pulaski produced another planning 

document in response to a policy statement by the 

Department of the Interior regarding the federal 

portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

The fund required agencies responsible for the protection of public lands to identify what areas should 

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.; John Breen, FPNM, conversation with author, 9 May 2002.
54 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

be federally owned and managed, to cooperate with 

landowners and other agencies, and to consider the 

socio-cultural impacts of resource use.15 The NPS 

prepared and approved the first Land Protection 

Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument in 1984. 

Every two years, the park issued addenda to update 

the plan. The purpose of the Land Protection Plan 

was to identify alternative strategies for preserving 

historic, scenic, and cultural resources while also 

maintaining visitor access.

The 1984 Land Protection Plan prioritized the protection of six parcels of land on or near Cockspur 

Island. Three tracts of privately owned land raised 

concern. Of these parcels, the most important was a 

two-acre hammock on Tybee Island, believed to be 

the site of Battery Halleck where the first Federal 

guns fired on Fort Pulaski. If an archeological 

survey confirmed the battery’s existence, then the 

NPS should seek to obtain the tract through 

donation. As noted above, another privately owned 

area of consideration was Goat Point, where four 

other Union batteries once stood. On Long Island, 

accessed across monument grounds, five magazines 

and a road from the Navy’s World War II section 

base were located on a ecologically sensitive site. 

Limited access and the Georgia Coastal Marshlands 

Protection Act of 1970 had hindered private development on Long Island for many years, but 

industrial pressure from Savannah was a growing 

threat. Public lands needing protection included 

the abandoned Central of Georgia Railroad rightof-way on McQueen’s Island. Moreover, the plan 

continued to emphasize NPS opposition to the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers’ “Reservation of Rights” 

to dump spoil deposits along the north shore of 

Cockspur Island. This major resource management 

concern is discussed separately in Chapter VII. The 

NPS also maintained the necessary discretion to 

renounce the U.S. Treasury Department’s reservation to use Cockspur Island as a quarantine 

station. The spoil area was both ecologically sensitive and part of the park’s historical setting. The 

quarantine station area was used to support park 

operations.16

Park managers have successfully implemented 

several elements of the 1984 Land Protection Plan. 

The plan also helped prompt the City of Tybee 

Island to institute a land use plan in 1985 to recognize portions of Goat Point to be protected. By 

1992, the city had designated for protection the sites 

at Goat Point where four Civil War-era batteries 

were located (Batteries Totten, McClellan, Sigel, and 

Scott). However, no organization has attempted to 

purchase this land for preservation reasons because 

any archeological remains at Goat Point were obliterated by U.S. 80 development. Still, the park 

believes it important to protect the site as an element 

of Fort Pulaski’s historic “viewscape.” The parcel 

truly worth acquiring is the site of Battery Halleck, 

which is located on Spanish Hammock Road due 

east of Goat Point. In 1990, archeological testing 

confirmed the presence of Battery Halleck on this 

two-acre hammock. Battery Halleck is the only 

extant surviving Union gun emplacement of the 

Civil War battle for Fort Pulaski. Although the 

private owner, Mrs. H.G. Mullens, was unwilling to 

sell, the site’s confirmed historical significance 

strengthened NPS efforts to acquire the land for 

permanent protection through cooperation with 

several civic groups. Parties with an interest in conserving Battery Halleck include the Conservation 

Fund, the Georgia Trust for Public Land, the Coastal 

Georgia Land Trust, the Tybee Land Trust, and the 

Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites.17

The situation on Long Island was also resolved 

favorably, although NPS influence was only indirect. 

The park had for years opposed any prospect that 

private owners would transform Long Island into a 

port facility or a high density housing complex and 

continued to do so. In 1992, the situation appeared 

bleak when the Long Island Club Corporation purchased “the majority of property on Long Island” 

for commercial development. The president of the 

company, Mell Traylor, contacted the NPS and 

requested permission to use the park’s roadway and 

bridge to access and develop the land. The park and 

the regional office denied this request, which 

obstructed Traylor’s plans. He subsequently began 

to lobby state and federal legislators, although to no 

15. Fort Pulaski National Monument Land Protection Plan, 1984, microfiche files, NPS-SERO.

16. Ibid.

17. Addendum to Land Protection Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1986 and 1992, microfiche files, NPS-SERO; 

“Current Major Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1996, Fort Pulaski file folder, NPS-SERO Cultural Resources 

library. See David G. Anderson, Test Excavations at Civil War Period Battery Halleck Fort Pulaski National Monument 

Chatham County, Georgia (Atlanta: Interagency Archeological Services Division, NPS, 1995), for details of the excavation 

and Battery Halleck.
National Park Service 55

avail. Fortunately, the impediments of wetland protection legislation and NPS refusal to allow easy 

access apparently continued to foil developers. As 

this report was prepared for publication, it was 

learned that the Georgia Department of Transportation had acquired both nearby Bird Island and 

Long Island “to use for wetland mitigation.” Hence, 

both islands no longer face the threat of commercial development.18

Another victory for land protection on Cockspur 

Island came in October 1996. In 1992, the NPS 

backed an omnibus park bill in Congress that called 

for the removal of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

spoil deposition reservation. Although this bill 

failed to pass, it inspired a similar measure in a 1996 

omnibus bill that was passed. (See further details 

regarding this subject in Chapter VI under the “U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers” and in Chapter VII 

under “Shoreline Stabilization.”) The 1984 and 1992 

land-protection documents helped park staff to prioritize and meet specific long-term goals of land 

protection planning, such as eliminating dredging 

practices that harm the monument.19

Park Planning, 1993-2001

Several important planning documents were produced in the 1990s to benefit management at Fort 

Pulaski. In 1995, the Museum Services Division of 

the NPS Southeast Regional Office (SERO) completed a Collections Management Plan. This 

document provided guidance for improving Fort 

Pulaski’s museum records, exhibits, environment, 

security, fire protection, collections storage, and 

planning. In 1998, SERO and park management also 

started to develop Fort Pulaski’s first General Management Plan. A GMP is similar to the older master 

plans in providing park officials with a mechanism 

for helping to make general management decisions. 

However, master plans were largely focused upon 

park development and did not address long-range 

resource management or visitor services issues. 

GMPs, on the other hand, lay out a park’s broad 

conceptual direction. Park management and 

resource protection needs are better served through 

GMPs, which describe what future resource conditions should be, how to provide for visitor services 

ten years hence, and how to manage to achieve these 

goals. Currently, NPS policy states that all park 

units must have a GMP current to within fifteen 

years. By these standards, Fort Pulaski’s 1971 Master 

Plan was quite outdated both due to new threats to 

the park and because of internal policy changes 

within NPS that the older document fails to reflect. 

Work on Fort Pulaski’s GMP began in 1998 but was 

suspended when a major controversy arose 

regarding the wilderness designation for Cumberland Island National Seashore that required the 

diversion of NPS planning staff. However, the 

process was scheduled to resume in 2002. Documents tied to the GMP include the development of a 

Comprehensive Interpretive Plan and Cultural Landscape Inventory (1997).20

In the 1990s, the staff at Fort Pulaski incorporated a 

specific park planning process into their operations 

as a result of new legislation. This legislation, the 

Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, 

attempts to incorporate business-like practices into 

government administration and requires federal 

agencies to measure their performance through 

established standards. Under GPRA, Fort Pulaski’s 

mission “is to preserve the fort, its associated structures, and surroundings and to interpret its roles in 

coastal fortifications, military technology and the 

Civil War.” More importantly, GPRA requires the 

park to draft strategic plans, which cover consecutive five-year periods (reviewed every three years), 

describing overall goals and objectives, and annual 

plans, which show measures of progress in meeting 

those overall goals. The law also requires the park 

to produce annual performance reports to demonstrate how it met the standards of the annual plan.21

In 1997, the NPS produced a document entitled Park 

Planning. This report, a reflection on the motives 

18. Ibid.; John Breen, FPNM, conversation with author, 9 May 2002. However, GDOT acquired the lands for use of wetland 

mitigation to aid in its continuing effort to expand US Hwy 80 from a two-lane roadway to four lanes, a potentially 

substantial threat to park resources.

19. Addendum to Land Protection Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1992, microfiche files, NPS-SERO; 

“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1996, park files, FPNM.

20. John Barrett and Rich Sussman (NPS-SERO Planning and Compliance), conversation with Cameron Binkley, Atlanta, 26 

March 2002.

21. Ibid.; Strategic Plan 2001-2005 Fort Pulaski National Monument, park files, FPNM; Public Law 103-62, 103rd Congress (8 

August 1993), Government Performance and Results Act.
56 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

underlying GPRA, outlined a planning and 

decision-making framework that demonstrated the 

interrelationships between all park-level planning in 

the NPS. Park Planning was a collaborative effort of 

those involved in park planning and decisionmaking. It sought to provide staff with the guidance 

necessary to coordinate and integrate NPS 

planning. Park Planning helped link the park’s individual mission to the NPS’s overall mission, which is 

to preserve the natural and cultural resources in 

national parks for public “enjoyment, education, 

and inspiration” while cooperating with partners to 

further resource conservation and outdoor recreation. As a result of Park Planning, Fort Pulaski 

sought to define and share with the public the following planning and decision-making steps: the 

park’s mission statement and mission goals, directions for park management and ideas for 

implementing the directions, five-year long-term 

goals based on an assessment of human and fiscal 

resources, priorities and details involved with 

achieving these goals, annual goals for the upcoming 

fiscal year, an annual work plan detailing how the 

annual goals will be met, and annual results of these 

efforts.22 

In compliance with GPRA, Fort Pulaski produced a 

five-year Strategic Plan 2001-2005. The document 

restated the park’s mission statement and listed 

several long-term objectives, including preserving 

water quality, the good condition of the historic 

structures, landscape, “undiscovered” archeological 

sites, and museum collections. Another goal was to 

update the Monument’s List of Classified Structures. With regard to visitor use, the strategic plan 

hoped to continue to provide the public with educational and recreational activities and eliminate safety 

hazards. Organizational effectiveness by 2005 consisted of linking employee performance plans to 

annual performance goals, hiring an employee with 

disabilities and maintaining other “represented” 

groups in permanent and seasonal staff positions, 

reducing the number of lost-time injuries, and 

increasing both volunteer hours and cash donations.23 Before Fort Pulaski implements GPRA 

plans, a review process is undertaken by SERO, 

which helps assure the plan’s overall quality. The 

review process seeks to avoid overemphasis on 

development in planning documents and helps to 

ensure that problems are detected and resolved 

before actions are taken.24

As a business management strategy, GPRA is oriented to achieving results or outcomes instead of 

focusing on process. Management only recently 

implemented GPRA at Fort Pulaski and whether 

this “bean-counting” approach will improve the 

park’s interpretive or preservation efforts is yet 

unclear.

With the 1971 Master Plan, Fort Pulaski began prioritizing goals in its planning. Prior to the 1971 Master 

Plan, planning intentions were discussed without 

emphasizing and coordinating objectives. In the 

1980s, park planning concentrated on specific areas 

of park management such as natural resources and 

collections management. By the late 1990s, the 

planning and review process at Fort Pulaski had 

become more performance-oriented with the 

drafting of a mission statement and a refined 

strategy for determining the best application of 

activities, processes, and resources to meet 

important mission goals. Park planning is a major 

component of park management. Another 

important element involves park administration, the 

subject of the following chapter.

22. Park Planning, 1997, park files, FPNM.

23. Strategic Plan 2001-2005 Fort Pulaski National Monument, park files, FPNM.

24. Regional Director to Superintendent Breen, “Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for Review of Plans, Studies, Design and 

Construction Documents,” 2 May 2000, File D-18, FPNM.
National Park Service 57

Chapter Six:

Park Administration

As with park planning, various government agencies 

have participated in the management of Fort Pulaski 

National Monument over the years. Early on, the 

presence of other agencies at Cockspur Island burdened park management because of potential 

impact to natural and cultural resources. However, 

legislation and NPS agreements have since enabled 

federal, state, and local agencies to use facilities at 

Cockspur Island with much less impact on 

resources, to help maintain the park, or to contribute to the monument’s interpretive services. 

Government Agencies at 

Fort Pulaski NM 

Naval Occupation of Cockspur 

Island, 1942-1948

The strategic location of Cockspur Island has interested the United States military ever since the 

eighteenth century. It was therefore no surprise to 

the NPS when Army and Navy officers visited Fort 

Pulaski to evaluate the possible use of docking facilities at Cockspur Island in 1940. In the event of war, 

the U. S. Navy considered establishing mine sweeper 

bases at the island, and the U.S. Army inquired 

about using the Cockspur Island wharf to unload 

guns and supplies for transport to Fort Screven.1

 

When the War Department requested use of the 

wharf in December 1940, Park Superintendent 

James Holland raised concern over the handling of 

ammunition and hazardous materials. The Secretary of the Interior granted permission to the War 

Department on December 23 under the agreement 

that no hazardous materials would be transported at 

the wharf.2 

By August 1941, the Navy selected Cockspur Island 

as a proposed location for a naval station. Cockspur 

Island was ideally suited for this purpose because of 

its deep water access and docking facilities, its old 

CCC buildings and available utilities, and its proximity to a nearby highway. A meeting between the 

Navy and the NPS took place in October 1941 to 

negotiate the Navy’s use of the park’s administration 

buildings, living quarters, entrance road, and a 

portion of the historic landscape. Navy representatives explained their intent to utilize land west of the 

entrance road and leave the utility buildings and 

four living quarters to the park.3

 Making the best of 

an unavoidable situation, Superintendent Holland 

later expressed the positive benefits of the Navy’s 

occupancy. The park, he wrote, would be relieved 

of the maintenance of an area with “little or no park 

value.” Park security, with the island closed to the 

public at night, would also improve with Navy 

protection.4 

The Department of the Interior issued a special use 

permit to the Secretary of the Navy on November 1, 

1941, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a section base at Cockspur Island for the 

Inshore Patrol. The Japanese attack on Pearl 

Harbor the following month focused attention on 

the nation’s defense. On March 18, 1942, the Secretary of the Interior notified the NPS that 

Cockspur Island would be turned over in its entirety 

to the Navy Department.5

 On March 19, Fort 

Pulaski closed the park to the public and transferred 

1. Holland to Regional Director, 24 October 1940, File 178, Fort Pulaski National Monument (hereafter FPNM).

2. Holland to Director, 12 December 1940, RG 79, Box 70, National Archives, Philadelphia; Acting Secretary of the Interior to 

Secretary of War, 23 December 1940, RG 79, Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia. 

3. Chief, Historic Sites, to Director, 28 October 1941, RG 79, Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia. 

4. Holland to Regional Director, 31 October 1941, File 178, FPNM.

5. Regional Director to Holland, 18 March 1942, File 178, FPNM. 
58 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

its occupancy to the Navy. Superintendent Holland 

quickly arranged to relocate museum materials, 

park files, and various tools and equipment to the 

safer inland storage facilities at Ocmulgee National 

Monument.6 In order to prevent the deterioration 

of the fort during the war, Holland insisted that a 

maintenance worker, Jack A. Hood, remain 

employed at Fort Pulaski. Holland believed continuous fort maintenance saved the government 

future rehabilitation expenses.7

 The Navy’s 

approval secured Hood’s position as fort caretaker 

for the duration of the Navy’s occupation at 

Cockspur Island.

The closing of Fort Pulaski to the public resulted in 

the NPS omitting the park from mailing lists. All 

correspondence passed through Coordinating 

Superintendent C. R. Vinten in St. Augustine, 

Florida.8 By July 1942, the naval section base 

operated fully with two hundred men stationed at 

Cockspur Island. In a wire sent to the Vice-Chief of 

Naval Operations, the base requested $35,000 to 

repair the heating and water system in the Navy’s 

buildings in time for the upcoming winter.9 Expenditures to renovate CCC and quarantine buildings 

and construct new Navy structures amounted to 

nearly $2,000,000. The completed section base 

consisted of barracks accommodating four hundred 

men, an administrative office, a movie auditorium, 

club rooms, cooking facilities, an officer’s club, gymnasium, athletic field, tennis courts, and several 

ammunition magazines southwest of the base.10 The 

Navy used only about one-fifth of the island: the 

western part situated on a fill area created from previous dredging activities. The first annual 

inspection of the fort by the NPS revealed no impact 

to historic resources, though there were other 

problems.11

In July 1944, maintenance employee Jack Hood 

reported that operations at the section base had 

nearly ceased. This news prompted the NPS to consider the reopening of the park. However, the lack 

of financial resources ended the debate, and Fort 

Pulaski remained closed. On the issue of what to do 

with the Navy buildings when the park eventually 

reopened, the NPS discussed several options 

including requiring the Navy to remove them, 

keeping them for park use, or deeding the north end 

of the Island to the Navy. There was significant 

opposition, however, to the proposal to relinquish 

land needed for future park development.12

The Navy decommissioned its section base in September 1944. However, in November, the NPS 

amended the Navy’s special use permit to allow the 

operation of a naval receiving station at Cockspur 

Island. In July 1945, custody of the receiving station 

was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard for use as a 

discharge center. This transfer raised no objections 

with the NPS, because it anticipated the close of the 

center by the summer of 1946. NPS officials then 

submitted estimates for reopening Fort Pulaski 

National Monument in 1947.13

From late 1946 to August 1, 1947, when Fort Pulaski 

officially reopened, Park Superintendent William W. 

Luckett worked to prepare the island for visitors. 

He had new gun carriages at the fort built and 

painted, casemates cleaned up, and grass mowed in 

the area of the Navy structures and along the park’s 

road shoulders and walkways. Military use of 

Cockspur Island had negatively impacted vegetation, resulting in a fire hazard.14 In January 1949, 

new Park Superintendent Lattimore also discovered that the Navy “left us with a water system 

all fouled up.”15 The poor condition of Cockspur 

Island in the late 1940s due to neglect of repairs and 

a lack of regular maintenance by the Navy and 

Coast Guard left Lattimore resentful and anxious to 

put Fort Pulaski back in the hands of the NPS. 

 In July 1948, the Secretary of the Navy officially 

notified the Secretary of the Interior that the Navy 

6. Holland to Regional Director, 24 March 1942, File 178, FPNM.

7. Holland to Regional Director, 30 March 1942, File 178, FPNM.

8. Mike Capps, “Task Directive Administrative History Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1994, park files, FPNM.

9. Hagenson to McLellan, 8 July 1942, RG 181, Box 6, National Archives, Atlanta.

10. Historic American Building Survey, History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, Addendum to Fort Pulaski (Washington, 

D.C., HABS No. GA-2158, 1998).

11. “Report on Inspection of Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 8 July 1942, File 178, FPNM.

12. Edward Freeland, Coordinating Superintendent, to Regional Director, 21 July 1944, RG 79, Box 71 National Archives, 

Philadelphia. 

13. Freeland, to Regional Director, 5 December 1945, RG 79, Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia. 

14. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1946-1954, park files, FPNM.

15. Ibid.
National Park Service 59

was in the process of abandoning all structures on 

Cockspur Island. Many Navy buildings stood in 

dilapidated condition. On August 11, 1948, the Secretary of the Interior cancelled the special use 

permit issued to the Navy in 1942.16 Thus, the NPS 

resumed possession of its administrative and residential facilities and the rest of Fort Pulaski National 

Monument. 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

In 1936, Georgia Congressman Hugh Peterson 

introduced a bill to the House of Representatives to 

transfer the whole of Cockspur Island to the jurisdiction of the Interior Department. Reflecting War 

Department concerns, however, the bill also authorized other federal agencies to use areas of the 

island.17 Projecting park acquisition of Cockspur 

Island, the Secretary of War had recommended that 

a two-hundred-foot-wide strip of land on the north 

shore of Cockspur Island be retained by the War 

Department for the dumping of spoil deposits. 

Since the 1880s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

had deposited dredge spoils from the North 

Channel of the Savannah River at this location, in 

the process creating much of the land mass on the 

northern and western parts of the island. The 

Corps planned to continue such practices to 

improve waterway navigation and sought provisions 

during the creation of the park to ensure its capacity 

to do so. On June 26, 1936, Congress passed an act 

to extend the boundary of the monument. The Act 

included all land formerly under the jurisdiction of 

the Secretary of War but provided “a strip of land 

extending shoreward 200 feet from the present high 

water line” to be reserved “for the unlimited use of 

the Corps of Engineers... for the deposit of 

dredging materials.”18 

After the NPS acquired the closed quarantine 

station in 1937, the District Corps of Engineer’s 

Office in Savannah soon drafted plans to construct a 

new shoreline in that area according to its special 

use authority. As a Savannah River harbor 

improvement measure, the Corps wanted to dredge 

a portion of land west of the quarantine station and 

use the spoils to reconstruct the station’s shoreline. 

The Corps also proposed to remove the wharf, 

which formed an obstruction to the channel’s water 

currents (Figure 24).19 Part of the improvements 

included constructing a smaller wharf, razing two 

16. Lattimore to Regional Director, 9 March 1949, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive 

Administrative History Fort Pulaski,” 1994, park files, FPNM. 

17. District Engineer to Chief of Engineers, 15 June 1936, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, Atlanta. 

18. Farris Cadle, “Title Abstract for Cockspur Island,” 2000, park files, FPNM. 

19. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1938, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 24. NPS wharf on North Channel at old quarantine station, 1938
60 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

shops and the hospital, removing water lines and an 

elevated tank, and installing a new pressure system 

(Figure 25). The War Department would assume the 

expenses and give all the salvaged wharf materials to 

the park. The changes were to bear no adverse 

effect on Fort Pulaski.20 In the summer of 1939, the 

Corps completed the dredging operations, rebuilt 

the small dock and placed riprap on the new 

shoreline to prevent erosion. 

