Description: Fort Wood: 1811, Statue of Liberty, Bedloe's Island. In 1811 an 11 pointed star-shaped battery with 30 guns was completed. Named Ft Wood (for Lt. Col Elenzer Wood battle of Lake Erie) in 1814. 1861 used for 100 sick Confederate POWs from Castle Williams, later moved to Fort Warren in Boston harbor. By 1877 the island was under consideration for the Statue of Liberty and a garrison post had been built around the original fort. The island was selected and the pedestal completed within the fort by April 1886 and the statue installed thereafter. Taken over for maintenance by the War Department in 1902. The National Park Service was formed in 1916 and took over operations in 1933 of two acres while the Army kept 10 acres. The NPS took total control in 1937 and the Army began to close the fort through December 1944. The garrison post buildings of Fort Wood were torn down from 1948 to 1950.