Something I have discovered from the older articles written by almost any of the historians are more on the 'meat' of the subject and not sliding through a lot of PC garbage that has nothing to do with the original information.
I also have a book with some Anti-Bellum information that includes things that were connected to the building of the forts such as Stephen Mallory's letter wanting to know why his slave was not being treated well while he was working on the building. I believe the slave as a brick mason but I may be disremembering that exact detail. Those slaves were also leased by the US Gov. to do the work at Ft Jefferson.
Pam