On November 27, 1942, the NPS granted the Corps 

of Engineers a special use permit to last for the 

duration of the war and six months thereafter. The 

District Engineer’s Office wanted to shorten the 

Intracoastal Waterway by cutting across McQueen's 

Island. The Corps wanted to use a six-hundredfoot-wide right-of-way across the western end of 

McQueen's Island and a nine-hundred-foot-wide 

spoil area on either side to serve as part of the 

waterway.21 Extensions of this special use permit 

were reissued over the years, and the waterway’s 

name became “the Elba Island Cut.”

The Corps of Engineers deposited spoil on the 

north shore of Cockspur Island from 1939 to 1943. 

When the Navy vacated its facilities on the island in 

1946 and the NPS began preparing to reopen Fort 

Pulaski, several problems resulting from these spoil 

deposits were revealed. Coordinating Superintendent Vinten found that the fill obstructed the 

flow of drainage ditches and caused salt water 

flooding that killed a large area of native growth and 

allowed for mosquito breeding. When he contacted 

the District Engineer’s Office about the problems, 

no response followed. The Corps agreed to assess 

and correct the drainage ditches only after Custodian Luckett visited the District Office.22

Dredging activity, along with a severe hurricane in 

October 1947, probably influenced Superintendent 

Lattimore and the Regional Director to wish in 1949 

for Cockspur Island to someday soon be “relieved 

of” the Corps of Engineers, along with the Savannah 

Bar Pilots and Coast Guard.23 Standing water and 

flooding continued to plague the park, however, 

20. Lattimore to NPS Director, 15 July 1938; Secretary of War to Secretary of Interior, 10 August 1938, File 161, FPNM.

21. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, park files, FPNM.

FIGURE 25. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drawing of proposed building removal at Quarantine Point (1939)

22. Vinten to District Engineer, 27 August 1946; Vinten to District Engineer, 31 January 1947, RG 77, Box 1, National Archives, 

Atlanta.
National Park Service 61

until Mission 66 improvements provided funding 

for construction of a new drainage system.

Despite NPS preferences, the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers has remained active at Cockspur Island. 

Besides dredging during the 1970s and 1980s, the 

Corps handled the periodic job of placing riprap on 

the abutments of the South Channel Bridge. In 1985, 

the Corps agreed to cooperate with the NPS in the 

construction of conservation tanks and electrolysis 

units. These treatment facilities on the west end of 

Cockspur Island allowed the park to stabilize four 

cannons and other artifacts recovered from 

Savannah Harbor during the 1980s.24 Between 1994 

and 1995, the Corps developed the plans and specifications to complete an NPS project for restoring the 

eroded historic dike system to its original height of 

twelve feet. The Corps participated in this project 

through an interagency agreement with the NPS.25 

In 1997, the NPS issued a special use permit allowing 

the Corps to place monitoring wells approximately 

one hundred and fifty feet north of the historic 

cottage and seventy-five feet southwest of the 

Savannah Bar Pilots dormitory on the west end of 

the island. These wells monitor chloride levels in 

the underground water of the island’s “Miocene” 

aquifer. In 1999, the Corps was also permitted to use 

an NPS equipment shed and radio tower to install 

and maintain a Global Positioning System (GPS) 

base station used to monitor Savannah River 

shipping. Despite these interactions, the relationship between the park and the Corps has 

remained problematic. For example, concern for 

protecting the Old North Pier, a section of the historic dike, and natural resources along the north 

shore at Fort Pulaski spurred efforts to remove the 

1936 clause that granted the Corps unlimited use of 

land along the north shore for spoil deposition. The 

Corps opposed the bill, but it passed in 1996.26 (For 

further details see Chapter VII under “Shoreline 

Stabilization.”)

U.S. Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard first became involved on 

Cockspur Island in 1909, when it took over maintenance of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse from the 

U.S. Lighthouse Service. Once the North Channel 

of the Savannah River became established as the 

major shipping route, the lighthouse was no longer 

needed as a nighttime navigation aid. However, the 

lighthouse was still useful as a “daymark” and 

served as an unlighted harbor beacon until abandoned by the Coast Guard in 1949. In 1959, as 

discussed below, Fort Pulaski NM acquired the 

lighthouse from the Coast Guard after a considerable effort by Superintendent Lattimore to 

prevent its being declared “surplus” and sold for 

scrap.27 

Official interaction between the Coast Guard and 

Fort Pulaski NM began in 1938 when the former 

obtained NPS permission to establish a wharf on 

Lazaretto Creek within the monument’s boundary. 

The wharf is located between McQueen’s Island 

and Tybee Island, near the creek’s confluence with 

the South Channel. The next major activity of the 

Coast Guard on Cockspur Island began on June 20, 

1945, when the U.S. Navy transferred its Naval 

Receiving Station to the agency. The end of World 

War II created a sudden demand for the Coast 

Guard to obtain facilities to discharge demobilized 

personnel. The discharge center operated only until 

June 17, 1946, at which time the Coast Guard vacated 

its Navy buildings.28

Although the U.S. Coast Guard Discharge Center 

closed and the Navy returned Fort Pulaski to the 

NPS in 1948, the Coast Guard sought to continue 

activities at the monument. In 1949, Superintendent 

Lattimore agreed to allow the Coast Guard to use 

the wharf built by the Navy on the north shore of 

Cockspur Island. The following year, the NPS 

issued a permit to the Coast Guard to utilize and 

maintain 350 feet of the deep-water dock, followed 

23. Lattimore to Regional Director, 12 August 1949, Beth Lattimore Reiter collection, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive 

Administrative History Fort Pulaski,” 1994, park files, FPNM.

24. Memorandum of Understanding between Fort Pulaski and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 7 May 1985, park files, FPNM. 

During electrolysis, an electric current oxidizes and removes or reduces iron corrosion and salt compounds from a metallic 

surface, making possible additional treatments (coatings of paint or varnish, for example) that prevent further 

deterioration of the artifact’s condition.

25. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997, park files, FPNM; Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 1997 

(Atlanta: National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office [hereafter, NPS-SERO], 1994).

26. “Special Use Permits issued to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah,” Reading files, FPNM.

27. Judith Collins, Historic Structure Assessment Report: The Cockspur Island Lighthouse (Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 1994).

28. Ibid.; USCG to Secretary of the Interior, 6 July 1945, RG 79, Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia; Regional Landscape 

Architect to Regional Director, 17 June 1946, RG 79, Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia.
62 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

by a long-term special use permit on September 25, 

1952.29 By January 1954, the Coast Guard further 

proposed to claim a large section of Cockspur 

Island’s residence and utility area to establish barracks and recreational facilities. The proposal 

lacked a strong defense purpose, however, and the 

NPS was thus successful in rejecting the application.30 A few years later, the Coast Guard 

renewed its attempt to expand operations on 

Cockspur Island. On November 17, 1965, the agency 

succeeded in establishing a Search and Rescue 

Station. The NPS issued a special long-term use 

permit that allowed the Coast Guard to occupy a 

400-foot by 450-foot tract of land upon which permanent buildings, concrete-moorings, and 

communication equipment and antennas were constructed.31 In 1980, an interagency agreement 

between the NPS and the Coast Guard authorized 

administrative jurisdiction over an additional 1.85 

acres of land for the Search and Rescue Station as 

long as it did not jeopardize or interfere with the 

area’s natural and historic resources.32 In 1993, the 

Coast Guard reconstructed a seventy-five-foot-tall 

steel aid-to-navigation structure destroyed in a 

recent storm and originally built in 1978.33 The 

Coast Guard continues these operations at Fort 

Pulaski NM to this day. Generally, NPS views Coast 

Guard activities as compatible with park policy.

Transfer of Cockspur Island 

Lighthouse from U.S. Coast Guard

The Cockspur Island Lighthouse was not part of 

Fort Pulaski NM when the National Park Service 

acquired the historic site in 1933. At that time the 

U.S. Lighthouse Service still employed the light as a 

daymark maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. The 

NPS was eventually able to acquire the lighthouse 

because of the determined effort of Park Superintendent Ralston B. Lattimore. 

Lattimore obtained the Cockspur Island Lighthouse 

for Fort Pulsaksi NM through a persistent campaign 

directed at various agencies and specific individuals. 

His effort, which spanned twenty-five years, began 

in February 1934. At the time, Lattimore had not yet 

assumed responsibility for park management, but 

was working as a Historical Technician for the 

Office of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations in Savannah. Early attempts by Lattimore to 

interest George Putnam, the Commissioner of 

Lighthouses, about transferring the Cockspur Island 

Lighthouse to the NPS were fruitless. In 1937, Lattimore contacted NPS Director Arno Cammerer 

with regard to the structure’s acquisition. He 

expressed concern over the need to protect the picturesque lighthouse and to prevent it from being 

used as a fishing camp. Cammerer contacted H.D. 

King, the new Commissioner of Lighthouses, who 

responded that the Lighthouse Service would not 

oppose the station’s transfer to the NPS as long as 

the light was adequately maintained for navigational 

purposes. Possibly there was a “gentlemen’s 

agreement” between the two services that this was 

to occur, as later correspondence by Lattimore suggests, but formal records are unavailable. At any 

rate, two events soon conspired to prevent further 

action. First, the Lighthouse Service merged with 

the Coast Guard in 1939, a development that 

probably complicated the transfer bureaucratically. 

More importantly, however, the beginning of World 

War II reprioritized official interests. The transfer of 

the light to the park was no longer an issue as the 

park prepared for its own transfer to the War 

Department.34

In 1949, two years after the NPS regained jurisdiction over Fort Pulaski NM following the war, 

Superintendent Lattimore received a letter from a 

citizen wishing to purchase the lighthouse. Lattimore was greatly disturbed by any such prospect, 

which he felt would harm the monument. Writing 

the regional office, Lattimore argued that the islet 

upon which the lighthouse stood was within the 

authorized boundary of the park. Hence, no congressional action was required and the light could 

simply be transferred by agreement with the Coast 

Guard. To forestall private parties from acquiring 

the site, the NPS would have to acquire ownership 

29. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, park files, FPNM.

30. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly report,” January 1954, park files, FPNM.

31. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, park files, FPNM.

32. nteragency Agreement Between the National Park Service and the United States Coast Guard, 30 May 1980, reading files, 

FPNM.

33. Memorandum of Understanding between National Park Service and U.S. Coast Guard, 13 May 1993, reading files, FPNM. 

34. Judith E. Collins, The Cockspur Island Light House Building Number HS-4, Fort Pulaski National Monument (Atlanta: NPSSERO, 1994), 11-12. See Collins’s report to obtain her definitive and thoroughly documented account of how the NPS 

acquired the lighthouse.
National Park Service 63

and the official records to prove it. Lattimore 

renewed his efforts to complete the transfer. The 

Coast Guard, owner of the light since 1939, offered 

no objection to the transfer. In fact, by 1949 the 

agency had determined that the light was no longer 

of navigational use, even as a daymark, and had 

stopped maintaining it. Unfortunately, an NPS 

Associate Director intervened and halted the 

process. The official believed that the monument’s 

authorized boundary included only lands formerly 

under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. The 

small lighthouse islet had never been under this 

jurisdiction, as specified in the Act of June 26, 1936, 

that expanded the boundary of Fort Pulaski NM. 

Legally, therefore, new legislation was required to 

incorporate the light within the park. For this 

reason, progress with the transfer was again 

forestalled.35

In 1955, Superintendent Lattimore became aware 

that the Coast Guard was planning to dispose of the 

Cockspur Island Lighthouse. His realization was 

sudden and startling. On March 4, the NPS intervened in the efforts of two salvage operators, the 

Zipperer brothers of Savannah, who were apprehended by the Coast Guard while attempting to tear 

down the light. By the time their activity was 

uncovered, the staircase had already disappeared. 

Ironically, the brothers claimed that the Coast 

Guard had given them the light, whose old 

Savannah Gray brick they planned to reuse. While it 

was not true that the Coast Guard had given the 

light away, the agency was close to declaring the 

beacon as “excess” property. Lattimore wrote to the 

NPS Regional Director asking that the office seek 

assurance from the Coast Guard not to sell the 

“endangered structure” without notifying the Park 

Service. In October 1955, in response to this letter, 

the Coast Guard notified the NPS that they were 

indeed planning to declare the lighthouse as excess. 

In this situation, the General Services Administration (GSA) was to acquire the property, evaluate 

its worth, and make it available for public auction. 

As Lattimore wrote, “Sale of this item to private 

parties for exploitation or salvage operation would 

be most embarrassing to the monument.” This 

prospect was certainly unappealing. The time had 

come for a final effort by the Park Service to acquire 

the light. The major problem was that the beacon 

was still outside the park’s authorized boundary and 

legislative authority was required.36

In January 1956, the Coast Guard informed NPS 

Director Conrad Wirth that the agency was disposing of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse, whose 

value was deemed to be fifty dollars! In February 

1956, the Director requested the Legislative Counsel 

in the Office of the Solicitor to draft the lighthouse 

transfer legislation, which was to be submitted to 

Congress by a sympathetic representative. Wirth 

asked the Coast Guard to hold the structure for 

transfer until this legislation passed and the GSA 

determined that the transfer was in the best interest 

of the government. The Solicitor advised that it 

might be possible to carry out the transfer through a 

presidential proclamation. The Coast Guard was 

anxious to move the transfer along. In July 1957, the 

Associate Director of the NPS wrote to Vice 

Admiral Alfred C. Richmond, Commandant of the 

Coast Guard, proposing that the lighthouse be temporarily assigned to the NPS under a special GSA 

rule (Regulation 2-IV-202.08). While the Presidential Proclamation was being reviewed by the 

Department of the Interior, the Acting Director of 

the Division of Recreation Resource Planning 

informed the Regional Director that a formal application for the transfer of the lighthouse was 

necessary. Superintendent Lattimore completed 

these forms for the GSA in November 1957, and by 

June 1958, the GSA authorized the Coast Guard to 

transfer the lighthouse.37

In April 1959, Director Wirth wrote Coast Guard 

Vice Admiral Richmond enclosing a copy of “Presidential Proclamation 3254” of August 14, 1958 (as 

published in the Federal Register, August 20, 1958). 

The Proclamation provided for the transfer the 

Cockspur Island Lighthouse to Fort Pulaski NM. 

On May 13, 1959, Director Wirth endorsed a receipt 

from the admiral acknowledging NPS custody of 

the lighthouse. Even with this event, however, 

bureaucracy interceded. Before the transfer could 

be finalized, Acting Regional Director Lisle wrote 

the Director to explain that the transfer had not 

been recorded on the “Fixed Asset Records” for the 

monument because of absent data on NPS forms 

regarding the value of the land on which the lighthouse stood. Lattimore had failed to provide this 

35. Ibid., 12-13.

36. Ibid., 13-15.

37. Ibid., 15-18.
64 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

information because the NPS had not acquired the 

lighthouse through purchase. This lapse took two 

more years to resolve. The transfer was finally, officially completed in 1960 when Superintendent 

Lattimore submitted to the Acting Regional 

Director the estimated property value data. The 

National Register of Historic Places nomination for 

the lighthouse was completed in 1972. It was 

approved and added to the National Register in 

1976.38 

Savannah Bar Pilots

The Savannah Bar Pilots and their collective, the 

Savannah Pilots Association, have roots that trace to 

the early days of the Colony of Georgia. Reportedly, 

William Lyford established a pilot house near Fort 

George on Cockspur Island in 1768. The State 

Board of Commissioners of Pilotage at the Port of 

Savannah currently regulates the Bar Pilots, who 

earn their keep by facilitating safe passage to and 

from the port through the difficult-to-navigate 

waters of the Savannah River. Individual ships or 

shipping companies pay the pilots for these services. 

Cockspur Island provides a convenient location for 

the Bar Pilots dock and facilities because every commercial vessel entering or leaving the Savannah 

River must have a pilot on board.39 

In 1940, the Savannah Bar Pilots moved their operations from Lazaretto Creek to the west end of 

Cockspur Island. At first, the Bar Pilots requested 

the use of quarters and the dock on the North 

Channel of the island, but the NPS Coordinating 

Superintendent opposed their presence. He felt 

that they had no historical association with the park. 

Superintendent Holland disagreed due to the relevance of the operation of the Savannah Harbor. The 

NPS Acting Director concurred with Holland and 

approved the proposal in October 1940. This 

decision was taken in light of the public service that 

would benefit the park during weather emergencies 

and because it would receive immediate notice of 

advancing storms. Annual rent for the Savannah Bar 

Pilots was set at seventy dollars.40 

The Bar Pilots soon moved into a dormitory and 

two small buildings and occupied this facility under 

a special use permit that was renewed annually. This 

arrangement worked until the early 1970s, by which 

time the Bar Pilots’ buildings had deteriorated. Fort 

Pulaski’s 1971 Master Plan thus recommended that 

the Savannah Pilots Association replace its “outmoded and unsightly” buildings with facilities 

approved by the NPS. The Bar Pilots’ facilities were 

located partly within the Corps of Engineers reserve 

on Cockspur Island, so Corps consent was also 

needed to construct any facilities within the 

easement. Despite the Master Plan, when the 

Georgia Ports Authority requested access to the 

wharf used by the Bar Pilots, the NPS briefly considered the Authority’s proposal to establish a 

transfer shipping facility on Cockspur Island on 

condition that the Bar Pilots and their facilities be 

removed. Managers eventually rejected this notion, 

however. Potential problems included resource 

damage, especially from oil or debris spillage and 

noise, which were likely to be worse than problems 

caused by pilot activities. It was also considered a 

“difficult” or unfair position. As a result the 

Authority’s request was turned down. In 1973, the 

NPS issued a twenty-year special use permit to the 

Bar Pilots to construct, maintain, and use living 

quarters, a dock, and fuel supply system, and a 

parking area on its .67-acre lot. With a long-term 

lease in place, the Bar Pilots completed renovations. 

The new dormitory they built stands at the location 

of the previous Bar Pilots building. With friction 

between the Bar Pilots and the park over the facility 

conditions reduced, the NPS renewed the Association’s special use permit in 1993 and again in 1998.41 

Resistance to cooperation with the Savannah Pilots 

Association, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, results 

from the constant fear of the expansion of non-park 

activities within the park’s boundary by other government agencies. As noted in the park’s 

“Statement for Management” in 1994, “facility additions” by these two organizations “have resulted in 

significant impacts on resource protection within 

the monument.” The historic use of Fort Pulaski 

NM by various federal agencies, especially the U.S. 

38. Ibid., 18-20.

39. Breen to Regional Director, 29 August 1992, park files, FPNM; “Special Use Permits,” reading files, FPNM; District Engineer 

to Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 27 November 1972, “Fort Pulaski National Monument,” Georgia State 

Historic Preservation Office files, Atlanta, Georgia.

40. Acting Director to Director, 27 September 1940, RG 79, Box 70, National Archives, Philadelphia. 

41. Superintendent to Regional Director, July 22, 1971, reading files, FPNM; “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1973, park 

files, FPNM.
National Park Service 65

Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and 

continuing expressions of interest by state authorities and local groups for access to the park, have 

made such resistance increasingly appropriate to 

protect park resources for posterity.42

Cooperative Activities

One way parks magnify the impact of good management is through cooperative activities. By 

cooperating with local governments, universities, 

friends and civic groups, and especially volunteers, 

parks can greatly multiply efforts otherwise limited 

by their own budgetary and staff restrictions. Fort 

Pulaski NM has engaged in numerous cooperative 

activities over the past several decades. One notable 

example of such cooperation is the agreement with 

the Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association (ENPMA), which operates sales outlets at 

numerous national parks, including Fort Pulaski. 

ENPMA sells park-approved items and manages the 

park bookstore. A percentage of the proceeds from 

this ENPMA activity are provided to the park each 

year as a supplemental funding source. As an 

example, ENPMA sales in 2000 totaled $134,089. In 

that year, ENPMA funding allowed the park to 

sponsor two special projects. The first was a 

research study on the impact of the Union victory at 

Fort Pulaski upon the emancipation of AfricanAmerican slaves and the second was a museum 

exhibit about General David Hunter, Count Casimir 

Pulaski, and the “Crowned Eagle” (Poland’s 

national symbol). The cost for these projects was 

$5,719.43 Various friends groups are another 

important source of aid and funding contributions 

that extend park interpretive and preservation goals. 

The Friends of Cockspur Island Lighthouse, for 

example, was organized by concerned locals and 

made generous contributions to help restore and 

maintain the park’s picturesque and historic lighthouse. Other groups have provided funding to 

improve wayside exhibits or to procure historic artifacts. While not every cooperative partnership can 

be mentioned, all have been important. Several 

major cooperative relationships are highlighted 

below. 

Chatham County

As with other parks, Fort Pulaski cooperates with 

local authorities. The park uses Special Use Permits 

(SUPs), Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs), and 

Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) to manage 

certain facilities within its boundary. These protocols free park employees to focus on other 

concerns. For example, the monument owns Lazaretto Creek on McQueen's Island. In 1962, the park 

issued a special use permit that allowed Chatham 

County to construct a public boat ramp. In 1984, the 

county converted the old dock into a public fishing 

pier and built a new ramp and parking lot. Since 

then, the Chatham County Department of Parks 

and Recreation has maintained and operated the 

public facility under another special use permit with 

the Chatham County Commission. A new fishing 

dock replaced the old one in 1995. In 2000, the NPS 

renewed the permit to maintain the boat ramp, 

public fishing pier, and parking area. In another 

example in 1990, the “Rails to Trails” committee was 

formed to plan the construction of a multi-purpose 

nature/bike trail on the old abandoned railroad 

grade running parallel to U.S. 80 on McQueen's 

Island. In 1994, the park issued a special use permit 

to the Chatham County Commissioners to maintain 

the trail and renewed the permit in 1999.44 

Another major area of long-term cooperation 

between Fort Pulaski and Chatham County is the 

perennial struggle to combat mosquitoes. The NPS 

first began to confront this major park nuisance in 

1939, when O.B. Taylor, an NPS wildlife technician, 

suggested constructing drains beneath U.S. 80 to 

ensure proper island drainage and to control mosquitoes between the highway and old railroad 

grade.45 Taylor’s recommendations were not fully 

implemented by World War II, and the problem 

worsened after a 1947 hurricane. In 1949, the park 

obtained mosquito-control aid from the U.S. Public 

Health Service, which sprayed the island, but such 

effort alone was unsatisfactory.46 Beginning in 1960, 

the Chatham County Mosquito Control Commission (CCMC) offered its knowledge, manpower, 

pesticides, and equipment to the monument. In 

1961, Fort Pulaski and the CCMC cooperated in a 

42. “Fort Pulaski National Monument Statement for Management,” 1994, 24, park files, FPNM.

43. Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 2000, park files, FPNM.

44. “Special Use Permits,” reading files, FPNM.

45. “Special Report on Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1939, microfiche files, National Park Service, Southeast Regional 

Office (hereafter SERO), Atlanta.

46. “Superintendent’s monthly report,” October 1949, park files, FPNM.
66 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

major effort that recalled Taylor’s plan from 1939. 

The CCMC provided a dragline (a scoop attached 

to a crane) to excavate a canal through the swampy 

area between the highway and the railroad grade. 

The operation was considered a great success in 

destroying mosquitoes.47 The CCMC also treated 

the utility area by aerial spraying. Later, it filled low 

areas with sand and shell, excavated a canal along 

the eastern dike, and created a deep ditch system 

north of the fort to drain the marshy area behind 

spoil banks.48 This project was so useful that Fort 

Pulaski signed an MOU with Chatham County, 

renewed every five years, that allows the CCMC to 

continue to conduct its activities at the park. Under 

this agreement, most recently renewed in 1997, the 

CCMC maintains ditches, treats for mosquitoes, 

conducts park-wide mosquito population counts, 

and provides collected data to park management.49 

Volunteers

In 1970, a public law authorized the Park Service to 

form the Volunteers-in-Parks Program (VIP). The 

VIP program enabled the NPS to use voluntary help 

from the public in such a way that it benefited both 

the NPS and the volunteers. Reminiscent of the 

Civilian Conservation Corps guides of the 1930s, 

VIP participants have become important to Fort 

Pulaski in providing the general public with a satisfactory park experience. Since the early 1970s, 

volunteer contributions have made many popular 

interpretation programs at Fort Pulaski possible. 

The incorporation of volunteer service in the past 

few decades solved many problems experienced by 

an understaffed park. 

Initially, VIPs at Fort Pulaski NM assisted with park 

interpretation. The first VIPs were three women 

who served period food while dressed in period 

attire. As the American Bicentennial approached, 

the volunteers numbered twelve. A favorite activity 

for male VIPs was to perform firing demonstrations 

using historical weapons. Park Historian Kent 

Taylor trained VIPs to understand the park’s history, 

to handle demonstration equipment, and to 

interpret the fort’s history to the public. Taylor 

noted that using the enthusiastic VIPs in interpretation proved to be more cost efficient than 

employing park staff. By 1976, the living history 

program at Fort Pulaski relied almost exclusively on 

the VIP program, which operated from September 

to May. The twenty VIP participants in 1977 volunteered 1,600 hours of their time. The number of 

volunteers decreased briefly during the energy crisis 

in 1979 and 1980 due to the park’s cutbacks in interpretive programs. By the mid-1980s, however, the 

VIP program grew substantially, and 154 volunteers 

donated 3,400 hours in 1987. These volunteers were 

mostly local people who participated primarily in 

interpretive services for special events and encampments. In the early 1990s, the number of VIP hours 

continued to increase, and some volunteers assisted 

with curatorial duties, maintenance tasks, and 

resource management jobs.50 By the 1996, the park 

also utilized 16 percent of the volunteer hours for 

administrative duties.

Other volunteer groups have made important contributions to the maintenance of Fort Pulaski NM. 

For example, many youth organizations have performed clean-up work on Cockspur Island. In 1989, 

a Savannah Boy Scout troop also helped to clear 

trail vegetation, cleaned and relocated informational 

signs, and scraped graffiti from Battery Hambright.51 

In 1996, work provided by the Chatham-Savannah 

Youth Service Corps was a substantial portion of the 

volunteer contributions needed to complete the 

McQueen's Island Historic Trail on the old railroad 

grade. Thirty-two participating youths cut back 

plants, cleared debris, and constructed picnic tables 

along the trail.52 In 1999, members of AmeriCorps, a 

new national service organization for young adults, 

painted nine interior fort rooms, sealed door arches, 

and salvaged damaged bricks from the Cockspur 

Island Lighthouse.53 

Youth Conservation Corps

Since the 1970s, Youth Conservation Corps Program 

(YCC) summer workers have accomplished 

numerous maintenance, interpretation, and administrative tasks at Fort Pulaski NM. The work-earnlearn program for teenagers started in 1970 after legislation was passed to prepare American youth for 

47. “Superintendent’s monthly report,” November 1961, park files, FPNM.

48. “Improvement to Drainage,” Narrative Report, 18 April 1963, park files, FPNM.

49. Memorandum of Understanding, reading files, FPNM.

50. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1972-2000, park files, FPNM.

51. “Scouts Clean Up Pulaski Pier,” Islands Close-up, 16 November 1989, Conservation files, FPNM.

52. “Volunteers Make Park Director’s Vision a Reality,” Savannah Morning News, 7 May 1996, Conservation files, FPNM. 

53. “AmeriCorps Members Help Maintain Fort Pulaski,” Islands Close-up, 1 July 1999, Conservation files, FPNM.
National Park Service 67

managing and maintaining natural resources. The 

program is a cooperative effort between the U.S. 

Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

and the NPS, the lead agency.54 

Fort Pulaski’s participation in the YCC program 

each year has depended on four factors. First, 

funding for the program has had to be available 

when requested by the park. Second, if the park 

could not identify suitable YCC projects for a given 

fiscal year, management has had to forgo the YCC 

option. Third, lack of a permanent staff member to 

serve as a YCC leader has hampered implementation of the program. Finally, when too few 

students wish to participate in the YCC, the park 

does not host the program.55 Despite such difficulties and inconsistencies, Fort Pulaski has 

successfully utilized the YCC program. Several successful efforts can be listed. For example, in 1977 

YCC enrollees controlled soil erosion at the park 

and repaired Battery Hambright. They also completed various park maintenance projects during the 

summers of 1983 and 1984. The park again 

employed YCC help in 1992. In addition to regular 

maintenance activities, the crew removed vegetation 

from historic structures, cleaned and painted carriages and sling carts, and built concrete fire hose 

houses. From 1997 to 2000, the YCC improved 

nature trails and assisted in the restorations of the 

historic cottage, the fort terreplein, and the 

Cockspur Island Lighthouse. The youths were also 

given interpretive and administrative 

responsibilities.56

Management Issues

As discussed in previous chapters, early managers at 

Fort Pulaski NM sought to preserve the fort and 

grounds to make it safe and accessible to the public. 

Mission 66 focused funds on staff improvements, 

establishing better interpretive programs, and 

restoring historic resources on the island other than 

the fort. By the 1970s, park management became 

interested in other issues affecting the park. In particular, management sought to improve the diversity 

of the work force by hiring more women and minorities. More studies on the natural resources at 

Cockspur Island were desired, along with eliminating the chance of future deposition of dredge 

spoils and forestalling outside development. 

However, by the 1980s and 1990s, growing visitation, 

indirect visual effects, increasing interest in outside 

development, and non-park expansion became 

issues for park management to address. 

Responding to the energy crisis of 1979-1980, Fort 

Pulaski management introduced several energysaving policies. The park offered public transportation for visitors, but very few people took 

advantage of the service. When the park imposed 

travel restrictions for employees in 1979 to reduce 

energy consumption, management believed their 

success in cutting energy penalized the park. The 

budget for the next fiscal year (1980) reduced allocated travel funds. Another way to save energy at 

Fort Pulaski included discontinuing the after-hours 

summer Candle Lantern Tours. Although this costcutting measure had more to do with staff overtime 

than with energy consumption, the event “necessitated additional energy usage,” such as electricity for 

the Visitor Center where participants socialized or 

changed into period clothing.57

The park’s Statement for Management reports in 

1989 and 1994 pointed out that more visitors to the 

park meant increasing staff to ensure high quality 

service. Management presented the objective of 

developing and exploring “new and inventive 

methods” in visitor services.58 These services 

included providing a more multi-cultural approach 

to interpretation and services to accommodate 

people with disabilities. NPS management reports 

also addressed the need to examine both the impact 

of pedestrian traffic on cultural resources and the 

impact of increased park recreational activities on 

natural resources. Approximately 75,000 people 

each year used the boat ramp and fishing pier at 

Lazaretto Creek. 

54. U.S. Dept. of the Interior/U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-Forest Service, YCC at Work: The 1979 Program Year (Washington, DC: 

U.S. Dept. of the Interior/U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-Forest Service, 1979).

55. John Breen, FPNM, letter to author, 1 August 2001.

56. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1972-2000, park files, FPNM.

57. Superintendent Webb to Associate Regional Director, 21 February 1980, reading files, FPNM; Superintendent Webb 

toRegional Director, 15 January 1980, reading files, FPNM; Superintendent Webb to Regional Director, 1 May 1980, 

reading files, FPNM; Regional Director to Superintendent, 1 May 1980, reading files, FPNM.

58. “Statement for Management,” 1989, microfiche files, NPS-SERO. 
68 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

During the 1930s and 1940s, Civilian Conservation 

Corps projects focused on maintaining the 

viewshed toward the fort by clearing away surrounding vegetation. After the park expanded and 

outlying archeological sites were identified, concern 

shifted to how to improve the viewshed looking 

away from the fort toward Battery Halleck and the 

North and South Channels. The preservation of 

this visual corridor that amply illustrates the strategic advantages of the fort became a management 

objective in the 1990s. In 1996, the relocation of the 

parking area to a spot not visible from the fort was 

also discussed in the General Management Plan 

alternatives.59

In addition to the physical threat of encroaching 

development on McQueen's and other neighboring 

islands, the visual impact from potential outside 

development troubled park management by the 

1970s.60 Incompatible development could interfere 

with the historic scene within the park. In 1994, to 

curtail such problems, management emphasized 

making Fort Pulaski’s position on preservation and 

development issues better known and understood 

by neighbors and local governments.61 This was 

especially important in 1996 when Chatham County 

proposed widening US Highway 80, for which it 

required additional rights-of-way from the NPS. 

This project would have disturbed the historic 

setting and environment by raising the roadbed, 

imposed new development on undisturbed 

marshland, and destroyed the McQueen’s Island 

Trail. The park aired its view during meetings with 

all parties and advised the NPS Director to deny 

additional rights-of-way until park concerns were 

met.62 In 1997, to help protect the park’s landscape, 

the NPS produced a Cultural Landscape Inventory 

(Level I). The inventory identified and evaluated the 

condition of the monument’s historic landscape. 

This document traced the evolution of the park’s 

landscape across World War II, the Mission 66 era 

of development, and changes to the landscape 

through the 1990s. A note attached by Cari 

Goetheus of the Southeast Regional Office pointed 

out several management options.

Non-park expansion, such as additions to the U.S. 

Coast Guard and Savannah Pilots Association facilities at Cockspur Island since the 1970s, also 

impacted resource protection within the monument. Visually, these modern facilities failed to 

blend in with the historic character of the park. 

Plus, potential fires or accidents at these stations are 

a hazard to the nearby historic cottage and the 

natural environment. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, its dredging practices, and other harbor 

activities that affect the stability of Cockspur Island’s 

north shore are other major long-term issues at Fort 

Pulaski. Some of these issues were successfully 

resolved during the late 1990s, as related in the following chapter. Nevertheless, protection of the 

shoreline, which is jeopardized by periodic 

dredging, and the dike system surrounding the historic district, which is subject to natural erosion and 

tidal overflows, remains an important management 

goal.

Other major management considerations in the 

1990s involved developing a Collection Management Plan, a Museum Housekeeping Plan for 

artifact preservation, a maintenance guide for the 

preservation of historic buildings, an Historic 

American Building Survey documentation study, an 

archeological assessment to evaluate potential 

impacts to archeological resources, updated flora 

and fauna studies, and a long-term program to 

monitor the water and air quality at the park. The 

accomplishments of these projects are also discussed in the following chapter.63 

59. “General Management Plan 1996-97,” park files, FPNM.

60. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, 8,13.

61. “Statement for Management,” 1994, microfiche files, NPS-SERO.

62. “Current Major Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1996, Fort Pulaski file folder, NPS-SERO Cultural Resource 

Library.

63. “Statement for Management,” 1994.
National Park Service 69

Chapter Seven: Resource 

Management and Law Enforcement

The negative effects of climate, visitor use, pollution, 

disease and pests, and criminal activity necessitate 

careful management of both cultural and natural 

resources. Through the years Fort Pulaski National 

Monument has addressed these issues by investing 

in natural and social science research, curatorial 

management, physical restoration and reconditioning, and increased law enforcement and park 

safety efforts. These measures are designed to help 

protect the park’s historic artifacts, structures, and 

landscapes, as well as its water ecosystems and associated flora and fauna.

Cultural Resource 

Management

Archeological Investigations

In 1934, historian and future Fort Pulaski Superintendent Ralston Lattimore became interested in 

locating the ruins of Fort Greene and Fort George. 

He and other NPS staff walked the southeastern 

portion of Cockspur Island looking for visible signs 

of the old forts. Although they were probably in the 

right location, no evidence of the forts was 

observed. Around this time, Civilian Conservation 

Corps workers discovered heavy timber pilings 

driven several hundred feet from the shoreline 

(extending into the South Channel) while digging a 

drainage canal at the southeastern part of the island. 

Lattimore believed that the crew had stumbled 

upon the remnants of the old fort wharf.1

 In 1958, 

years after his first efforts, Lattimore resumed his 

attempt to locate Fort Greene and Fort George. He 

and NPS archaeologist John Griffin conducted a 

basic surface survey but failed to identify either site, 

and the two agreed that excavations were necessary 

to locate the sites.2

 This was the only serious archeological survey conducted prior to the park’s 

national register nomination, submitted in 1973 and 

approved in 1974. In 1965, the park did discover two 

Parrot riffles near Battery Hambright, but these artifacts were brought to light by illegal relic hunters 

who alerted park staff anonymously.3

 Many years 

passed before other archeological investigations 

occurred at Fort Pulaski. Park staff considered their 

own equipment and training to be inadequate for 

such study.4 Then, in 1973, divers from the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers were enlisted to conduct 

an underwater search for artifacts in the ten cisterns 

around the fort and the moat. They recovered Civil 

War-period shoes, a handspike for a heavy gun carriage, casemate door hinges, a wooden shell sabot, 

and twenty-two cannon balls from the moat.5

The Archeological Resources Protection Act 

(ARPA) of 1979 ushered in a new period of archeological investigations at Fort Pulaski and elsewhere. 

The Act was passed to protect irreplaceable and 

endangered archeological resources and sites on 

public lands. It also fostered informational exchange 

between government agencies, professional archaeologists, and private landowners possessing 

archeological collections obtained prior to the Act.6

After ARPA, a permit was required to dig on federal 

lands, including national parks. Violators could 

then be fined or imprisoned if caught digging 

1. Lou Groh, Southeast Archeological Center, draft review comments, 7 November 2001.

2. John H. Jameson Jr., Archeological Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia (Tallahassee: Southeast 

Archeological Center National Park Service, 1998).

3. “Annual Interpretive Services Narrative” 1965, park files, Fort Pulaski National Monument (hereafter, FPNM).

4. Jameson Jr. 

5. Edward L. Trout, Park Historian, to 77th Engineering Company, 15 February 1973, reading files, FPNM.

6. Public Law 95, 96th Congress (31 October 1979), Archeological Resource Protection Act of 1979. 
70 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

without a permit, a fact that gave park managers 

better leverage in protecting archeological 

resources. At Fort Pulaski, ARPA directly improved 

the relationship between government agencies and 

professional archaeologists. Moreover, the precise 

location of some Civil War archeological sites at 

Fort Pulaski remained unknown before ARPA. 

After ARPA, more funding became available to initiate important archeological studies that helped to 

locate sites and better explain the park’s history.

Most observers had long presumed that no Civil 

War batteries associated with the Union assault on 

Fort Pulaski survived years of human disturbance. 

In 1989, however, staff rangers Talley Kirkland and 

Kent Cave researched various maps and created a 

new theory. They proposed that the elevated 

ground corresponding to the location of Battery 

Halleck on Civil War and modern maps was actually 

Spanish Hammock on McQueen's Island. Edward 

L. Trout, former historian at Fort Pulaski, agreed 

with the rangers and contacted the Interagency 

Archeological Services Division of the NPS 

Southeast Regional Office for assistance. As a result, 

the NPS sent a team of archaeologists to test the 

theory in 1990. Archaeologists David Anderson and 

John Jameson placed test units among a series of 

depressions on the sand hammock two hundred 

feet south of U.S. 80 and one mile southeast of Fort 

Pulaski. The depressions corresponded with the 

location, size, and spacing of a mortar battery that 

contained platforms, a powder magazine, and a 

loading room. The team also found heavily eroded 

iron fragments. Their discovery amounted to 

nothing less than Battery Halleck! It was in a 

remarkably preserved state. The archaeologists recommended further archeological studies of the 

resource, along with restoration for public interpretation.7

 Since 1990, the park has been working with 

the Conservation Fund, the Trust for Public Land, 

Coastal Georgia Land Trust, Tybee Land Trust, the 

Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, 

and the property’s owner to preserve or purchase 

the site, which is the only known surviving Union 

gun emplacement from the battle for Fort Pulaski.

Throughout the 1990s researchers conducted 

several other archeological studies at the monument. Indeed, archeology provided park staff with 

significant training experiences. Just as archaeologists helped to solve one historical puzzle, a new 

research question surfaced. In 1995, archaeologists 

from the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) 

excavated a refuse area exposed by Chatham 

County workers at the northwest corner of the main 

feeder ditch on Cockspur Island. The team 

unearthed broken bricks and mortar possibly 

dumped there when Union troops repaired fort 

damages after the 1862 battle. In 1996, John Cornelison of SEAC investigated the dike system that 

stretched from Battery Hambright to the fort, along 

with the mosquito ditch west of the causeway. He 

noted forty-seven instances of unauthorized disturbances to archeological resources. The next year, 

SEAC dug two trenches to reveal the stratigraphic 

history of dike construction and repair at Cockspur 

Island.8 

Archeological research at Fort Pulaski next focused 

on the cemetery north of the fort demilune. Curiosity about the identities and number of gravesites at 

the cemetery extends back to the early twentieth 

century. Work to improve Fort Pulaski in the 1920s 

led to the discovery of two marked gravesites off the 

northwest bastion of the fort dating to 1802 and 1872. 

Historical records from the 1860s indicated that 

thirteen of “The Immortal Six Hundred” prisoners 

also lay buried in this area. To positively identify 

each grave, SEAC conducted two remote-sensing 

surveys in 1994 and 1997, which produced inconclusive results. SEAC returned in 1998 and 

discovered several burials that were oriented upon a 

north-to-south axis. This finding was unexpected, 

as typical Civil War-era burials were placed upon an 

east-to-west bearing. The archaeologists thus 

hypothesized that the coffin burials reflected cemetery reuse after the Civil War by civilians and 

military personnel living on Cockspur Island. 

Research conducted by Mauriel Joslyn, author and 

historian, and John Jameson, SEAC archaeologist, 

supported this conclusion. Joslyn recovered documents that stated that the Union soldiers, who were 

buried in an area of the cemetery designated for the 

“Rhode Island Volunteers,” were exhumed after the 

war. This event left that bay of the cemetery 

available for later interments. Jameson recovered 

documents from the National Archives and Records 

Administration listing the names of several indi7. David G. Anderson, Test Excavations at Civil War Period Battery Halleck Fort Pulaski National Monument Chatham County, 

Georgia (Atlanta: Interagency Archeological Services Division, National Park Service, 1995).

8. Jameson, Archeological Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia, 5-6.
National Park Service 71

viduals buried in the Fort Pulaski cemetery during 

the 187os, which helped confirm this theory.9 

In 1999, SEAC removed the top fifteen to twentyfive centimeters of soil in the presumed cemetery 

area. Investigators exposed thirty-seven gravesites 

identified by a mottled, distinguishable soil matrix. 

