Ralston Lattimore

Superintendent Lattimore's Centennial program inside Fort Pulaski.

NPS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Established the interpretive program at the park.

Place of Birth:

Savannah, Georgia

Date of Birth:

May 9, 1901

Place of Death:

Savannah, Georgia

Date of Death:

Feb. 1970

Place of Burial:

Savannah, Georgia

Cemetery Name:

Bonaventure Cemetery

In 1934, Fort Pulaski National Monument hired one their most influential workers in the park’s history, Ralston B Lattimore. Ralston was born on May 9, 1901, in Savannah, Georgia to Henry and Elizabeth Lattimore. He grew up in Savannah and became a newspaper reporter for the local area. After the National Park Service started operating Fort Pulaski in 1933, Lattimore was hired to manage the Historical Division Office for Fort Pulaski. Lattimore, along with other National Park Service researchers went through archives at the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah Public Library, and in Washington D.C archives to develop the interpretive history for the fort.

Lattimore engaged in several different relationships with local Savannah groups interested in Fort Pulaski’s history. He developed a relationship with the Savannah Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. On several occasions throughout the 1930s he presented the history of Fort Pulaski to the UDC, focusing on the Confederate soldiers stationed at the fort during the Civil War. In 1935, Lattimore gave permission to the UDC to hold the Georgia annual convention at Fort Pulaski. During the weekend convention, Lattimore gave the UDC permission to raised the Confederate battle flag for the first time in the fort’s history, birthing the fort's new Confederate identity. During the Confederate occupation, only the national flag of the Confederacy had flown over the fort. 

In 1936, Lattimore became the interim superintendent. He established the interpretative program for the national monument, authorized the erection of the plaque in the northwest corner of the fort honoring two Confederate soldiers, outlined the supervised tour that led visitors throughout the fort, and created a museum plan for the fort. He continued to push the myth of the "Lost Cause," popular in American history at the time. 

Following the end of his position of interim superintendent in 1938, he went to Richmond, Virginia and attended the Union Theological Seminary. As Fort Pulaski closed its doors to the public in 1942, Lattimore graduated from the seminary, married Mildred Crow and enlisted in the United States Army during World War II.

Lattimore returned to the national monument in 1948 after his military service and became the new superintendent at the fort. He continued his relationship with the UDC and focused the interpretations of Fort Pulaski on the Confederate soldiers stationed during the bombardment and gave special programs for UDC members.

During the 1950s he wrote Fort Pulaski National Monument, Georgia. The book was short history of Fort Pulaski and the events which transpired before, during, and after the Civil War. He also was able to gain the Cockspur Island Lighthouse in 1959 after over twenty-five years of petitioning the federal government for its jurisdiction. Lattimore organized and oversaw the hundred-year anniversaries of Confederate capture of the fort in 1861, and the bombardment of the fort in 1862. For both events he gave speeches addressing the history of Fort Pulaski. He oversaw the construction of museum cases within the fort and assisted in the process of developing the visitor center which was constructed in 1964.

Lattimore retired from his position as superintendent on October 31, 1969, with over three decades of service to Fort Pulaski. In February 1970, Lattimore passed away leaving his wife Mildred and daughter Mary behind. He is buried in Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery.

Fort Pulaski would still focus primarily on its short Condederate past and the narrive of the Lost Cause into the 1980s and 1990s. The park continued to focus on Confederate history at the fort until the 2010s.