Most books reviewed on War History Network are exclusively war orientated.  Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast reveals a facet of the America Civil War in its history and tourist guide to Georgia lighthouses. 

Part One, which constitutes about half of the book, entitled Beacons of Hope, is a primer on lighthouse history.  Part Two is descriptions of five Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast. 

A genius of lighthouse technology was Augustin Fresnel. A French physicist and engineer, Fresnel was recruited to advise the French Commission on des Phares on improving lighthouse visibility.  By 1821 Fresnel’s research led to a mockup design of his lens was ready to be demonstrated.  I am sure I am not the only WHN member who has seen Fresnel’s name in museums and peered into lantern rooms and wondered, “How can that small light beam out across miles of water?”  Now I have a better idea. By taking advantage of reflection and refraction produced by a convex lens and prisms of glass, light is intensified and focused in a single direction.  The practical invention of this type of lens represented a revolution in optics.  Calibrated into six orders, Fresnel lens became the standard and are still seen in lighthouses in Georgia and world-wide. 

Civil War History is interspersed throughout this work.  In 1851, Congress mandated the conversion of lighthouses to the Fresnel system and directed the secretary of the Treasury to convene a board of highly qualified military and civilian officers and engineers to “make a general detailed report and programme (sic) to guide legislation in extending and improving our present system of construction, illumination and inspection and superintendence” of lighthouses.  Among the original Lighthouse Board were West Point graduates and civil engineers P.G.T. Beauregard, a, who would later serve as a Confederate general, George Meade who, as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, commanded Union forces at Gettysburg and other battles, and Raphael Semmes, a naval officer who, as commander of the CSS Alabama, is reputedly the most successful commerce raider in history. 

A whole chapter is devoted to Lighthouses During the American Civil War.  As Southern states seceded, they assumed management of public works, including lighthouses.  After resignation from the United States Navy, Semmes was called upon to advise President Davis and the Confederate Congress on the establishment of a lighthouse board, a recommendation that was accepted, and establishment of an “irregular naval force” specifically “a well-organized system of private armed ships, called privateers.” 

Initiation of the naval blockade made lighthouses assets to the Union navy, unfamiliar with southern coastlines, and threats to Confederate blockade runners who, through familiarity with local waters and cover of darkness, sought to avoid detection.  By September 1861, most Southern lighthouses had been extinguished.  Their expensive, imported Fresnel lens were removed and hidden for reinstallation when Mars’ fury had passed, though not all were found.  Even disabled towers could serve as observation points for occupying forces.  Some towers were destroyed, either by retreating or raiding Confederates, or in the course of bombardment.  Only those in the Florida Keys remained under Union control and lit throughout the War. 

This tome earns its title in the second part with chapters on the five Georgia lighthouses, Tybee, Cockspur, Sapelo, St. Simons and Little Cumberland.  Each chapter narrates the history of the lighthouse and concludes with information for visitors.    Some welcome visitors, St. Simon’s, Tybee and Cockspur, Sapelo welcomes, but only with ferry service, and Little Cumberland remains in rustic state with difficult accessibility.  The wartime travails of individual lighthouses are recounted in their chapters. 

Tybee Lighthouse was burned by Confederate raiders in November 1861, but quickly repaired and used as a Union observation post.  Cockspur Lighthouse was seized by Georgia’s Savannah Volunteer Guards, the Oglethorpe Light Infantry and the Chatham Artillery on January 3, 1861 and barely escaped destruction during bombardment of nearby Fort Pulaski in December of that year and April 1862.  St. Simons Lighthouse was captured by order of Georgia Governor Joe Brown by the Jackson Artillery in January 1861.  In September of the same year, the Fresnel lens was removed and hidden in Brunswick, Georgia and the tower blown down.  After Confederate forces were withdrawn, Union occupiers found Little Cumberland’s tower intact, although with the Fresnel lens removed, and it remained dark for the duration of the War.

The history of the development of lighthouses and particularly their roles in the Civil War I find fascinating.  “Lighthouses of the Georgia Coast” is a treasure for visitors to the area or those interested in the history and charm of lighthouses and their importance in peace and war.