Most of these graves were positioned on the Civil 

War-style east-to-west bearing. The archaeologists 

believed that more graves lay outside of the excavated area. They found evidence of disturbance 

from the Confederate cannon, buried muzzle down, 

near the center of the cemetery, and from CCC 

activities in the 1930s when fill soil was placed on the 

north part of the cemetery. The excavation also 

revealed fill soil, placed there at an unknown date, 

along the slope leading from the cemetery to the 

moat. A stone monument from Fort Screven commemorating Lieutenant Henry Sims Morgan, who 

perished in an attempt to rescue a Norwegian ship 

during the hurricane of 1898, stood in the cemetery 

from 1950 to 1994. A walkway was also constructed 

around Lieutenant Robert Rowan’s grave in the 

1970s. SEAC archaeologists found soil disturbance 

associated with each of these activities.10

In the 1990s, the NPS developed plans to manage 

Fort Pulaski’s archeological sites and historic objects

in situ, that is, so they remained within their prehistoric or historic contexts. Archeological sites prior 

to European contact, mostly in the form of shell 

middens, probably exist in the fort and battlefield 

area. Other archeological sites related to Union batteries, CCC camps, and the construction village 

raised management concerns. As noted in the 

park’s 1995 Collection Management Plan (CMP), 

such sites need to be accounted for within a baseline 

inventory from which accurate maps can be 

developed and updated. The CMP informed park 

management that archeological and historic objects 

not removed from the field still require appropriate 

maintenance, storage, and conservation.11

Collections Management

The maintenance of archival and museum records is 

important in the use, preservation, and protection 

of historic resources. Archival records pertain to the 

park’s official correspondence, historical files 

relating to the park’s creation, resource management files, the papers of individuals important in 

the park’s history, etc. Museum records document 

the ownership, origins, treatment, and related information pertaining to the park’s museum objects and 

artifacts. At Fort Pulaski, an accession book in the 

museum storage area has documented legal title and 

ownership of its museum collection throughout the 

park’s history. A re-compilation of the accession 

book was produced in 1971. The park also maintains 

accession file folders, incoming and outgoing loan 

records, catalog records containing property management and documentary information, and 

computer files with both accession and catalog 

records.12 

According to Fort Pulaski’s 1995 Collection Management Plan, approximately 35,979 archeological, 

historic, and archival objects comprised the park’s 

museum collection in the 1990s. Archeological artifacts included bottles, building tools and materials, 

cannon shells, soldier accoutrements, and miscellaneous fort and garrison life objects, while the 

historic artifacts were composed of Civil War-era 

ordnance items, uniforms, non-site period furnishings, arms and ammunition, architectural 

fragments, and several original flags. Archival materials at the park consist of inactive park files, maps, 

drawings, and plans.13 In the 1990s, the Southeast 

Archeological Center managed several of the park’s 

artifacts and archival items, which were on loan for 

storage and accountability.14

Since constructed in 1985, the prefabricated, 

climate-controlled “Bally” building located within a 

casement inside the fort has held the primary 

museum study collection and archives at Fort 

Pulaski NM. Alternatives to this facility, namely an 

addition to the Visitor Center or an entirely new 

facility constructed at the maintenance area, were 

deemed either too expensive or too visually 

intrusive. The present arrangement maximizes ease 

of staff access and flexibility in planning future 

needs (Bally buildings can be moved or expanded in 

9. Lou Groh, Southeast Archeological Center, draft review comments, 7 November 2001.

10. Lou Groh, Archeological Investigations at Fort Pulaski National Monument Chatham County, Georgia (Atlanta: National 

Park Service, Southeast Regional Office [hereafter, NPS-SERO], 1999). 

11. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, Fort Pulaski National Monument Collection Management Plan, 1995, NPS-SERO.

12. Ibid.

13. “Fort Pulaski National Monument Scope of Collection Statement,” 1997, park files, FPNM.

14. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, 1995.
72 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

capacity) with proper storage conditions while not 

harming the historic fabric of the fort. Removed 

from the humidity, salt air, light, and fluctuating 

annual temperatures that cause chemical, physical, 

and biological deterioration, artifacts and archival 

material are stored in this protective climate and 

low-impact environment.15 However, many artifacts displayed outdoors or in casemates are still 

vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions 

including pollutants, dust, and biological infestation. To alleviate these problems and preserve the 

objects on display, a preventative conservation 

program of regular inspections and cleaning, 

security measures, and adherence to proper NPS 

artifact handling requirements was recommended 

in the park’s Collection Management Plan in 1995. 

Furthermore, with the park continuing to remove 

historic furnishings from exhibits, the plan emphasized the need for expanded storage space and the 

construction of a new storage facility.16 

During the 1990s several surveys and assessments 

addressed other collections management concerns. 

In 1990, park management drafted an approved 

Resource Management Plan (RMP) to identify and 

rank natural and cultural resource management 

problems. One issue raised in this document 

included installing a new security and fire alarm 

system designed not to harm the museum storage 

facility. The park installed a new system in 1992 and 

conducted a Museum Fire and Security Survey in 

early 1995 to provide further recommendations on 

safely protecting the museum. A Collection Condition Survey, drafted in 1993, discussed the need to 

develop a treatment strategy and schedule, rather 

than treating objects only after signs of deterioration became visible. The following year, the park 

installed an important preventative for ultraviolet 

light damage to historic textiles on display in the 

Visitor Center. Protective window tinting covered 

doors and windows while shields were placed 

around the fluorescent lighting. The park also 

adjusted lights in the Visitor Center so that they 

pointed toward the roof, away from the objects. In 

1994, a Plan for Museum Collection Records also 

recommended making the Automated National 

Catalog System (ANCS) database usable for the 

entire museum collection by conducting an 

inventory of all objects cataloged or not cataloged 

and accordingly editing and completing the 

database.17 In December 1999, a Records Management Review presented findings to provide 

support and guidance for the park’s museum 

archives. At this time, the park had not entered all 

archival records into ANCS due to the large volume 

of park archival documents. As of early 2002, the 

park planned to have an archivist sort through the 

material to determine the valuable ones to be 

included in the catalog system.18 Obviously, staffing 

shortfalls make manpower intensive projects difficult to complete.

Many artifacts and objects in Fort Pulaski’s museum 

collection came from park excavations or donations. However, the park has also purchased 

historic objects relevant to its historic theme and 

period. In 1989, $4,300 from the park’s donation 

account was used for the transfer of two Civil Warera sling carts to Fort Pulaski. The valuable carts, 

once used to handle heavy metal cannons, were 

found abandoned at a naval base in San Diego. 

Experts believe the carts are two of the last known 

surviving examples of their type. Civil War photographs reveal that Fort Pulaski utilized similar sling 

carts made of hand-forged iron.19 When this 

equipment was transferred to the park in 1991, staff 

had to modify a fort casement to adapt the sling 

carts for presentation in the humid southeastern 

coastal environment.20 Further stabilization of the 

carts included brushing off surface rust, coating the 

metal with a rust inhibitor, and monitoring the 

swelling of wooden parts.21 In procuring museum 

items, it is critical not to misfile or eliminate records 

that establish clear NPS ownership or rights. Frequently, parks are legally challenged to prove their 

copyrights or ownership of items that were obtained 

by donation or commission. For example, in 2000 a 

woman filed suit against Fort Pulaski to obtain ownership of original drawings by Robert E. Lee 

donated to the park by the woman’s stepfather. 

15. “Resource Management Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1990, park files, FPNM; Don Cumberland Jr., “Museum 

Collection Storage, Number 1,” Preservation Tech Notes (Washington, D.C.: NPS, 1985), NPS-SERO.

16. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, 1995, 36.

17. Ibid.

18. John Breen, FPNM, telephone conversation with author, 29 January 2002.

19. Gene Downs, “Holding Down the Fort,” Islands Close-up, 9 March 1989, park files, FPNM. 

20. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1991, park files, FPNM.

21. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, 1995, 75.
National Park Service 73

Working with the Regional Solicitor’s Office and the 

U.S. Attorney’s Office, park staff demonstrated NPS 

ownership and the suit was dropped.22

Artifact Preservation

During its first six years as a national monument, 

Fort Pulaski engaged in a major restoration program 

to prepare the fort, historic landscape, trails, and 

roads for public visitation. At the same time, the 

park’s artifacts were prepared for proper storage 

and display. Approximately one thousand objects 

came from the CCC moat and ditch excavation 

alone.23 These artifacts included dozens of nineteenth-century bottles, architectural and 

construction objects, a pair of shoes in good condition, lead musket balls, whiskey bottles from as 

early as 1825, an earthenware crock, and a copper 

field plate. Early clean-up work at the fort yielded 

the discovery of many other artifacts and numerous 

outbuilding locations on the island. While replacing 

the flooring in one of the casemates, workers 

stumbled upon a hidden wheelbarrow load of 

muskets, possibly stashed by Confederates before 

the fort surrender.24 To preserve these and similar 

historic objects found at Fort Pulaski, the park hired 

Alexander Heard, a young chemical engineering 

student from the University of North Carolina. In 

June 1935, park staff set up a small chemical lab in 

the fort’s northwest bastion where Heard prepared 

artifacts for the museum collection. Heard completed his work on a large number of iron, glass, and 

leather artifacts a few months later.25 In 1934, park 

historians asked Friedman’s Art Store in Savannah 

to mount and frame the park’s photograph collection, which dated to the Civil War. Rather than 

exhibit the photos in cases, park staff decided that 

professional framing offered the best protection 

from the humid coastal weather.26 

In 1939, an Emergency Relief Administration project 

sought to excavate and preserve artifacts to better 

educate the public. Part of this program involved 

acquiring more guns to mount at the fort. The most 

common artifacts restored at Fort Pulaski 

throughout park history include Civil War-era guns, 

their carriages, and ammunition. In 1939 and 1940, 

Fort Pulaski received two Blakely rifled cannons 

from West Point and a Brooke rifle from the Thunderbolt, Georgia, battery site, and two twelvepound howitzers from Chickamauga and Chattahoochee National Military Park.27 These guns were 

mounted in the fort and on the terreplein on reconstructed carriages. In 1947, Reaville Brown built four 

gun carriages, and a few years later, several more 

rotted carriages needed to be replaced. The park 

cleaned and applied two coats of enamel paint on 

five terreplein guns in 1951.28 As one of the goals for 

the Mission 66 program at Fort Pulaski NM in 1963, 

the park constructed three more cannon carriages. 

Two Parrot Rifles found near Battery Hambright in 

1965 were also cleaned, painted, and mounted on 

wooden blocks near the fort. In 1971, park management placed all exhibited cannons on a 

rehabilitation schedule for cleaning, treating, and 

painting, and in 1974 all carriages were removed for 

repair.29

In 1984, Fort Pulaski contracted the Florida 

Department of Archives and History for advice on 

metal artifact treatment. The next year, the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers set up the “Metal Conservation Lab and Artifact Storage facility” at the west 

end of Cockspur Island. Helicopters from Hunter 

Army Airfield were used to airlift three cannons, 

three carriage reproductions, and a metal carriage 

from the fort terreplein to undergo electrolysis 

treatment. Electrolysis is a method that uses electric 

current to oxidize and reduce iron corrosion as well 

as salt from metal surfaces. The process makes possible additional treatments, such as coatings of 

varnish that helps prevent further deterioration of 

an artifact. Four electrolysis tanks were located in a 

large concrete bunker that had been constructed 

during World War II. The tanks were used to treat 

two Fort Pulaski cannons and two cannons and 

eighty projectiles from the CSS Georgia. This Confederate “Ironclad” floating battery defended 

Savannah from Union forces from 1863 to 1864. 

22. Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 2000, park files, FPNM.

23. Ibid., 8.

24. “Muskets Hidden in Fort Pulaski,” Savannah Morning News, 20 September 1934, in “The Story of Fort Pulaski, Savannah 

River, Georgia,” 1945, The Gamble Collection, Savannah Public Library, Savannah.

25. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” August 1935, park files, FPNM.

26. Ralston Lattimore to Verne Chatelain, Chief Historian, NPS, 9 August 1934, File 49, FPNM.

27. John Breen, FPNM, draft review comments, 31 October 2001.

28. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1947-1951, park files, FPNM.

29. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1971, 1974, park files, FPNM.
74 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Once treatment was completed in 1990, the Corps 

placed the CSS Georgia cannons and artifacts on 

display at Fort Jackson in Savannah. At no cost to 

the NPS, the Georgia Army National Guard airlifted 

the Fort Pulaski cannons onto the fort terreplein 

and positioned the tubes on their carriages in 1991. 

After the cannon and projectile treatment, Fort 

Pulaski retained two conservation tanks to conduct 

limited electrolysis, but the park has not activated 

the facility since 1991. In 1992, with equipment from 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the City of 

Tybee Island maintenance department, park 

workers sand-blasted sixty-nine Civil War projectiles. The sandblasting process removed surface 

impurities such as dirt and rust, which roughened 

the surface to improve the cohesion of protective 

coatings.30

Historic wall paintings in the fort casemates contain 

Civil War-era shields and words painted on top of 

whitewash. In 1991, as a result of deterioration, the 

Park Service authorized funding to begin treatment 

of some of the decorated surface in the two casemates. In May 2001, Myers Conservation of 

Washington, D.C., completed a Conservation 

Assessment and Treatment Proposal to outline the 

best preservation methods for stabilizing the 

paintings after years of environmental exposure and 

insect (mud wasp) damage. The park submitted a 

funding request for treatment, and preservation 

work was slated to begin in 2002.31 

Fragile museum objects such as Fort Pulaski’s historic flag collection also require careful preservation 

efforts. Issues with the park’s historic flags include 

loosening threads and replacing the flag backing to 

keep the objects flat. In 1988, three of these historic 

flags were treated at the Rocky Mountain Regional 

Conservation Center. In 2001, after this preservation proved to be ineffective for two flags, the 

Harper’s Ferry Center performed a Fort Pulaski Flag 

Condition Survey to propose treatment and 

mounting. Later in the year, three flags were sent to 

Harper’s Ferry for conservation and placement into 

proper cases. The remaining historic flags were 

scheduled to be cycled into the conservation facility 

over the next several years.32

National Register Nomination

The post-World War II years represented a period 

of substantial growth for U.S. communities. 

Unbridled suburban development, urban renewal 

programs, and vast interstate highway projects 

resulted in the demolition of countless historic 

resources. In reaction to these trends, Congress 

passed the National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA) of 1966. The NHPA declared that it is in 

the public interest that properties significant to the 

nation’s heritage should be preserved for the “cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational, 

economic, and energy benefits” of future Americans. Section 110 of the Act required managers of 

national parks and monuments to inventory and 

evaluate the eligibility of the cultural resources of 

their parks for inclusion upon the National Register 

of Historic Places (NRHP). Eligible properties were 

then to be nominated for inclusion on the register, 

which was itself a creation of the NHPA.33

This new legislation automatically listed on the 

NRHP all historic units of the NPS system, 

including Fort Pulaski NM. However, these parks 

were still required to complete a descriptive nomination form. In 1974, therefore, park Historian 

Edward L. Trout filed a nomination for Fort Pulaski 

(including all of Cockspur and McQueen's Island). 

The physical description of the nomination consisted of the following sites:

■ Fort Pulaski

■ the sites of Fort Greene and Fort George

■ the workmen’s village foundations and cisterns

■ the cemetery

■ the Morgan Monument (now at Fort Screven)

■ the Lieutenant Robert Rowan grave stone

■ the John Wesley Memorial

■ Battery Horace Hambright

■ the North and South Channel docks

30. John Breen, FPNM, letter to author, 30 July 2001.

31. John Breen, FPNM, telephone conversation with author, 29 January 2002.

32. Ibid.

33. Public Law 665, 89th Congress (15 October 1966), National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
National Park Service 75

■ the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (added to the 

NRHP in 1976)

■ the 1891 Caribbean-style “historic cottage” at the 

old Quarantine Station

■ the South Channel Bridge. 

The statement of significance in the nomination 

described Fort Pulaski as the best preserved and 

“most original” of a system of eastern coastal forts 

built by Simon Bernard. Although the craftsmanship and engineering principles embodied in 

the fort design and construction are outstanding, 

Trout wrote in the nomination that Fort Pulaski’s 

significance lies mostly in its military history.34

As buildings, structures, and objects at Fort Pulaski 

reach fifty years in age, National Register criteria 

require that they be evaluated for potential eligibility 

for inclusion upon the NRHP. For example, surviving World War II concrete bunkers at Cockspur 

Island require such evaluation as will the Mission 66 

Visitor Center that is based upon an Eero Saarinen 

design. Although the criteria for evaluating Mission 

66 visitor centers currently requires a finding of 

“exceptional importance,” after such facilities 

exceed fifty years in age, normal standards of 

National Register evaluation, in accordance with the 

NHPA, still apply. 

All historic structures that are listed or eligible for 

listing on the NRHP are also tracked by the NPS on 

a special computerized database of historic structures, the List of Classified Structures (LCS). Fort 

Pulaski has twenty-three listings on the LCS, which 

includes the fort, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse, 

the historic dikes, and several other items. LCS 

listings require periodic updating, which helps NPS 

managers to assess the condition of park historic 

resources and to prioritize their treatment needs. 

Fort Pulaski’s LCS listings were last updated in September 1991.

Historic American Buildings Survey 

(HABS)

Architects, draftsmen, and photographers found 

themselves without work during the Great 

Depression of the early 1930s. New Deal-era workrelief programs sought to create jobs in these professions. In accordance with the Historic Sites Act of 

1935, the National Park Service thus established the 

Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). The 

Act stated that the Secretary of the Interior, through 

the NPS, shall have several preservation duties and 

functions. NPS responsibility primarily included 

surveying historic and archeological sites, buildings, 

and objects to determine which resources exceptionally illustrated U.S. history. The Act also 

provided for the research of sites, buildings, or 

objects “to obtain true and accurate historical and 

archeological facts and information.”35 The HABS 

program documented historic structures before 

they disappeared. Through HABS, workers produced an archive of primary source material on 

American architectural history. In 1934, the NPS 

entered into a cosponsor agreement with the 

Library of Congress and the American Institute of 

Architects (AIA). This agreement remains today 

with responsibilities delegated so that the NPS sets 

the program standards and directs the preparation 

of records. The Library of Congress preserves the 

records and makes them available for public use, 

and the AIA provides the professional staff. In 1969, 

these sponsors further recognized the significance 

of the industrial and engineering history of the 

United States by establishing the Historic American 

Engineering Record (HAER) to document similar 

industrial and engineering resources.36

James Brittain, a Georgia Tech researcher, included 

Fort Pulaski NM in his Inventory of Historic Industrial and Engineering Sites in Georgia, 1974-75. This 

HAER inventory of Fort Pulaski’s resources accompanied the park’s National Register nomination. It 

listed the fort in good condition and briefly summarized its significance (see the National Register 

nomination in Appendix E). In 1997, the HABS 

office initiated a $27,000 project to document the 

evolution of the architectural condition of Fort 

Pulaski as well as landscape changes on Cockspur 

Island. As a result, HABS report No. GA-2158 was 

written by Kyle Graham, who outlined the history of 

Cockspur Island; Shawn Gregoire, who used measured drawings to illustrate the development and 

land changes at Cockspur Island from 1761-1997 

(Figure 26); and Jack Boucher, who took large 

34. Edward L. Trout, Fort Pulaski National Monument National Register Nomination.

35. Public Law 292, 74th Congress (21 August 1935), Historic Sites Act of 1935, Sec. 461-467.

36. John A. Burns, ed., Recording Historic Structures (Washington, D.C.: The AIA Press, 1989).
76 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

format black and white photographs. In addition to 

the HABS photos, historic photographs of 

Cockspur Island dating from the 1920s through the 

1950s (see Figures 7-9) were also included in the 

photographic documentation for this HABS project, 

which was completed in 1999.37 The HABS project 

helped park management meet the goal of obtaining 

a more thorough understanding of the cultural 

resources on Cockspur Island.

Cockspur Island Lighthouse 

Restoration

The National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Cockspur Island Lighthouse was 

completed in 1972. The lighthouse was approved 

and added to the NRHP in 1976. The lighthouse is 

considered significant for its association with an era 

of coastal navigation, its embodiment of a specialized architectural type, and its contribution to 

the historical setting of the Civil War battle for 

nearby Fort Pulaski. Originally, the light housed a 

whale oil lamp. In 1909, the light was converted to a 

daytime harbor beacon, with all use for navigation 

discontinued in 1949.38

As previously recounted, the Park Service actively 

sought and, in 1959, happily accepted the transfer of 

ownership of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse Reservation from the U.S. Coast Guard after 

overcoming a series of hurdles. This accomplishment was important because it helped prevent 

locals from salvaging the structure’s coveted 

Savannah Gray brick. Thus, the first step in restoration of the lighthouse was simply obtaining 

custody. In 1960, the NPS began the first of several 

extensive restorations on the deteriorated structure. 

Park Service craftsmen replaced the light’s window 

panes, repointed its brickwork, patched its 

ironwork, whitewashed the overall structure, and 

placed a cypress door at the entrance.39 Although 

new window glass was added to the structure in 

1967, the light generally received only routine maintenance until 1977 when Park Superintendent Grady 

Webb recommended several additional improvements. The next year, the NPS authorized 

approximately $25,000 for new work on the light, 

including stabilization of the rusted ironwork, 

repairs to the door, windows, and lantern panes 

riddled with bullet holes from vandals, and further 

masonry repointing.40 

Despite routine maintenance and periodic refurbishment, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse has 

continued to suffer from the effects of time and a 

difficult environment. In 1994, therefore, the NPS 

made arrangements with the Florida Division of 

Historical Resources to conduct electrolysis 

treatment on the light’s original iron cap. Besides 

damage to the cap itself, exfoliation of the metal 

abutting the stone was threatening the structural 

integrity of the entire building. Meanwhile, in 1997 

park staff carried out additional emergency stabilization repairs. At this time the Friends of Cockspur 

Island Lighthouse was formed by local preservationists associated with the more prominent and 

better known Tybee Island Lighthouse. The Friends 

group was short-lived but raised $5,000 for the restoration and reconstruction of historic iron 

elements of the lighthouse lantern and handrail. 

After the Friends held a major fund-raising event, 

the group disbanded. The park also enlisted YCC 

volunteers to assist with routine upkeep. Despite 

these efforts, more drastic action was required. In 

1999, the Florida State Research and Conservation 

Laboratory in Tallahassee completed a $44,000 contract under which it not only repaired but also fully 

replicated the iron cap of the lighthouse. After the 

original cap was returned, park staff placed it into 

storage in the World War II bunker on the west end 

of Cockspur Island. In its place the fabricated 

replica cap was mounted on top of the light. Also in 

1999, the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center 

appointed a five-member team to begin a major 

cyclic maintenance project. The cost of the project 

in 2000 was $66,000. Major aspects of this effort 

included masonry repairs, reconstructing the light’s 

exterior brick stairway (damaged long ago by unauthorized salvaging), sealing mortar joints, 

refurbishing the lantern’s iron floor, and repainting 

the entire structure. In 2000, donated funds from 

the Friends group was used to purchase windows 

37. Historic American Building Survey (HABS), History of Fort Pulaski and Cockspur Island, Addendum to Fort Pulaski 

(Washington, D.C., HABS No. GA-2158, 1998); “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1997-99, park files, FPNM. 

