rest of the Emerald Necklace. The Dorchesterway was never realized; however, the city of Boston did undertake a large-scale project in the 1890s to create a park-like environment around Fort Independence. In 1890, Castle Island (excluding the fort) was ceded by the United States government. The city of Boston commenced filling the marshes separating Castle Island from South Boston in 1890 with the intention of creating green space and promenades. The process was finished in the 1920s and Castle Island ceased to be an island. The fort itself was ceded by the federal government to the city of Boston in 1908. In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, the U.S. government briefly reclaimed Castle Island, however it was quickly returned to the city of Boston in 1899. The military again took control of Fort Independence during World War I and World War II and anti-aircraft guns were added. During World War I, the fort was used primarily as a depot for small arms ammunition and during World War II, it was used by the United States Navy as a degaussing station for de-magnetizing the hulls of ships. At the close of both conflicts, the fort was promptly returned to the custody of the city of Boston. In 1962, the U.S. government permanently deeded Castle Island and Fort Independence to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is now overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the non-profit Castle Island Association. Over the course of its history, a shot was never fired in anger from Fort Independence by United States forces. Edgar Allan Poe and a duel A persistent, though mostly apocryphal, story involving Fort Independence was allegedly the inspiration behind one of Edgar Allan Poe's most well known works. A monument outside the west battery of the fort marks the former site of the grave of Lieutenant Robert F. Massie, who was killed in a sword duel with Lieutenant Gustavus Drane at the fort on December 25, 1817. According to folklorist Edward Rowe Snow, Massie was so popular with the soldiers stationed at Fort Independence that they took out their frustration on his killer, Lieutenant Drane, by walling him up within a vault in the fort. Edgar Allan Poe, while serving with the 1st United States Artillery Regiment at Fort Independence in 1827, purportedly heard the tale and was inspired by it, according to Snow, to write "The Cask of