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Introduction

Colonial Period

Revolution

Early Republic

War Between the States

Recent Era

District of Columbia

Historic Projects

Special Feature: A huge fortress on the Florida Keys in the Gulf of Mexico which served as a Federal military prison.

Fort Jefferson.

FORT JEFFERSON is an impressive hexagonal shaped structure, fully bastioned, with great walls 425 feet long, rising 60 feet from a surrounding moat. It is located about 70 miles due west of Key West, Fla., on Garden Key of the Dry Tortugas Islands and can be reached by boat or plane. On January 4, 1935, Fort Jefferson was declared a national monument by Presidential proclamation.

The Tortugas were discovered by Juan Ponce de Leon on his Florida voyage in 1513 and were so named because of the many turtles in that vicinity. In colonial days these islands were the lair of buccaneers and pirates. In later years the strategic location of the Tortugas group became apparent, and Fort Jefferson was planned as the key to American defense in the Gulf of Mexico. Work on the fort started in 1846 but progressed so slowly that at the outbreak of the Civil War it was scarcely defensible. In January 1861 it was garrisoned for the first time with a force of 66 Federal troops. Union forces continued to hold it during the war, using it both as a hospital and as a Federal military prison. In 1864 about 1,000 men were confined there.

After the close of the war the fort received considerable public attention because the alleged confederates of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of President Lincoln were imprisoned there. Among these was Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, a Marylander, who had set the broken leg of the fleeing assassin. Dr. Mudd's ease attracted particular attention, for it was widely believed that he was not a party to the conspiracy but had merely performed his professional duty. Sympathy for the luckless physician was intensified when in 1867, during a scourge of yellow fever, he volunteered his professional services after the medical staff of Fort Jefferson had succumbed to the disease. He faithfully tended the sick and dying until he also was stricken. Later, on March 21, 1869, because of these ministrations, he was pardoned.

In 1874, Fort Jefferson was formally abandoned as a military post, although troops continued to be stationed there temporarily. During the war with Spain several companies of regulars and volunteers were quartered at the post. Besides its historic interest, Fort Jefferson is surrounded by one of the richest marine gardens in the world where at least 600 varieties of aquatic life are known to exist. The Tortugas Islands serve as refuges for thousands of sea birds which come yearly to lay their eggs.

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