38. Judith E. Collins, The Cockspur Island Light House Building Number HS-4, Fort Pulaski National Monument (Atlanta: NPSSERO, 1994), 18-20; Edward L. Trout, Fort Pulaski National Monument National Register Nomination.

39. Gary Mikell, “Lonely Lighthouse Has Survival Instinct,” n.d. 1977, “Fort Pulaski National Monument,” Georgia State 

Historic Preservation Office files, Atlanta, Georgia.

40. “Lighthouse Stabilization Cyclic Project Analysis,” 7 July 1977, reading files, FPNM.
National Park Service 77

FIGURE 26. Historic American Buildings Survey measure drawings of 

Cockspur Island landscape, 1761-1997
78 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

and doorframes needed for restoration efforts in 

2001. As this record indicates, work to preserve and 

maintain the light is a challenging and ongoing 

affair.41

Natural Resource 

Management

Fort Pulaski National Monument is primarily a historical park. Natural resource management is 

necessarily guided by the need to complement the 

preservation and care of the park’s historical features and setting. This is certainly the case when 

considering moat management and shoreline protection. However, because these issues affect park 

wildlife and habitat preservation, as do policies 

related more directly to the park's flora and fauna, 

they are discussed here.

Moat Management

In 1935, New Deal work crews completed their excavation of the feeder canal and moat surrounding 

Fort Pulaski. This milestone in the development of 

the young Fort Pulaski NM made it possible to fill 

the moat with water from the Savannah River for the 

first time since Army efforts to restore the fortification ended during Reconstruction. At some point 

after the moat was filled that year, tidal flows into 

the ditch and moat were stopped. Since that time, 

managers have operated the moat largely as a 

“closed system,” although that characterization is 

not quite accurate, as discussed below.42 

In 1948, the National Park Service resumed its management of Fort Pulaski after the monument 

reopened following World War II. Park staff immediately noted that War Department oversight of 

Cockspur Island had unfortunate consequences for 

the site’s natural environment. Ironically, much of 

this criticism was directed at the military’s poor 

maintenance of the historic dike system developed 

to enable the fort’s construction as well as the moat 

designed for its defense. In examining the moat surrounding Fort Pulaski, Superintendent Lattimore 

wrote that the population of healthy fish had 

declined. He assumed that unregulated heavy algae 

growth, which removes oxygen from water, was 

causing the fish to die, lose scales, or grow fungus.43 

Water life then present in the moat included channel 

bass, flounder, Atlantic croaker, spot, mullet, 

American eel, and blue crabs. Prospects for the 

moat’s aquatic condition improved with renewed 

NPS management of the park, but troubles persisted. In 1957, a foul-smelling bacterial infestation 

appeared in the moat. It had serious repercussions. 

The source of the bacteria was probably polluted 

water from the Savannah River, which was leaching 

into the moat. When thousands of moat fish died 

early the next year because of extremely cold temperatures, coupled with the bacterial and algae 

growth, park staff decided to administer a massive 

dose of copper sulphate to eradicate the overgrowth. Rangers then drew new water from the 

river into the moat. This measure, however, solved 

the problem only temporarily because polluted 

Savannah River water was probably contributing to 

the algae blooms.44 At any rate, this river water also 

contained heavy silt that settled in and clogged the 

moat, a major reason for attempting to manage the 

trench as a closed system. In 1962, the park sought 

to address this conundrum by devising a specific 

plan to restore the moat’s “health.” A special 

artesian well was drilled to pump water into the 

moat without having to rely solely on the Savannah 

River. Park staff hoped to convert the moat’s water 

from salt to slightly brackish fresh water (Figure 27), 

which would reduce the occurrence of algae 

blooms. Special gates drained the old water while 

preventing replenishment with undesirable river 

water.45 The park’s 1965 Master Plan reported that 

many ocean-dwelling fish in the moat survived the 

water change. 

In 1983, another significant fish kill prompted 

renewed close monitoring of the Fort Pulaski moat. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service performed a 

$3,000 study to identify management alternatives.46 Water samples showed that the moat 

contained a very dense population of phytoplankton (the “algae bloom”), which was what 

41. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1994-2000, park files, FPNM; John Breen, FPNM, conversation with author, 9 May 

2002.

42. NPS, “Moat Investigation” [1983], 22, moat files, FPNM.

43. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly report,” January 1949, park files, FPNM.

44. Lattimore to Regional Director, 22 January 1958, moat files, FPNM.

45. Lattimore to Regional Director, 26 October 1962, moat files, FPNM.

46. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1983, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 79

killed the fish. The proposed management alternative adopted by the park included a “no action” 

approach of closely monitoring the moat. At that 

time, the moat’s water level was maintained by rainwater runoff or with fresh water pumped from the 

artesian well. However, moat conditions were still 

affected by polluted tide water that occasionally 

entered the moat when heavy rains jammed open 

the “one-way” tide gate near the South Channel. 

Conditions worsened so much that the fish population consisted only of mullet.47 By 1989, the park 

began conducting water quality tests of the moat, 

feeder canal, and South Channel to develop a 

database for future management use. That same 

year, William Reed of the NPS Water Resources 

Division explained that “a leach field adjacent to the 

moat likely contributes nutrients to this ‘closed 

system.’ Therefore, periodically the moat becomes 

nutrient rich causing algal blooms which result in 

fish kills.” In 1991, another sudden increase in moat 

algae again led the park to flush excess phytoplankton into the South Channel. The historic 

system of allowing the moat to empty at low tide 

and flood at high tide was employed for a month. 

The task proved successful, and the staff later 

pumped fresh water back into the moat. This 

process, essentially the current method for managing the moat as a not-so-closed system, also 

serves to vary the moat’s salinity, which further 

helps prevent algae blooms.48

The waterworks on Cockspur Island are human 

constructions, not natural systems. The original 

network of dikes and ditches was developed to 

drain the muddy land around Fort Pulaski and to 

create a stable base to support the weight of twentyfive million bricks. Similarly, the fort’s moat was 

intended to serve as a defense work to protect the 

fort from infantry assault. When the fort was no 

longer needed for military purposes, the Army 

abandoned it and these water works. In the absence 

of active management, the river-fed trench and dike 

system gradually became inundated by silt, which 

indicates both how non-sustainable the moat is as a 

“natural” system and why active management is 

essential to maintain it as a “cultural” feature. When 

the National Park Service reclaimed the moat many 

years after the historic defense work had been aban47. NPS, “Moat Investigation” [1983], moat files, FPNM.

FIGURE 27. Moat maintenance after changing from salt to fresh water, August 1963

48. Walter West, Integrated Pest Management Coordinator, to Fort Pulaski, 7 August 1991, moat files, FPNM; William Reed, 

“Briefing Paper,” 1989, moat files, FPNM.
80 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

doned, it did so from the perspective of restoring a 

major engineering feature of the fortification, not a 

natural one. In time, however, the moat became a 

habitat of sorts for wildlife that found its way into 

the system from the Savannah River. In considering 

moat management, little thought was ever expended 

by the Army upon ecology. Initially, NPS managers 

may have held a similar view. Their thinking 

changed, however, in response to the effects of poor 

military oversight of the moat and because of 

increasing problems with pollution. As crises in the 

management of the moat unfolded, park officials 

began to administer the moat both as a natural and 

as a cultural resource. Such balancing may not have 

interested military overseers, but modern concerns 

and views have made inherent this aspect of NPS 

resource management at Fort Pulaski.

Shoreline Stabilization

Since its inception, Fort Pulaski NM has faced the 

issue of industrial harbor operations in the North 

Channel of the Savannah River that threaten both 

the cultural and natural resources of Cockspur 

Island’s north shore. Dredging activity by the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers and park fear of adverse 

consequences due to dredging have figured prominently in this aspect of park management. Dredging 

has two major potential repercussions: the generation of spoil deposits and the alteration of river 

characteristics that cause shoreline damage.

As previously discussed, Corps dredging of the 

Savannah River began in the late nineteenth century. 

Spoils from Corps operations in the North Channel 

were deposited on Cockspur Island’s north shore. 

Jetties were also constructed at various locations 

and these altered river currents. Eventually, such 

actions closed the gap between Cockspur Island and 

adjacent Long Island so that the two became a single 

larger island. The Corps sought to maintain access 

to Cockspur Island after the Park Service acquired 

control over the site. Thus, a special reservation was 

created by the Boundary Extension Act of 1936. The 

Act “permanently reserved for the unlimited use of 

the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, 

for deposit of dredging materials and other purposes, a strip of land along the north shore of 

Cockspur Island extending shoreward two hundred 

feet from the present high water line.”49 

On this reservation the Corps was authorized to 

continue to dump spoils and also to conduct 

“other” types of activity, if it desired. The Corps last 

exercised its authority in 1943 while the nation was 

at war and the NPS was not managing the site. The 

spoils deposited at that time made a dramatic 

impact upon the island by changing the scenic and 

historic character of the landscape, by destroying 

marsh vegetation, and by damaging the park’s 

drainage system.50 Future harbor improvement 

activity by the Corps or the Georgia Ports Authority 

(GPA) utilizing Corps services, although necessary, 

might lead to a build up of dredge materials. Such 

an event would be incompatible with the historic 

setting the park was trying to maintain. It could also 

harm structures listed on the NRHP and located 

within the reserve and would certainly damage the 

wetland habitat that had developed along the north 

shore since the last spoil deposits were formed. 

Ongoing concern about this fear is reflected in 

numerous park planning documents over the years. 

It was long a tenet of park policy to seek to eliminate 

the Corps’s special right to deposit spoils on the 

north shore of Cockspur Island.

Fortunately, Fort Pulaski officials were successful in 

encouraging the Corps to use other nearby locations to deposit spoils dredged from the North 

Channel. Oyster Bed Island across the channel 

from Cockspur Island was the preferred choice. 

Spoils deposited on Oyster Bed Island mitigated 

potential damage to Fort Pulaski and apparently 

helped to create marshland habitat suitable for 

shorebirds at that location. The 1971 Master Plan

specifically encouraged park officials to develop an 

agreement with the Corps to make use of Oyster 

Bed Island, administered by the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service as the Tybee National Wildlife 

Refuge, exclusively for the deposit of all dredge 

material. The NPS then wanted the Corps to 

renounce its spoilage privileges on Cockspur Island. 

The Master Plan noted that field level authorities 

were encouraged by an agreement between the Secretaries of Interior and Defense in 1967 to cooperate 

in “conserving natural resources and recreation in 

dredging, filling or excavation affecting navigable 

waters.”51 The Corps, however, was resistant to 

renouncing its formal rights.

49. “Current Major Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1996, Fort Pulaski file folder, NPS-SERO Cultural Resources 

library.

50. Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 1971, 21, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 81

In 1970, the GPA proposed to develop a major new 

harbor element called the “Lighter Aboard Ship” 

(LASH) facility. This project sought to create a 

transfer point where cargo from heavy ocean-going 

freighters could be transferred to lighter vessels for 

easier navigation along the Savannah River. Two 

LASH facility structures were eventually built in 

1974. These structures stood across the North 

Channel from the park, near the mouth of the 

Savannah River. The only proposed LASH facility 

near Cockspur Island was a floating dock to be 

placed off the island’s north shore, obviously 

accessed by water.52

To use the floating dock, the GPA wanted to access 

thirty to forty feet of the existing wharf used by the 

Savannah Bar Pilots. Apparently, this wharf offered 

the only practical access to the floating dock. The 

Park Service “agreed to cooperate [with the GPA] 

with the understanding that no structure, such as a 

parking lot, would be needed except the use of the 

existing wharf.”53

In preparation for construction of the LASH facilities, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had to 

dredge an area large enough for ocean-going vessels 

to navigate. The park, always concerned about the 

impact of erosion on the north shore, was particularly worried about how this operation would affect 

Cockspur Island. In fact, as part of the negotiations 

for the LASH project, the Corps promised to 

undertake shoreline stabilization of Cockspur 

Island if the LASH facility was placed adjacent to 

the park.54 In 1972, a letter from the Corps to the 

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 

regarding the demolition of the old Savannah Bar 

Pilots facilities indicates that the Corps did perform 

“revetment” work along the north shore, which 

included constructing retaining walls to help stabilize the shoreline.55 This work was probably 

accomplished to address NPS concerns over the 

impact of Corps dredging for the LASH facilities. 

In 1975, a storm badly damaged part of the existing 

LASH complex. The floating dock that the GPA had 

planned was not constructed as funds went to repair 

the main LASH facility. Hence, the GPA never 

needed to cross monument lands to use the Bar 

Pilots wharf.56

At some point during the LASH negotiations, the 

NPS apparently tried to realize former Superintendent Lattimore’s old hope of evicting the Bar 

Pilots, whose dilapidated buildings were an eyesore, 

in exchange for GPA access to the pilots wharf. This 

hope was not unrealistic given the magnitude of the 

LASH project and the GPA’s influence. The 

prospect fell through, however, perhaps over issues 

of perceived fairness to the Bar Pilots, who had an 

historic presence on Cockspur Island and who performed, according to the 1971 Master Plan, “an 

essential service to shipping, best performed from 

this base.”57 Instead of eviction, the park recommended that the pilots association build new NPSapproved quarters and a dock, as directed by the 

Master Plan. As an incentive, in 1973, the NPS 

issued the association a twenty-year special use 

permit. Beginning in 1993, however, only five-year 

use permits were issued.58

In 1992, Fort Pulaski NM resumed efforts to rescind 

the provision in the Boundary Extension Act of 1936 

that allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

special use of the north shore of Cockspur Island. 

Park-supported legislation to accomplish this goal 

was introduced as Section 202 of H.R. 694 Minor 

Boundary Adjustments and Miscellaneous Park 

Amendments Act of 1995 (Hansen-UT). Unfortunately, the Corps opposed, the legislation and 

Georgia Senator Sam Nunn had a similar provision 

in a Senate bill removed. The park continued to 

have sympathetic supporters, however, such as 

George Frampton, president of the Wilderness 

Society, who thought the Corps’s special rights on 

Cockspur should be stricken to protect the park’s 

51. Ibid.

52. Randy Weitman, Georgia Ports Authority, conversation with author, 10 May 2002.

53. Superintendent Tomlinson memo, 14 January 1972, reading files, FPNM; Master Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument, 

1971, 23, park files, FPNM.

54. Superintendent Tomlinson to NPS Regional Director, 22 July 1971, park files, FPNM; Superintendent, FPNM, to Regional 

Director, SERO, 27 August 1971, reading files, FPNM.

55. ohn H. Campbell, Deputy District Engineer to John D. McDermott, Acting Executive Secretary, Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation, 27 November 1972, park files, FPNM.

56. Superintendent’s Annual Report, 1975, park files, FPNM.

57. Superintendent Tomlinson to Regional Director, SERO, reading files, 22 July 1971, FPNM.

58. “Current Major Issues at Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 1996, Fort Pulaski file folder, Fort Pulaski file folder, NPS-SERO

Cultural Resources library.
82 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

natural and cultural resources. The NPS continued 

to seek legislation to eliminate the Corps 

reservation.59

Victory came in October 1, 1996, when House 

Omnibus Bill H12224 passed. Section 807, Fort 

Pulaski National Monument, Georgia, finally 

rescinded Section 4 of the Boundary Extension Act 

of 1936. Patient effort over a long period had finally 

succeeded in eliminating the Corps “unlimited use” 

right to deposit dredge spoils along the north shore 

of Cockspur Island.60 Despite this success, the 

elimination of potential spoil deposits at the park 

did not eliminate continued park concern with the 

placement of dredge materials on islands adjacent to 

the park and within the viewshed of Fort Pulaski. To 

accommodate ever larger vessels and for other 

reasons, dredging the North Channel is an ongoing 

enterprise and therefore a continuing management 

issue for park officials. 

Water Studies

Oyster Creek on McQueen's Island provides an 

excellent habitat for the indigenous hard shell clam. 

The clams are important both as keystone indicators 

of ecosystem health and water quality and for the 

role they play in recreational harvesting.61 When 

the NPS acquired McQueen's Island in 1935, the 

State of Georgia reserved all oyster bed leases at 

Oyster Creek. Miss Daisy Oemler legally held the 

leases until her death in 1971, after which the leases 

reverted to NPS.62 Further protecting Oyster Creek 

and the rest of area salt marsh from private interests, 

the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act of 1970 

established a permit system for any alterations to 

marshlands in the state of Georgia. 

In the early 1970s, various groups actively engaged in 

marshland studies at Fort Pulaski. One organization, for example, was the Student-Teacher 

Environmental Review Investigation, an educational 

group. In 1988, the Park Service began to cooperate 

with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources 

(DNR) to develop a plan to increase the population 

of the shellfish at Oyster Creek. Following an environmental assessment, which concluded the project 

would have no significant impact, the program reintroduced the clams and established a management 

program. While the reintroduction project yielded 

limited success, the Georgia DNR continued to 

monitor the oyster beds for salinity, water temperature, and fecal coliform. In 2000, the NPS awarded 

$25,000 to Savannah State University to conduct a 

one-year-long study of the water quality of Oyster 

Creek to help evaluate the ecological health of the 

park’s water resources. The study began in 2001.63

Flora and Fauna

During the nineteenth century, grassland covered 

Cockspur Island. Vegetation growth was occasionally controlled by burning. When this fire 

control ceased and additions of spoil deposits 

increased the island’s landmass, the grasslands and 

marsh transformed into maritime forest and woody 

shrub thickets.64 The park removed the dense vegetation from the demilune as part of the Mission 66 

work to restore the historic scene to the park in the 

late 1950s. Maintenance selectively removed more 

vegetation from the demilune glacis in the 1970s, 

and the park initiated the “historic vista clearing 

mowing program” in 1988. This program returned 

the area surrounding the fort to its historic 

appearance by clearing fifty acres of brush within 

the historic dike system. Since then, the area is 

mowed biannually.65 The mature canopy to the 

north and west of the fort remains.

Throughout park history, some of the diverse plant 

species at Cockspur Island included yaupon holly or 

cassena berry, wax myrtle, sea myrtle, sugarberry, 

chinaberry, palmettos, chinese tallow, dwarf sumac, 

prickly pear, red cedar, ash, pine, and American 

elm.66 Management of these trees, shrubs, and 

flowers before environmental legislation in the 

1960s consisted mostly of pest control. Fungal diseases and insects infected many species that 

required care. A beetle infestation in 1940 injured 

ash trees, which the park sprayed with lead arsenate 

to control. In 1949, a “terrapin scale” fungus 

threatened cassena berry, the principal foliage on 

59. Ibid.

60. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1996, park files, FPNM.

61. “Resource Management Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 11.

62. Superintendent David Tomlinson to SERO Director, 22 July 1971, reading files, FPNM.

63. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1988, 2000, park files, FPNM.

64. Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 1997 (Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 1994).

65. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1989, park files, FPNM.

66. Lewis Taylor, park technician, to John Perry, 27 September 1977, reading files, FPNM. 
National Park Service 83

the fort demilune. Another fungus known as 

“orange blight” attacked the prickly pear cactus at 

Fort Pulaski. The park contained the fungus by 

cutting out the diseased plants in 1935, but by 1949 

the irrepressible fungus nearly eliminated the 

prickly pear at Fort Pulaski. A very large and fruitful 

fig tree, famous among park visitors, stood at Fort 

Pulaski for many years. In 1953, deep wounds and 

infected sections of the tree led the NPS to perform 

major tree surgery on it, but an incurable disease 

eventually destroyed the tree.67 As of 1965, the staff 

at Fort Pulaski consulted outside services, such as 

the Chatham County Agents, Department of Agriculture Entomological Laboratory in Savannah, the 

Plant Introduction Station near Savannah, and the 

University of Georgia for advice on insect and 

disease control.68

Historically, most of Cockspur Island consisted of 

salt marsh. After dredging deposits accumulated 

through the years, the park estimated that dry land 

made up 43 percent of the island surface. These 

spoil areas created favorable nesting and feeding 

ground conditions for a large number of shorebird 

species. In 1937, the park employed student technician Don Eyles to study plant life and the 

shorebirds on Cockspur Island and surrounding 

areas. His research recorded black skimmers, least 

terns, oyster catchers, marsh hens, and a large 

heron colony.69 This study helped the NPS add the 

marshland of McQueen's Island to the Monument 

to protect its wildlife. 

On Cockspur Island, park staff and visitors 

observed many other kinds of wildlife. In 1946, the 

University of Georgia displayed interest in setting 

up a biological station at the naval base after its 

abandonment by the Coast Guard.70 This facility to 

study the ecological cycles of birds and animals was 

not established, however, because the park soon 

demolished most of the unsafe Navy buildings. Following the Navy’s occupation of the park during 

World War II, NPS staff discovered a large population of feral cats, probably the offspring of pets 

kept by CCC workers. In 1954, a family of bobcats 

also inhabited the park. Park staff noted migratory 

birds passing through the area each winter and the 

yearlong residence of diamondback terrapins (tortoises that live in fresh or brackish water), minks, 

otters, rabbits, raccoons, opossum, deer, and a 

variety of snakes and birds. The park viewed the 

large and numerous diamondback rattlesnakes as a 

particular nuisance. Despite the absence of reports 

of the snakes harming the public, park staff permitted visitors to kill the rattlesnakes when they 

became too many to control.71 Although this “infestation” continued, the 1965 Master Plan advised 

management to handle the snake overpopulation 

and discourage the public from doing so. For emergencies, snakebite kits were kept in the fort, the 

Visitor Center, and park vehicles.72 Other park pests 

included periodic infestations of fleas and termites. 

