After the surrender of the garrison, the Union army occupied the fort.  The new garrison filled the ditches in the parade ground and removed the blindages.  They repaired the breach in the southeast corner and added more cannons to the fort’s arsenal.
          At the end of the Civil War, the Federal government used Fort Pulaski to house political prisoners.  By 1880 this practice had ended and only a caretaker and lighthouse keeper remained.  In fact, they built the lighthouse keeper’s residence atop the rear parapet.  They too soon left, and the fort was abandoned to the weather the island’s flora.  The fort was declared a national monument in 1924, and cleanup began in 1933.
          The western end of Cockspur island  has enlarged considerably since the end of the war due to silt from the Savannah River.  The garrison’s outbuildings are long gone.  Battery Hambright was built in 1899 near the North Dock to protect the Savannah River during the Spanish-American War.  There is also today considerably more vegetation around the fort then in 1862, especially to the west and north.
          Unfortunately, construction of the modern Highway 80 destroyed all of the Federal earthen forts on Big Tybee Island with the exception of Battery Halleck.  Battery Halleck is on private property, but the park conducted a limited excavation in 1990.  The report can be read here, and is worth a look.
          Click on Big Tybee Island for pictures of Fort Pulaski from the point of view of the Federal gunners, the opposing view of the Union batteries from atop Fort Pulaski, and a picture of the Cockspur Island Lighthouse.
          Click on Cockspur Island for views of the fort itself and the surrounding grounds.