[1][2] This tower was built of brick and was initially equipped with a multiple lamp and reflector system; three years later, it was upgraded to a fourth-order Fresnel lens.

[2] In January 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War confederate forces seized the island, including the incomplete fortifications and the lighthouse.

Union forces occupied the island shortly thereafter and restored it to operation in November 1862, using a different lens and lantern captured previously.

It was then determined that the labor of climbing three towers was too much too expect of McColl, and he was transferred to Cat Island Light, a nearby screw-pile lighthouse, where he served until he died in 1904.

This work was sponsored by the Friends of Gulf Islands National Seashore; the actual construction was performed by Seabees, using beams provided by the forest service.

The old Fresnel lens, which had been removed long before to the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi, was also badly damaged at the time, though there are plans to repair it.