In 1953, unaware of the negative ecological impact, 

the park sprayed its buildings with the pesticide 

DDT to combat the insects.73 

Environmental awareness in the 1960s gave rise to 

new legislation protecting natural resources. The 

staff at Fort Pulaski began to improve their methods 

of natural resource management, including ceasing 

to use such environmentally damaging chemicals as 

DDT. Park personnel became familiar with the 

important delegated responsibilities specified in the 

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, 

which mandated that federally sponsored projects 

comply with special measures to protect park 

resources. Park staff began overseeing assessments 

of the environmental impact of federal undertakings, and if necessary, initiated environmental 

reviews to recommend project alternatives. In 1973, 

Congress passed the Endangered Species Act to 

identify and protect plants and animals in danger of 

extinction. Federal land managers were required to 

comply with the standards of the act. Other legislation affecting the management at Fort Pulaski 

included both the Clean Water Act and the Clean 

Air Act, passed in 1977. To comply with these acts, 

the park followed procedures to control and elim67. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1949-1953, park files, FPNM.

68. Fort Pulaski Master Plan, 1965, park files, FPNM.

69. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1937-38, park files, FPNM.

70. Eugene P. Odum, Associate Professor, University of Georgia Zoology Dept., to Coordinating Superintendent, 13 June 1946, 

Box 71, National Archives, Philadelphia, in Mike Capps, “Task Directive Administrative History Fort Pulaski,” 1994, park 

files, FPNM.

71. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1949-1953, park files, FPNM.

72. Fort Pulaski Master Plan, 1965, park files, FPNM.

73. “Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly reports,” 1949-1953.
84 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

inate water and air pollution, for example, by 

establishing monitoring systems and encouraging 

research programs.74

As part of its environmental program, Fort Pulaski 

developed booklets and brochures to assist 

teachers, students, and curious visitors. In 1977, the 

NPS also awarded a contract to Southeastern 

Wildlife Services to conduct an ecological survey of 

Cockspur and McQueen's Islands. The research 

identified 158 plant species within the monument, of 

which there were no threatened or endangered 

types.75 In 1981, the same company surveyed the 

park’s animals and named the American Alligator as 

the only specially protected creature at the monument. In the early 1980s, park interpreters sought 

to bridge the gap between natural and historic 

themes by incorporating cultural ecology into their 

interpretive approach. In 1989, park staff began a 

long-term resources monitoring program. The 

information helped to develop a database to aid in 

management strategies. Regular water quality tests 

performed by the Georgia DNR and air quality tests 

conducted by park staff continue and are used each 

year to update the database.7657 In late 1997, the 

NPS started a Flora and Fauna Inventory to assess 

plant and animal communities on Cockspur Island 

and develop a monitoring program for selected 

species. This study complemented the earlier 

survey conducted in the late 1970s.77

Park staff uses natural resource monitoring, in compliance with the many environmental restrictions 

imposed by the acts noted above, to discriminate in 

the management of “pests.” For example, in 1990, to 

maintain the historic scene at Fort Pulaski, the park 

mechanically removed oleander, an exotic plant 

species, from the monument. In 1993, the park 

began an Integrated Pest Management program to 

control black rats, fire ants, bag worms, mosquitoes, 

cockroaches, feral animals, and vegetation growing 

on historic structures.78 The park also cooperates 

with Chatham County to control pests, especially 

mosquitoes, as discussed in the previous chapter. 

Law Enforcement 

Fort Pulaski NM had no police protection in the 

1930s. To defend the monument, the NPS deputized 

boat captains transporting visitors, workers, and 

supplies to and from the island. In addition to 

efforts for the prevention of vandalism and dangerous hunting activities, the park made efforts in 

1935 to ban motorcycles from the park because of 

the possible damage to the dikes, sallyport, fort 

parade, and walks.79

In 1938, completion of the South Channel Bridge 

provided easier public access to Cockspur Island. 

Many locals took advantage of this fact and lax military oversight during the war years to abuse their 

hunting privileges. When Superintendent Ralston 

B. Lattimore returned to Fort Pulaski in 1948, he 

found it necessary to patrol the island himself to 

stop raccoon hunters, who had increased since the 

Navy and Coast Guard left the area. He discovered 

that the Navy had previously encouraged liberal recreational hunting on the island. With things getting 

out of hand, Lattimore campaigned to educate the 

public on hunting regulations and the monument 

boundary and worked with the Georgia game 

warden on McQueen's Island. In 1951, two parties 

found hunting illegally on Cockspur Island were 

arrested, taken to court, and fined $25 each. Other 

types of crime occurred frequently near the Navy’s 

abandoned buildings, which Lattimore found 

impossible to guard. Before they were demolished, 

vandals broke into the structures on several occasions. In 1962, a serious burglary happened at Fort 

Pulaski when thieves hid in the fort until the park 

closed, stole the valued Olmstead sword, and 

escaped through a gun embrasure. The FBI 

recovered the sword two years later from a collector in Florida who purchased the stolen property 

at a pawnshop.80 

In 1956, Fort Pulaski’s Mission 66 Final Prospectus 

noted that park staffing conditions afforded “practically no protection against the depredations of 

vandals, shrubbery thieves, hunters, or trappers.” 

Under Mission 66, the park was able to obtain a staff 

74. Legislation abstracts, “Legislation” file, reading files, FPNM

75. “Resource Management Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 10.

76. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1972-2000, park files, FPNM.

77. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997, park files, FPNM.

78. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1972-2000.

79. Lattimore to Reaville Brown, 29 May 1935, park files, FPNM.

80. “Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” August 1962, September 1964, park files, FPNM.
National Park Service 85

ranger and several seasonal part-time employees.81 

The new park ranger resided at Cockspur Island, a 

development that effectively reduced vandalism at 

Fort Pulaski. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, 

however, the park still felt that more staff and 

housing at the Monument would improve security. 

In 1968, a new gate and fee collection station was 

installed at the entrance. The new gate also helped 

to improve protection from night crimes, but trespassing, poaching, and vandalism incidents 

continued to occur.82 A physical security system 

was also installed at the park in the early 1970s. The 

system detected intruders or fires at the fort and 

Visitor Center.83 In 1972, the park also acquired a 

radio system to aid in law enforcement and emergency communication between personnel.84 

Crimes at Fort Pulaski before the 1980s were 

brought before a federal court. The United States 

Commissioner in the district could also act on cases 

under Georgia Code Title 36, which details local 

government jurisdiction. To further protect Fort 

Pulaski, the park participated in community 

projects and off-site programs and maintained 

cooperative relations with the Chatham County 

Police Department, the town of Savannah Beach, 

and the FBI.85 In 1972, the NPS Southeast Regional 

Office recommended jurisdictional changes to 

improve law enforcement at the park. Superintendent Tomlinson responded that ceding exclusive 

and concurrent jurisdiction to the state would open 

the door to “sub-professional” local law 

enforcement personnel, leaving the park to bear the 

consequences.86 Tomlinson’s concern over substandard local law enforcement and the failure of 

the park to enter into agreements with local authorities throughout the park’s history suggests a longtime relationship of “us and them.” Of course, park 

managers probably felt local law enforcement 

officers would be poorly suited to enforce federal 

regulations. At any rate, Fort Pulaski lacked both 

local law enforcement support and sufficient NPS 

staff to maintain adequate patrols, which helps to 

account for much early criminal activity at the park. 

Cockspur Island’s long history of illegal trade, 

hunting, theft, and vandalism finally began to 

diminish in the 1980s when agreements were negotiated that improved community relations and 

resulted in more serious consequences for criminal 

misconduct. For example, in 1982, the NPS and the 

State of Georgia finally did establish concurrent 

jurisdiction over Fort Pulaski NM. A Memorandum 

of Agreement was signed that permitted both 

parties to exercise law enforcement within the 

boundary of the park, providing that the NPS 

retained its statutory authority and primary responsibility for maintaining law and order. Moreover, 

such cooperation involved coordinating and 

exchanging help and information in prosecuting 

cases initiated by either party and mutually acting to 

control traffic and criminal activities at the park.87

In 1991, the NPS and Chatham County negotiated a 

Memorandum of Understanding that permitted 

further local law enforcement cooperation within 

the monument. Under this agreement with 

Chatham County Law Enforcement Services, the 

NPS was authorized to enforce criminal laws of the 

State of Georgia. The agreement also stated that 

Georgia laws applied within the park and could be 

enforced by Chatham County. In 1992, the trend of 

establishing overlapping jurisdiction was expanded 

yet again. An interagency agreement was signed by 

the NPS, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 

Bureaus of Indian Affairs, Land Management, Territorial and International Affairs, and Reclamation 

that provided for the cross-designation of law 

enforcement officers. The accord allowed for investigative support during emergencies, for violations 

in areas where an agency borders another agency, 

and when tied to local operational agreements. The 

MOU focused particular attention upon enforcing 

drug and Archeological Resource Protection Act 

(ARPA) statutes by utilizing a joint task force.88 

Park interest in the accord was partially driven by 

the looting of Civil War-era artillery shells from Fort 

Pulaski in 1984. The theft was an ARPA violation 

and the explosive potential of the shells was a great 

risk that seemingly indicated the park’s need for 

better law enforcement.89

81. “Mission 66 Final Prospectus,” 1956, park files, FPNM.

82. Fort Pulaski Master Plan, 1965. 

83. “Crime Prevention Program,” 1979, Reading files, FPNM. 

84. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1972, park files, FPNM.

85. Fort Pulaski Master Plan, 1965.

86. Tomlinson to Regional Director, 11 September 1972, reading files, FPNM.

87. “Memorandum of Agreement for Concurrent Jurisdiction,” 1982, reading files, FPNM.

88. Interagency Agreements, reading files, FPNM.
86 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

After 1982, the efficacy of expanded law 

enforcement at Fort Pulaski is evident in the 

number of yearly case incident reports. In 1977, the 

number of reports of larcenies, vandalism, and 

vehicle accidents included 120 accounts. By 1984, 

such reports numbered 98. After the merging of 

law enforcement responsibilities in the 1990s, the 

number of yearly case incident reports steadily 

declined from 64 reports in 1995 to 18 reports in 

2000. Resource violations involving commercial 

crab traps at Oyster Creek also declined by 2000.90 

Safety Measures

Since the 1930s, employee and public safety at Fort 

Pulaski NM has remained a top park concern. 

Aside from restoring the fort and grounds for aesthetic reasons, early CCC work also made the 

structure, and its surrounding roads and trails, safe 

for visitors. The park took additional measures to 

ensure safety by requiring that guides and park literature educate visitors about potential hazards at the 

park. Other safety measures included pesticide 

spraying and water drainage to control mosquitoes, 

grass mowing to help control fires, the posting of 

warning signs, and the placement of first aid kits.

When the NPS reclaimed Cockspur Island after 

World War II, more safety issues arose at the park. 

In 1949 and 1950, the Public Health Service reported 

that Fort Pulaski’s water system was contaminated 

with bacillus coli. The replacement of pumps and 

pipes restored safe water for the staff and visitors.91 

In 1965, a few incidences of visitors falling on the 

slippery terrazzo at the new Visitor Center resulted 

in the installation of rubber mats and the use of nonslip floor wax, which apparently solved the 

problem.92

By the 1960s, Fort Pulaski had instituted additional 

preventative safety measures. The 1965 Master Plan 

stressed that all staff were required to take a Red 

Cross First Aid Training Course. In 1972, to reduce 

accidents among employees and visitors, the park 

implemented a new safety program and appointed a 

Safety Committee to hold regular meetings.93 

Employees attended safety training, and operator 

permits were issued to employees who drove 

vehicles. Equipment with hazardous moving parts 

was brightly marked. New standard operating procedures also required the park to keep equipment 

and replacement parts essential for emergency 

operations or visitor activities on hand at all times.94 

In 1973, a hazard detection inspection recommended replacing rotten timber on the drawbridge, 

securing cannons, and repairing a fence by placing 

nails “body high.” Because VIPs began to participate in firing demonstrations at this time, the park 

decided to put a fire retardant on the volunteers’ 

period clothing as well.95 

In the 1980s, park safety measures included 

defensive driving classes, safety management workshops, and the revision of position descriptions to 

include drug-free workplace compliance. In 1992, 

an interagency agreement between the Department 

of Health and Human Services and the NPS introduced the Employee Assistance Program to the 

park. This program provided counseling and 

guidance for employees whose personal problems 

interfered with job performance. In the 1990s, the 

staff developed updated emergency procedures for 

both natural and human disasters such as hurricanes (Figure 28) and oil spill preparedness. Park 

staff also instituted regularly scheduled safety 

inspections each year.96 

Park personnel have long maintained responsibility 

for fire suppression at Fort Pulaski. According to 

the 1965 Master Plan, the superintendent and maintenance staff attended fire training, but all park 

employees were to assist the park ranger placed in 

charge of fire prevention and suppression. On 

occasion, the park received help from the Savannah 

Beach Volunteer Fire Department, especially with 

brush fires.97 Emphasizing prevention, maintenance staff kept grass short around buildings and 

89. Bill Montgomery, “Fort Pulaski’s Shells Sought, May Explode,” n.d., park files, FPNM.

90. “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1993-2000.

91. Superintendent Lattimore’s monthly report, July 1949.

92. Lattimore to Regional Director, 9 June 1965, “Visitor Center” file, FPNM.

93. Superintendent Tomlinson to Director, 13 January 1972, reading files, FPNM.

94. “Standards Maintenance of Physical Facilities,” 1971, reading files, FPNM.

95. Kuenzel, Safety Committee Chairman, to Park Superintendent, 4 October 1973, reading files, FPNM.

96. “Superintendent’s Annual Reports,” 1980-89.

97. Fort Pulaski Master Plan, 1965; Park Superintendent to Regional Director, 22 January 1973, reading files, FPNM.
National Park Service 87

inspected electrical wiring frequently. In the early 

1970s, the park’s fire management plan was updated 

to new NPS standards. One new fire safety 

measure, for example, was the installation of newly 

developed fire detectors in all park buildings. In 

1992, the park’s fire protection methods were again 

updated by the installation of a fully modern fire 

protection system at the fort and Visitor Center.98 

In 1990, the NPS entered into a cooperative 

agreement with the City of Tybee Island for providing structural and wildland fire services. This 

agreement covered all NPS-owned structures, but 

the U.S. Coast Guard and the Savannah Bar Pilots 

had to supply fire suppression services for their 

facilities.99 The cooperative agreement with the City 

of Tybee Island continues to be renewed every five 

years.

98. Kathyrn A. Lang and Sara L. Van Beck, 1995, 75.

FIGURE 28. Utility building used by CCC after hurricane damage, August 1940

99. Cooperative Agreements, Reading files, FPNM.
88 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 89

Conclusion

On the morning of April 11, 1862, Confederate 

Colonel Charles H. Olmstead surrendered Fort 

Pulaski to Union General Quincy A. Gillmore after 

thirty hours of bombardment from nearby Union 

batteries. The Civil War battle for command of the 

state-of-the-art brick structure proved that the 

powerful new guns used by the Union forces could 

successfully breach even the most impervious 

masonry fortification. Military strategies for coastal 

defense were thereafter quite different. Preserved 

but unoccupied by the early twentieth century, Fort 

Pulaski fell into disrepair. Following the upswing in 

patriotism after World War I, however, local 

community and government interest in the old fort’s 

colorful history increased. In 1924, boosters 

succeeded in convincing the federal government to 

designate Fort Pulaski as a national monument 

under the jurisdiction of the War Department. In 

1933, nine years of War Department management 

ended after a reorganization of the government 

under President Franklin Roosevelt, who placed the 

National Park Service in charge of Fort Pulaski 

National Monument. 

Fort Pulaski NM has met a number of management 

and maintenance challenges since its transfer to the 

NPS. In the early years, NPS efforts focused on 

developing the park through New Deal programs, 

including extensive work by the Civilian 

Conservation Corps, which physically improved the 

fort and landscape. During this period, the park 

also acquired more land and began to provide 

services for the public despite limited funds and 

staff. The transfer of Fort Pulaski to the U.S. Navy 

Department from 1942 to 1948, however, abruptly 

halted this process. After Fort Pulaski was returned 

to the Park Service, staff spent much energy to 

overcome years of wartime neglect that impaired the 

integrity of the monument’s resources

Like the CCC work of the 1930s, the ten-year-long 

Mission 66 program that began in 1956 brought

renewal and significant improvements to Fort 

Pulaski NM. Park improvements during Mission 66 

included construction of a new Visitor Center, 

restoration of the drainage system, and the 

installation of modern interpretive aids. During the 

1970s, management focused on park planning to 

develop a better volunteer-based interpretive 

program, to improve the park’s historic structures 

and landscape, and to comply with new legislation 

protecting natural and cultural resources. During 

the 1980s and 1990s, park activities were 

characterized by land protection, archeological 

studies, collections management planning, 

participation in community programs, improved 

safety and visitor facilities, and employee training at 

all levels. Overall, during the past thirty years, Fort 

Pulaski NM and the NPS have entered into an 

increasing number of special agreements and 

permits with other agencies and organizations. The 

result has been a more effective management system 

for the monument. 

In the future, encroaching development and 

commercial activities outside of Fort Pulaski will 

likely increase threats to park resources. The private 

development of buildings and structures on nearby 

islands both poses an unsightly visual impact on 

park’s viewshed and increases the chance of human 

disturbance to the park’s ecosystems through 

associated pollution and accidents. In the future, 

legislation and new NPS standards designed to 

improve management, protect resources, and serve 

the needs of an ever more diverse American public 

will likely necessitate additional new planning and 

management decisions at Fort Pulaski. Changes in 

park personnel, policies, and technologies may lead 

future management to consult the past for answers. 

By furthering the understanding of the 

administrative history of Fort Pulaski National 

Monument, this study should help management 

find new solutions. 
90 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 91

Appendix A: Chronology - Fort 

Pulaski National Monument

Primary Events

1733 James Edward Oglethorpe and English settlers anchored at Cockspur Island (Sholes 1900).

1736 John Wesley, founder of Methodism, held the first service on Cockspur Island (Holland 

1937:13).

1759 On October 2nd, Jonathan Bryan was granted 150 acres of land on Cockspur Island. King 

George II reserved a twenty-acre lot on the eastern portion of the island to be used by Fort 

George (Holland 1937:44).

1761 Construction of Fort George began at east end of Cockspur Island to protect the Georgia 

colony from Spanish (Lattimore 1954:2).

1794 Fort Greene was built southeast of the future site of Fort Pulaski (HABS No. GA-2158 

Addendum 1998:3).

1804 Hurricane destroyed Fort Greene (Lattimore 1954:3).

1828 The Board of Fortifications for Sea Coast Defense approved French Military Engineer 

Simon Bernard’s plans for Fort Pulaski (Young 1936:42).

1829-1830 Construction of Fort Pulaski began. Engineer Major Samuel Babcock conducted 

topographical surveys. Young West Point graduate Robert E. Lee reported to Cockspur 

Island as assistant engineer (Young 1936:42; Young 1947:2).

1830 On March 15th, Alexander Telfair deeded 150 privately owned acres on Cockspur Island to 

the U.S. Government; the State of Georgia retained 20 acres on which Fort Pulaski was to be 

built (Farris 2000:11). 

1845 Georgia ceded the 20 acres to the United States on December 27th (Acquisition of Lands 

file, FPNM). 

1847 Main structure of Fort Pulaski completed. Construction, repairs and maintenance between 

1828 and 1861 totaled $1 million (Young 1939:49).

1848 Cockspur Island Lighthouse built on sand bar southeast of fort, officially established in 

1859, and destroyed in 1854 hurricane (Collins 1994:7).

1855 Existing lighthouse built on same foundation (Collins 1994:8.)

1861 Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown ordered the Georgia Volunteer Militia to take 

possession of ungarrisoned Fort Pulaski on January 3rd (Lattimore 1954:13).

1862 On April 10th, Union troops attacked Fort Pulaski in the morning (Gillmore 1862:33).

1862 Breach in southeast wall forced Olmstead to surrender the fort to General Gillmore on 

April 11th (Gillmore 1862:36). 

1864-1865 Immortal 600 imprisoned at Fort Pulaski from October through March (Lattimore 1954:39-

40).

1869-1872 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed underground magazines and passageways 

in the fort demilune (Lattimore 1954:42).

1873 In October, the Army began to withdraw its last combat units from Fort Pulaski, and the fort 

officially closed on October 24 (National Archives, Washington, D.C., RG 393). 

1880 Fort Pulaski was designated a military reservation and stood vacant except for caretaker 

and ordnance sergeant (Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 1997:22).
92 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

1881 In August, a destructive hurricane demolished the workmen’s village, built in 1831 (HABS 

No. GA-2158 Addendum, 1998:14).

1884 Fort Pulaski was turned over to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 27th(National 

Archives, Washington, D.C., RG 393).

1889 War Department issued a revocable license to the City of Savannah on May 8th to use 

northwest part of Cockspur Island for the establishment of a quarantine station (Capps 

1994). 

1898-1899 Battery Horace Hambright was constructed along the island’s north shore to provide extra 

defense protection on the North Channel during the Spanish-American War (Lattimore 

1954:42.)

1909 Cockspur Island Lighthouse ceased operating and became a harbor beacon until 1949 

(Collins 1994:11).

1915 On July 17th, The War Department announced the selection of Fort Pulaski as a possible 

national monument under the American Antiquities Act of 1906 (Unrau andWilliss 1983:10). 

1924 A presidential proclamation designated Fort Pulaski a national monument on October 15th 

(see Appendix Four).

1925 Fire destroyed the caretaker’s house on the fort terreplein and damaged several casemates 

on June 19th (Brown to Howard, 20 June 1925, National Archives, Atlanta, RG 77). 

1933 President Roosevelt signed order for Fort Pulaski to be transferred to the NPS on August 

10th (Unrau and Williss 1983:59).

1934 In May, CCC Camp 460 was established near the quarantine station (Capps 1994).

1934 Reaville Brown, supervisor of CWA and ECW work, was appointed as first Acting 

Superintendent on June 1st (see Appendix Two).

1934 The Park Service acquired two boats from the United States Coast Guard to ferry 

personnel, materials, and supplies to Cockspur Island from Lazaretto Creek to the dock on 

the South Channel (“Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” November 1934).

1935 In December, the CCC finished digging the moat. The metal tide gate let water from the 

South Channel fill the moat for the first time in 60 years (“Pulaski Moat to Be Filled Today” 

Savannah Morning News, 19 December 1935). 

1936 Congressional act on June 26th extended Fort Pulaski boundary to include all lands 

formerly under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of War. The act authorized a bridge across 

the South Channel and reserved a strip of land along the North Channel for the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers (Farris 2000:14).

1937 The Bureau of Public Health closed the U.S. Quarantine Station at Cockspur Island in 

March. The Department of the Interior acquired an entrustment of custody in August 

(Lattimore to NPS Director, 8 January 1937, park files).

1938 PWA work completed South Channel bridge from McQueen's Island to Cockspur Island on 

April 23rd. The bridge opened to the public on May 13th (“Superintendent’s Annual 

Report,” 1939:32).

1939 On January 20th, Georgia deeded 5,000 acres of marshland on McQueen's Island, 

increasing Fort Pulaski to approximately 6,000 acres. Oyster bed leases were reserved to 

the state (Farris 2000:15). 

1939 The first Master Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument was produced to plan for the 

development of roads and trails, utility lines and buildings, and the boundary (1939, 1942 

Master Plan file, park).

1940 The Savannah Bar Pilots set up their operations at the west end of Cockspur Island for $70/

year (Acting Director to Director, 27 September 1940, National Archives, Philadelphia, RG 

79, Box 70, in Capps 2000.)

1941 CCC Camp 460 transferred from Cockspur Island to Florida on May 9th (“Superintendent’s 

Monthly Report,” May 1941:1). 

1941 The Department of the Interior issued a special use permit to the Secretary of the Navy on 

November 1st to establish a Section Base at Cockspur Island for the Inshore Patrol (Special 

Use permit, File 178, park). 
National Park Service 93

1942 On March 18th, The Secretary of the Interior notified the NPS that Cockspur Island would 

be turned over to the Navy Department (Vinten to Holland, 18 March 1942, File 178, park).

1942 Fort Pulaski closed to the public on March 19th, for the duration of World War II (Vinten to 

Holland, 18 March 1942, File 178, park).

1945 Custody of the Naval Receiving Station was placed in the commission of the United States 

Coast Guard in July for use as a discharge center (National Archives, Atlanta, RG 181, Box 4).

1947 On August 1st, Fort Pulaski officially reopened to the public (“Superintendent’s Monthly 

Report,” August 1947:1). 

1948 The Secretary of the Interior cancelled the permit for the Navy’s use of Cockspur Island on 

August 11th, returning Fort Pulaski to the NPS (Lattimore to Regional Director, 9 March 

1949, Reiter personal files, in Capps 2000). 

1950 The Georgia Society of Colonial Dames erects the John Wesley Memorial at Cockspur 

Island on November 9th (“Superintendent’s Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” November 1950).

1952 On September 25th, the NPS issued a long-term special use permit to the U.S. Coast Guard 

for the use of the wharf at Lazaretto Creek for a buoy tender (Master Plan Fort Pulaski 

National Monument 1971:7).

1959 On May 25th, the Cockspur Island Lighthouse was transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to 

the NPS (Collins 1994:18).

1960-1963 The Chatham County Mosquito Control Commission (CCMC) excavated canals, filled low 

areas and sprayed for mosquitoes at Cockspur Island, beginning a long-term relationship 

with the park (“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” October 1949).

1962 A special use permit from the NPS allowed Chatham County to construct a public boat 

ramp at Lazaretto Creek in 1962 (Special Use Permit, 1962, Reading files, park).

1962 A contract was awarded to Hugh Jackson to build a new Visitor Center for a cost of 

$136,124.90 in July (Smith to Lattimore, 7 September 1962, “Visitor Center Construction” 

file, park).

1964 Visitor Center opened to the public on October 25th (“Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” 

October 1964, park).

1965 The U.S. Coast Guard established a Search and Rescue Station at the west end of Cockspur 

Island under a 20-year special use permit on November 17th (Master Plan Fort Pulaski 

National Monument, 1971:71).

1966 Mission 66 work (1958-1966) completed at Fort Pulaski (Mission 66 Construction 

Completion reports, park). 

1971 The park produced the comprehensive 1971 Master Plan that outlined a priority of needs for 

park planning, development, interpretation, land acquisition, and management issues 

(Master Plan, 1971).

1971 The park produced the 1971 Interpretive Prospectus for a clearly defined view of Fort 

Pulaski’s history. The report proposes demonstrations with personnel in period uniforms, 

removing vegetation to make the fort more visible, and acquiring more cannons to bring 

authenticity to the fort (Interpretive Prospectus, 1971).

1976 Bicentennial events at the park resulted in a 13 percent increase in park visitation (“Report 

of National Park Service Bicentennial Activities,” 1976, Reading files, park).

1977 The NPS awarded a contract to Southeastern Wildlife Services to conduct an ecological 

survey of Cockspur and McQueen's islands that identified 158 plant species within the 

monument (“Resource Management Plan Fort Pulaski National Monument” 1990:10).

1982 The NPS entered into an agreement with the State of Georgia regarding concurrent 

jurisdiction at Fort Pulaski National Monument. The MOA permitted both parties to 

exercise law enforcement within the monument boundaries (MOA, 1982, Reading files, 

park).

1984 The NPS prepared a Land Protection Plan for Fort Pulaski to identify land protection 

alternatives that assured the preservation of historic, scenic, and cultural resources and 

adequate visitor use (Fort Pulaski National Monument Land Protection Plan, 1984). 
94 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

1985 The park installed the climate-controlled “Bally” building in the fort to hold the park’s 

museum study collection and archives (“Resource Management Plan Fort Pulaski National 

Monument,” 1990: 33).

1985 In May, an MOA between the NPS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permitted the 

Corps to construct conservation tanks and electrolysis units on Cockspur Island to stabilize 

cannons and artifacts recovered from Savannah Harbor dredging activities in the 1930s and 

1940s (MOA, 1985, Reading files, park).

1985 City of Tybee Island adopted a land use plan to protect Goat Point, the site of several Union 

batteries (“Addendum to Land Protection Plan for Fort Pulaski National Monument,” 

1986).

1988 Park maintenance began a historic vista-mowing program, clearing 50 acres of brush within 

the dike system to restore the fort surroundings to their historic appearance 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1989).

1989 Fort Pulaski acquired two rare Civil War era sling carts from a navy base in San Diego in 

January (Downs, “Holding Down the Fort,” Islands Close-up, March 9, 1989).

1989 The park initiated a monitoring program with the Georgia Department of Natural 

Resources (DNR) in September to conduct water quality tests of the moat, feeder canal, 

and South Channel for the development of a data base for resource management 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1989).

1990 The NPS entered into a cooperative agreement with the city of Tybee Island in August for 

providing structural and wildland fire services at Fort Pulaski (Cooperative Agreement, 

1990, Reading files, park).

1990-1991 Electrolysis tanks at Cockspur Island treated two Fort Pulaski cannons and two cannons 

and 80 projectiles from the CSS Georgia. The Corps placed the CSS Georgia cannons and 

artifacts on display at Fort Jackson in Savannah, and the Georgia Army National Guard 

airlifted the Fort Pulaski cannons onto the fort terreplein (Breen, letter to author, 30 July 

2001).

1991 On May 4th, an MOU between the NPS and the Chatham County Law Enforcement 

Services established that both parties had jurisdiction over law enforcement at Fort Pulaski. 

The NPS retained the primary responsibility (MOU, 1991, Reading files, park). 

1994-1995 The Visitor Center received an auditorium addition to show a video about the history of the 

fort to visitors (“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1994-5). 

1996 Congress passed an omnibus park bill calling for the elimination of the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers spoil deposition reservation on the north shore of Cockspur Island 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1996).

1997 Park management implemented performance management system involving Annual 

Performance Plans, Annual Performance Reports, and a 5-year Strategic Plan (Park 

Planning, 1997).

1997 The Clifton Construction Company completed the restoration of the historic dike system to 

its original height of twelve feet. In 1994-95, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers developed 

plans for the project through an interagency agreement with the NPS (Interagency 

Agreement, Reading files; “Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997).

1998-1999 SEAC archaeologists removed the topsoil from the cemetery area to expose thirty-seven 

gravesites believed to partially consist of the “Immortal 600” graves (Groh, draft review 

comments, 7 November 2001). 

1999 The Florida State Research and Conservation Laboratory in Tallahassee completed 

electrolysis treatment on the original iron cap of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse. A 

masonry team from the Historic Preservation Training Center made significant 

improvements to the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (“Superintendent’s Annual Reports,”

1994-99).
National Park Service 95

Secondary Events

1766 Governor Wright moved Stamp Act stamps from Savannah to Fort George for safekeeping 

from destructive mobs (Johnson, 1992).

1768 William Lyford established pilot house approximately eighty yards northwest of Fort 

George (Groh 2000:53).

1774 Lyford pilot house at Cockspur Island burned by African-American slaves (Groh 2000:53).

1886-1887 Construction of Savannah-Tybee Railway (Breen, draft review comments, 31 October 2001).

1893-1895 The Corps expanded the fort demilune for gun emplacements and electric mine controls 

(Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 1997:24).

1911 On September 7th, The Treasury Department issued a license for an expanded quarantine 

station at west end of Cockspur Island (HABS No. GA-2158 Addendum, 1998:17).

1918 Decontamination facilities for German POW’s (never used) built at Quarantine Station 

(HABS No. GA-2158 Addendum, 1998: 18.) 

1935 The NPS hired student Alexander Heard to prepare artifacts for the museum collection in 

June (“Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” August 1935).

1935 In August, the park received phone service with PWA funds and CCC labor 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1937).

1937-1938 The NPS hired student Don Eyles to study area shore birds and plants (“Superintendent’s 

Annual Reports,” 1937-38).

1938 The Port of Savannah sponsored a “Waving Girl” celebration at Fort Pulaski in honor of the 

70th birthday of Florence Martus on August 7th. Local radio station WTOC broadcast the 

festivities attended by 4,000 people (“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939).

1939 The Daughters of the Confederacy placed a bronze plaque on the northwest parapet to 

commemorate Civil War heroes Lieutenant Hussey and Private Latham on October 9th

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1939).

1939 The park produced a 1939 Interpretive Plan that outlined a supervised tour through restored 

casemates. Casemate 66 featured an experimental museum containing sketches, diaries, 

and glass bottles from the moat excavation in 1934 and 1935 (Interpretive Plan, 1939). 

1942 The NPS permitted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cut across McQueen's Island on 

November 27th to extend and use the Intracoastal Waterway through the war and six 

months after (Master Plan, 1971: 7).

1944 Lone Fort Pulaski maintenance employee Jack Hood reported that operations at the Navy 

Section Base had nearly ceased in July. The NPS considered reopening the park but had no 

funding (Freeland to Regional Director, 21 July 1944, National Archives, Philadelphia, RG 

79, Box 71, in Capps, 2000.)

1947 Superintendent Luckett retrieved Fort Pulaski files, artifacts, and equipment stored at 

Ocmulgee National Monument during the war in January (“Superintendent’s Monthly 

Report,” January 1947).

1947 Hurricane hit Cockspur Island and damaged 25 percent of the historic dikes on October 5th 

(“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” October 1947). 

1947 The park held a Centennial Celebration of the completed construction of Fort Pulaski on 

October 11th. The event featured a pageant, formal exercises, and a radio broadcast to 

Europe (“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” October 1947).

1949 The Coast Guard abandoned the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (Collins 1994:13).
96 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

1949 On October 15-16th, four thousand people from 24 organizations attended the 25th

anniversary of the establishment of Fort Pulaski National Monument. Special military and 

historical exhibits were placed on display (“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” 

October 1949).

1949-1950 Replacing pipes and pumps cleaned up the contaminated water system at Cockspur Island

(“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Reports,” July 1949).

1950 The Morgan Monument was moved from Fort Screven to Fort Pulaski and placed in the 

cemetery north of the fort (Lattimore to Alstaetter, 29 March 1950, Reiter files, in Capps, 

2000.)

1952-1953 Dilapidated Navy surplus structures at the former base site were razed. Savannah State 

College had purchased two Navy buildings in 1950 (“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly 

Reports,” August 1950, July 1952, April 1953).

1954 Superintendent Lattimore’s Fort Pulaski National Monument Historical Handbook 

became available to the public (“Superintendent Lattimore’s Monthly Report,” February 

1954.)

1956 The NPS completed the Mission 66 Final Prospectus for Fort Pulaski (“Mission 66 

Prospectus,” 1956, park).

1956 The park installed audio-visual equipment of five recorded talks in the fort in May (“Annual 

Report on Visitor Services,” 1957, park).

1957-1958 A bacteria carried in from the Savannah River infested the moat. Algae growth and very 

cold temperatures caused thousands of moat fish to die (Lattimore to Regional Director, 22 

January 1958, Moat file, park).

1960 The NPS performed extensive stabilization and replacement of door, windows, and 

brickwork on the Cockspur Island Lighthouse (Mikell, “Lonely Lighthouse Has Survival 

Instinct,” 1977, Fort Pulaski National Register file, Atlanta). 

1962 In April, the park held a Centennial Celebration for siege of Fort Pulaski (“Superintendent’s 

Monthly Report,” April 1962).

1962 Burglars stole the sword believed to belong to Col. Olmstead from the fort in April. In 

September 1964, the FBI recovered the sword from a collector in Florida 

(“Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” August 1962, September 1964).

1963 In July, air conditioning was installed in Casemate 59, to be used as a visitor lounge

(“Mission 66 Construction Completion Report,” September 1963, park).

1965 The park installed picnic tables at the west end of Cockspur Island in June 

(“Superintendent’s Monthly Report,” June 1965).

1965 The park prepared the 1965 Master Plan which covered areas of management concern such 

as insect, plant, and tree disease control, the repair of historic structures, utilities, signs and 

markers, and vandalism control (Master Plan, 1965).

1965 Park staff found two Parrot rifles in the woods near Battery Hambright (“Annual 

Interpretive Services Narrative,” 1965, park).

1968 A fee collection station was constructed at the park entrance off of U.S. Highway 80 (Capps 

1994).

1972 A newly installed radio system improved park law enforcement and preparation for 

emergencies (“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1972).

1972 The park implemented a safety program and appointed a Safety Committee to reduce park 

accidents (Superintendent Tomlinson to Director, 13 January 1972, Reading files, park).

1973 The NPS issued a 20-year special use permit to the Savannah Pilots Association to use 

29,316 square feet of the northwest part of Cockspur Island (“Superintendent’s Annual 

Report,” 1973).
National Park Service 97

1973 A few men from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recovered miscellaneous artifacts from 

the cisterns and the moat (Trout to 77th Engineering Company, 15 February 1973, Reading 

files, park). 

1974 On December 11th, Fort Pulaski park historian Edward L. Trout completed Fort Pulaski 

National Monument (including all of Cockspur and McQueen's Islands) National Register 

nomination (Trout 1974).

1978 Approximately $25,000 of improvements to the Cockspur Island Lighthouse included the 

stabilization of the rusted ironwork, repairs to the door, windows, and lantern panes 

riddled with bulletholes from vandals, and masonry repointing (“Lighthouse Stabilization 

Cyclic Project Analysis,” 7 July 1977, Reading files, park).

1980 In May, an interagency agreement between the NPS and the U.S. Coast Guard authorized 

administrative jurisdiction over an additional 1.85 acres of land for the Search and Rescue 

Station (Interagency Agreement, Reading files, park).

1983 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service performed a $3,000 study to identify moat management 

alternatives in response to an algae bloom that devastated moat fish population

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1983).

1984 Chatham County Commission relocated the boat ramp at Lazaretto Creek, converted old 

dock into a public pier, and constructed a parking lot (MOU, Reading files, park).

1987 On April 10-12th, around 3,000 visitors attended the 125th Anniversary of the Siege and 

Surrender of Fort Pulaski (“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1987). 

1988 The NPS, in cooperation with the Georgia DNR, attempted to reintroduce hard-shelled 

clams at Oyster Creek to increase population for recreational harvesting (“Superintendent’s 

Annual Reports,” 1988, 2000). 

1991 Fort Pulaski celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NPS by featuring a special display in the 

Visitor Center, living history demonstrations, and a concert (“Superintendent’s Annual 

Report,” 1991).

1992 An interagency agreement between government bureaus provided a cross-designation of 

law enforcement officers for investigative support, emergencies, violations in areas where 

an agency borders another agency, and local operational agreements (Interagency 

Agreement, Reading files, park).

1995 Southeast Archeology Center (SEAC) excavated a refuse area at the northwest corner of the 

main feeder ditch on Cockspur Island, uncovering brick and mortar that may have been 

dumped by Union troops repairing fort damage in 1862 (Jameson, 1998: 5).

1996 SEAC archaeologists noted forty-seven instances of unauthorized disturbance to 

archeological resources along the dike system from Battery Hambright to the fort (Jameson, 

1998: 6).

1997 Handicap accessible restrooms at the Visitor Center were completed at a cost of $141,000 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997).

1997 The office of the Historic American Buildings Survey initiated a $27,000 project to 

document the evolution of the architectural condition of Fort Pulaski and the ecological 

progression of Cockspur Island (“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 1997). 

1997 The NPS produced a Cultural Landscape Inventory for Fort Pulaski detailing the past and 

present landscape at Cockspur Island (FPNM Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, 1997).

1997 The NPS issued a special use permit for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place 

underground monitoring wells on the west end of Cockspur Island. These wells monitor 

Chloride levels in the underground water of the Miocene aquifer at Cockspur Island 

(Special Use Permit, Reading files, park). 
98 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

1999 The park permitted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use a NPS equipment shed and 

radio tower to install and maintain a Global Positioning System (GPS) Base Station (Special 

Use Permit, Reading files, park).

2000 Fort Pulaski received $25,000 to begin a water quality analysis of Oyster Creek to help 

evaluate the ecological health of the water resources at Fort Pulaski. The NPS awarded 

Savannah State University with the contract to conduct the one-year study to begin in 2001 

(“Superintendent’s Annual Report,” 2000).
National Park Service 99

Appendix B: Fort Pulaski NM 

Superintendents

Reaville Brown, Acting Superintendent June 1, 1934 to (date unknown)

Simon P. Kehoe, Jr., Project Superintendent November 6, 1935 to May 30, 1936

Ralston B. Lattimore, Acting Superintendent June 1, 1936 to October 31, 1938

James W. Holland, Acting Superintendent November 1, 1938 to April 14, 1940

James W. Holland, Superintendent* April 15, 1940 to April 26, 1943

William W. Luckett, Superintendent** September 25, 1946 to September 11, 1948

Ralston B. Lattimore, Superintendent October 31, 1948 to October 31, 1969

David L. Tomlinson, Superintendent April 5, 1970 to January 7, 1973

Dennis Kuenzel, Acting Superintendent January 8, 1973 to February 17, 1973

Grady C. Webb, Superintendent*** February 18, 1973 to November 13, 1982

Elaine Howery, Acting Superintendent November 14, 1982 to January 10, 1983

Daniel W. Brown, Superintendent**** January 11, 1983 to February 13, 1988

John W. Beck, Acting Superintendent February 14, 1988 to June 4, 1988 

John D. Breen, Superintendent June 5, 1988 to present

* Navy occupation, park closed 3/14/42 to 8/1/47, Holland transferred to Fort McHenry National 

Monument 

** Luckett transferred to Fort Sumter National Monument

*** Webb transferred to Andrew Johnson National Historic Site

  Brown transferred to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

** ***Breen transferred from Canaveral National Seashore
100 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 101

Appendix C: Acts and Resolutions 

of the General Assembly of the 

State of Georgia

An Act for the State of Georgia to cede to the United 

States of America the interest of the state and its 

jurisdiction over the site on Cockspur Island where 

a beacon light was erected.

Assented to December 22, 1820.

An Act for the State of Georgia to cede to the United 

States of America all of its right, title, and interest to 

and over a reserve of 20 acres on Cockspur Island 

(containing Fort Pulaski).

Approved December 27, 1845

An Act for the State of Georgia to grant to the 

United States of America all of its right, title, and 

interest in a 20-acre portion of Cockspur Island and 

277.39 acres on McQueens Island in Chatham 

County, Georgia.

Approved February 16, 1935

An Act for the State of Georgia to grant to 

the United States of America all of its right, title, and 

interest in approximately 5,000 acres of marshland 

located on McQueens Island in Chatham County, 

Georgia.

Approved January 17, 1938
102 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 103

Appendix D: Federal Legislation
104 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

A Presidential Proclamation (No. 1713, 43 Stat. 

1968) to establish a national monument at Fort 

Pulaski, Georgia, October 15, 1924.

Whereas, there are various military 

reservations under the control of the Secretary of 

War which comprise areas of historic and scientific 

interest;

And whereas, by section 2 of the Act of 

Congress approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225), the 

President is authorized “in his discretion, to declare 

by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic 

and prehistoric structures, and other objects of 

historic or scientific interest that are situated upon 

the lands owned or controlled by the Government 

of the United States to be national monuments, and 

may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the 

limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the 

smallest area compatible with the proper care and 

management of the objects to be protected”

FORT PULASKI, GEORGIA

 The entire area comprising the site of the 

old fortifications which are clearly defined by 

ditches and embankments, which enclose about 

twenty acres.

An Executive Order (No. 6166), issued pursuant 

to the authority of Section 16 of the Act of March 

3, 1933 (Public Law No. 428—47 Stat. 1517), to 

transfer Fort Pulaski National Monument from 

the War Department to the National Park Service 

of the Department of the Interior.

All functions of administration of public 

buildings, reservations, national parks, national 

monuments, and national cemeteries are 

consolidated in an office of National Parks, 

Buildings, and Reservations, in the Department of 

the Interior, at the head of which shall be a Director 

of National Parks, Buildings, and Reservations; 

except that where deemed desirable there may be 

excluded from this provision any public building or 

reservation which is chiefly employed as a facility in 

the work of a particular agency. This transfer and 

consolidation of functions shall include, among 

others, those of the National Park Service of the 

Department of the Interior and the National 

Cemeteries and Parks of the War Department which 

are located within the continental limits of the 

United States:

FORT PULASKI, GEORGIA.

An Act to extend the boundaries of the Fort 

Pulaski National Monument, Georgia, and for 

other purposes, approved June 26, 1936 (49 Stat. 

1979).

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 

Representatives of the United States of America in 

Congress assembled, that the boundaries of the Fort 

Pulaski National Monument on Cockspur Island, 

Georgia, be, and they are hereby, extended to 

include al of the lands on said island now or 

formerly under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of 

War.

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior be, 

and he is hereby, authorized, in his discretion, to 

accept in behalf of the United States, lands, interest 

in lands, easements, and improvements located on 

McQueens and Tybee Islands, in Chatham County, 

Georgia, as may be donated for an addition to the 

Fort Pulaski National Monument, and upon 

acceptance thereof the same shall be a part of said 

monument, the title and evidence of title to lands 

acquired to be satisfactory to the Secretary of the 

Interior.

Sec. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior be, 

and he is hereby, authorized to construct, or cause 

to be constructed, in connection with and as a part 

of the road system of Fort Pulaski National 

Monument, a bridge or causeway and approaches 

thereto across the South Channel of the Savannah 

River from Cockspur Island to McQueens Island in 

Chatham County, Georgia, at a point which he may 

designate as most suitable to the interests of the 

federal government.

Sec. 4. That the administration, protection, 

and development of the aforesaid national 

monument as extended by this Act shall be 

exercised under the direction of the Secretary of the 

Interior by the National Park Service, subject to the 
National Park Service 105

provisions of the Act of August 25, 1916, entitled, “An 

Act to establish a National Park Service, and for 

other purposes”: Provided, That there is 

permanently reserved for the unlimited use of the 

Corps of Engineers, United States Army, for the 

deposit of dredging materials and other purposes, a 

strip of land along the north shore of Cockspur 

Island extending shoreward two hundred feet from 

the present high water line: And provided further, 

That the portion of Cockspur Island bounded on 

the east by a north and south line across the island, 

and distant two thousand and nine hundred feet 

west from the northwesterly salient angle of Fort 

Pulaski, and extending from Savannah River on the 

north to the South Channel on the south; on the 

west by a north and south line, parallel with said east 

boundary, distant one thousand and seven hundred 

feet therefrom, and likewise extending from the 

Savannah River on the north to the South Channel 

on the south, is reserved to the Treasury 

Department for use for a quarantine station.

A Presidential Proclamation (72 Stat. 1) to enlarge 

the Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia, 

August 14, 1958.

WHEREAS the Cockspur Island 

Lighthouse Reservation, situated on a small island 

near the southeasterly shore of Cockspur Island, 

contains an old abandoned lighthouse which is 

contemporary with Fort Pulaski and should be 

preserved because of its historic interest; and 

WHEREAS a small Federally owned island, 

known as Daymark Island, containing 

approximately 1.5 acres of land at high tide, situated 

close to the northeastern shore of Cockspur Island 

and gradually becoming an accretion thereto, is 

required for the proper care, protection, and 

management of the objects of historic interest 

situated within the area of Fort Pulaski National 

Monument;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DWIGHT D. 

EISENHOWER, President of the United States of 

America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by 

Section 2 of the act of June 8, 1906, 34 Stat. 225 (16 

U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that, subject to valid 

existing rights, the following-described lands are 

hereby added to, and reserved as parts of, the Fort 

Pulaski National Monument, and shall be subject to 

all laws, rules, and regulations applicable to that 

monument:

(1) That certain tract of land, about 1 acre in 

area, known as the Cockspur Island Lighthouse 

Reservation, situate near the south end of Cockspur 

Island at Latitude 32°01’ N., and Longitude 80°53” 

W., and

(2) That certain tract of land, about 1.5 acres 

in area, known as Daymark Island and depicted on 

U.S. Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey Chart C. & 

G.S. 440, Savannah River-Warsaw Sound, Revised 

12/23/57, being an undesignated island in shoal water 

at Latitude 32°02’ N. and Longitude 80°53” W. on 

the right bank of the Savannah River.

An amendment (110 Stat. 4188, Public Law 104-

333) to 49 Stat. 1979 canceling the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers reservation on the north 

shore of Cockspur Island, November 12, 1996.

Section 807. Fort Pulaski National Monument, 

Georgia.

Section 4 of the Act of June 26, 1936 (ch. 844; 

49 Stat. 1979), is amended by striking “Provided, 
106 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 107

Appendix E:

 National Register Nomination
108 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 109
110 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 111
112 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 113
114 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 115
116 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History
National Park Service 117

Bibliography

Allaback, Sarah. Mission 66 Visitor Centers: The History of 

a Building Type. Washington, D.C.: National Park 

Service, 2000. 

Anderson, David G. Test Excavations at Civil War Period, 

Battery Halleck, Fort Pulaski National Monument 

Chatham County, Georgia. Atlanta: Interagency 

Archeological Services Division, National Park 

Service,1995.

Beth Lattimore Reiter collection. Records of Ralston B. 

Lattimore, 1934-1950.

Brewer, David M., and John E. Cornelison Jr. 

Archeological Testing and Remote Sensing Survey for 

the Graves of the Immortal 600: Fort Pulaski National 

Monument, Chatham County, Georgia. Tallahassee: 

Southeast Archeological Center, National Park 

Service, 1997.

Burns, John A., ed. Recording Historic Structures. 

Washington, D.C.: The AIA Press, 1989.

Cadle, Farris. “Title Abstract for Cockspur Island,” Fort 

Pulaski National Monument park files, 2000.

Capps, Mike. “Task Directive Administrative History Fort 

Pulaski National Monument,” Fort Pulaski National 

Monument park files, 1994.

Chambers, John Whiteclay, ed. The Oxford Companion to 

American Military History. Oxford: Oxford University 

Press, 1999.

Collins, Judith. Historic Structure Assessment Report: The 

Cockspur Island Lighthouse. Atlanta: Southeast 

Regional Office, National Park Service, 1994.

Cornelison, John E., Jr. Assessments of Damage to 

Archeological Resources Fort Pulaski National 

Monument, Savannah, Georgia, SEAC Accession 

Number 1218. Tallahassee: Southeast Archeological 

Center National Park Service, 1997.

Cumberland, Don, Jr., “Museum Collection Storage, 

Number 1.” Preservation Tech Notes. Washington, 

D.C.: National Park Service, 1985.

Downs, Gene. “Holding Down the Fort.” Islands Closeup. 9 March 1989.

Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1, 

1997. Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 1994.

“Fort Pulaski,” National Register file. Georgia State 

Historic Preservation Office, Atlanta, GA.

Fort Pulaski Draft Cultural Landscape Inventory, Level 1. 

Atlanta: Southeast Regional Office, National Park 

Service, 1997.

Forts Committee, Department of Archives and History. 

“Georgia Forts,” Georgia Magazine (Feb.-Mar. 1967): 

17-19. 

Freiden, Jaymi. “History by the Sea,” Savannah Morning 

News, 24 October 1999. 

Gillmore, Quincy A. Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski 

National Monument. 1862. Reprint, Gettysburg: 

Thomas Publications, 1988. 

Groh, Lou. Archeological Investigations of Fort Pulaski 

National Monument Chatham County, Georgia. 

Tallahassee: Southeast Archeological Center, 

National Park Service, 1999.

—. Fort Pulaski National Monument Archeological 

Overview and Assessment. Tallahassee: Southeast 

Archeological Center, National Park Service, 2000.

—. Research Design for Archeological Investigations at Fort 

Pulaski National Monument Chatham County, 

Georgia, for the Regionwide Archeological Survey 

Program 1999 Field Season. Tallahassee: Southeast 

Archeological Center, National Park Service, 1999.

Historic American Buildings Survey. History of Fort 

Pulaski and Cockspur Island. Addendum to Fort 

Pulaski. HABS No. GA-2158, Washington, D.C.: 

Department of the Interior, 1998.

Holland, James W. ‘Key to Our Province’ 1736-1776: A 

Study of a Marsh Island of Georgia in the Mouth of the 

Savannah River, Site of Fort Pulaski National 

Monument. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 

1937.

Holmes, Michael S. The New Deal in Georgia: An 

Administrative History. London: Greenwood Press, 

1975.
118 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Jameson, John, Jr. Archeological Issues at Fort Pulaski 

National Monument, Georgia: Background to 

Preparation of the General Management Plan, 1997-

1998. Tallahassee: Southeast Archeological Center, 

National Park Service, 1998.

Johnson, James Michael. Militiamen, Rangers, and 

Redcoats: The Military in Georgia. Macon, Ga.: 

Mercer University Press, 1992.

Joslyn, Mauriel. Immortal Captives: The Story of 600 

Confederate Officers and the United States Prisoner of 

War Policy. Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane 

Publishing Company, 1996. 

Lang, Kathyrn A. and Sara L. Van Beck. Fort Pulaski 

National Monument Collection Management Plan. 

Atlanta: NPS-SERO, 1995.

Lattimore, Ralston B. Fort Pulaski National Monument, 

Georgia. Handbook Series No. 18. 1954. Reprint, 

Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1961.

Mackintosh, Barry. The National Park Service: Shaping the 

System. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 

1991.

McDaniel, Sandi. “Tybee’s Lonliest Light.” Savannah 

Morning News, 12 May 1992.

Microfiche files, Southeast Regional Office National Park 

Service, Atlanta, Georgia.

Murray, John Ogden. The Immortal Six-Hundred. New 

York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1905.

National Archives, Mid-Atlantic Branch, Philadelphia, 

Record Group 79, Boxes 69, 70, 71. 

National Archives, Southeast Branch, Atlanta, Record 

Group 77, Boxes 1 and 161; Record Group 181, Boxes 4 

and 6; Record Group 270, Box 13. 

“National Archives Research Trip by Lou Groh,” Fort 

Pulaski park files. Photocopied Army records, 1836 to 

1869. 

Olmstead, Charles H. “Fort Pulaski,” The Georgia 

Historical Quarterly, 1, no. 2 (1917): 98-105.

Paige, John. The Civilian Conservation Corps and the 

National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative 

History. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 

1985.

Park files, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia.

Preliminary Inventory of the Records of U.S. Army 

Continental Commands, 1821-1920, Volume 4, Military 

Installations, RG 393. National Archives, Washington, 

D.C., 1999.

Robinson, Willard B. American Forts: Architectural Form 

and Function. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 

1977.

Sholes, A.E., comp. Chronological History of Savannah. 

Savannah: Morning News Print, 1900.

Smith, Derek. Civil War Savannah. Savannah: Frederic C. 

Beil, 1997.

Spalding, Phinizy. “Spain and the Coming of the English.” 

Part 1 in A History of Georgia, ed. by Kenneth 

Coleman. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 

1991.

“The Story of Fort Pulaski, Savannah River, Georgia.” The 

Thomas Gamble Collection, Volume 1. 1945. Savannah 

Public Library, Savannah Georgia.

Trout, Edward L. Fort Pulaski National Monument 

National Register Nomination. Washington, D.C.: 

Department of the Interior, 1974.

Unrau, Harlan D. and G. Frank Williss. Administrative 

History: Expansion of the National Park Service in the 

1930s. Washington: National Park Service, 1983.

U.S. Dept. of the Interior/U.S. Dept. of Agriculture-Forest 

Service. YCC at Work: The 1979 Program Year.

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior/U.S. 

Dept. of Agriculture-Forest Service, 1979.

Watts, Gordon P. Jr. Archeological Survey of GDOT 

Proposed Widening of US80/SR26 from Bull River to 

Lazaretto Creek, Chatham County, Georgia. 

Washington, N.C.: Tidewater Atlantic Research, Inc., 

1999.

Young, Rogers W. “The Construction of Fort Pulaski.” 

The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 20 (1936): 41-51.

—. Robert E. Lee and Fort Pulaski. Popular Study Series 11. 

Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1947.
National Park Service 119

Index

A

Albright, Horace M. 17, 21

Alstaetter, Col. F.W. 18

American Bicentennial 42, 46, 66

AmeriCorps 66

Anderson, David (NPS archaeologist) 70

Antiquities Act (1906) 16, 18

Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) 69

violation 85

B

Babcock, Maj. Samuel 6

Battery Halleck 54, 68, 70

Battery Hambright 1, 15, 32

repairs 66, 67

Bernard, Simon 5, 6, 75

Board of Fortifications for Sea Coast Defense 5

Boy Scouts of America clean-up work 66

Sea Scouts 46

Brown, Col. Philip P. 11

Brown, Gov. Joseph E. 8

C

Camp 460 26, 27

reunions 46

Central of Georgia Railroad

right-of-way on McQueen’s Island 14, 23, 53, 54

Chatham County

boat ramp on McQueen’s Island 65

Mosquito Control Commission 65

Police Department 85

Civil War 1, 7, 13

125th anniversary 46

archaeology sites 70

artifacts 18, 69, 71, 74

Civil Works Administration (CWA) 24

Civilian Conservation Corps 1, 24, 26, 69, 89

Clean Air Act 83

Clean Water Act 83

Clifton Construction Company 33

Cockspur Island Lighthouse

construction 13, 14

keepers’ quarters 14

restoration 76

transfer from U.S. Coast Guard 62

Colonial Dames of America 38

Colquitt, Harriet 19

Confederate Nog Party 42

Confederate prisoners of war 11

Coolidge, President Calvin 19

Cornelison, John (NPS archeologist) 70

CSS Georgia 73

Cultural Landscape Inventory 55, 68

D

Daughters of the Confederacy 38

Davis, Dwight F. (Secretary of War) 20

Drury, Newton (NPS director) 29

E

Edwards, U.S. Representative Charles G. 19, 20

Elba Island 45, 60

Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) 25

Endangered Species Act (1973) 83

F

Fauna 78, 82

Fechner Park 27

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 84, 85

First American System of Fortifications 5

Flora 78, 82

Florida Department of Archives and History 73

Florida State Research and Conservation Laboratory 76

Fort George 5, 69

Fort Green(e) 5, 69

Fort Pulaski

centennial celebration 46

cisterns 43, 69

construction 1, 5, 13

demilune 7, 13, 14, 26, 28, 32, 82

dike and channel system 7, 26, 32, 61, 70, 78, 79

moat 19, 26, 69, 78, 79

north pier 61

preservation work 18, 20, 74

remodeling after Civil War 13

slave labor 7

surrender to Federals 9

workmen’s village 6

Fort Pulaski National Monument

boundary expansion 23, 50, 59, 63

cannons 38, 72, 73

closure during World War II 36, 38, 44

Collection Condition Survey (1993) 72

Collection Management Plan (1995) 68, 71

encroaching development issues 68, 89

ferry service 27, 29, 36, 44

flag collection 74

guides 36, 37, 66

handbook 39

Interpretive Prospectus (1959) 39

Interpretive Prospectus (1971) 35, 40

land acquisition 23

living history 35, 40, 41

Master Plan (1939) 49

Master Plan (1942) 50

Master Plan (1965) 52

Master Plan (1971) 52

museum collections 35, 38, 42, 43, 56

museum exhibits 35, 39, 43, 65

Museum Fire and Security Survey (1995) 72

National Register nomination 74

Records Management Review (1999) 72

segregated restroom facilities 28

visitation 35, 43, 44, 45, 46, 53, 67

visitor center 30, 32, 39, 43, 52, 72, 75, 86

volunteers 35, 41, 66, 76, 86

Fort Screven 14, 15, 39, 57, 71

G

Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 82

Georgia Historical Society 35, 40

Georgia Ports Authority 64

Gillmore, Gen. Quincy A. 9, 14, 89

Goat Point 53

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) 49, 55

Griffin, John (NPS archaeologist) 69

guides at Fort Pulaski NM 36, 37

H

Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) 75

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) 75
120 Fort Pulaski National Monument Administrative History

Holland, James (FPNM superintendent) 27, 37, 50, 57, 58, 

64

Hunter, Maj. Gen. David 10

I

Immortal Six Hundred 11, 70

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) 84

Intracoastal Waterway 60

J

Jackson, Hugh (contractor) 30, 32

Jameson, John (NPS archaeologist) 70

L

Lattimore, Ralston (FPNM superintendent) 10, 30, 35, 37, 

38, 39, 44, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 69, 78, 84

Lazaretto Creek 61, 65

Lee, Gen. Robert E. 1, 6, 8

Levy, Henry (architect) 30

List of Classified Structures (LCS) 75

Long Island 3, 14, 54, 55, 80

Luckett, William W. (FPNM superintendent) 38, 58, 60

M

Martus, Florence (waving girl) 45

Mather, Stephen T. 17, 21

McBurney, J. W. (architect) 31

McQueen’s Island 14, 23, 45, 53, 68

Meagher, W. G. (contractor) 29

Millis, Col. John 18

Mission 66 program 29, 31, 75, 89

Morgan, Lt. Henry Sims 39, 71

Myers Conservation (contractor) 74

N

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 52, 83

National Park Service

Eastern Office of Design and Construction 30

establishment 17

fiftieth anniversary 29

transfer of War Department parks 17

National Register of Historic Places 64, 74, 76

Native Americans

Euchee 3

natural resource management 78, 83

North Channel (Savannah River)

dredging 7, 59, 80, 82

mines 14

North-South Skirmish Organization 41

O

Oatland Island Educational Center 43

Ocmulgee National Monument 38, 58

Oglethorpe, Gen. James E. 3

Olmstead, Col. Charles H.

Confederate commander 9, 89

sword, theft of 84

Oyster Bed Island dredging 80

lighthouse 7

P

Peeper Island 3

Public Works Administration (PWA) 24, 28

Pulaski, Count Casimir 7, 46

Q

quarantine station 15, 23, 27, 54, 59

R

rifled guns 9

Roosevelt, Pres. Franklin D. 17, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 89

Rowan, Lt. Robert 18, 71

S

Savannah Bar Pilots dormitory (Cockspur Island) 61, 64

Savannah Beach 85, 86

Savannah Board of Trade 18, 19

Savannah Electric and Power Company 32

Savannah Park and Tree Commission 37

Savannah Parks and Recreation 43

Savannah/Tybee Railroad Historic Trail 32

Sewell and Associates (contractor) 32

slaves

emancipation in Low Country 10

South Channel (Savannah River) 7

landing walk 24

wharf 19, 69

South Channel Bridge

construction 23, 29

repairs 32, 33, 61

Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) 70, 71

Southeastern Wildlife Services (contractor) 84

Sultan, Maj. Dan I. 19

T

Taylor, Kent (FPNM historian) 66

Taylor, O.B. (NPS wildlife technician) 65

Third System (fortifications) 1, 6

Tomlinson, David L. (FPNM superintendent) 85

Trout, Edward L. (FPNM historian) 70, 74

Tybee Island

during Civil War 8, 9

fortifications 13, 15

Historical Society 39

Lighthouse 76

Tybee Island, City of 53, 54, 74, 87

Tybee Knoll Cut Range Lighthouse 13

U

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

dredging 14, 23, 53, 55, 59, 61, 80, 82

fortifications 5, 15

repair and maintenance of Fort Pulaski 13, 14, 18, 32

U.S. Coast Guard 1, 58, 61, 68

Cockspur Island Lighthouse 62, 76

repairs at Fort Pulaski 32

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 67, 74, 78, 80, 85

U.S. Forest Service 25, 67

U.S. Navy activities on Cockspur Island 29, 57, 58

U.S. Public Health Service 26, 65, 86

University of Georgia 83

V

Vinten, C.R. 58, 60

Volunteers-in-Parks Program 41, 66

W

water quality studies 79, 82, 84

Waving Girl 45

Wesley, John Memorial 38

Whaley and Minter Construction Company 32

Work, Hubert (Secretary of the Interior) 17, 21

World War II 25, 29, 36, 38, 44, 73, 75

Y

Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) 66, 67, 76
As the nation’s principal conservation agency, 

the Department of the Interior has responsibility 

for most of our nationally owned public lands 

and natural resources. This includes fostering 

sound use of our land and water resources; 

protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological 

diversity; preserving the environmental and 

cultural values of our national parks and 

historical places; and providing for the enjoyment 

of life through outdoor recreation. The 

department assesses our energy and mineral 

resources and works to ensure that their 

development is in the best interests of all our 

people by encouraging stewardship and citizen 

participation in their care. The department also 

has a major responsibility for American Indian 

reservation communities and for people who live 

in island territories under U.S. administration. 

NPS D- 433 January 1997

EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA T M

Fort Pulaski National Monument

P.O Box 30757

Savannah, GA 31410-0757

www.nps.gov/fopu