Fort Taylor History

Fort Taylor is one of the fortresses built as part of the Third System of fortifications. The Third System began when the young United States defeated Great Britain in the War of 1812. The Third System called for existing fortresses to be remodeled and new construction of masonry fortresses along the eastern seaboard. Once the Florida territory became part of the U.S., the Third System was extended around the peninsula to cover areas along the Gulf coast.

President Monroe called for improved defenses from seacoast attacks. Numerous Army officers came together to work on this new segment including Colonel Joseph Totten of the Corps of Engineers. Brigadier General Simon Bernard, for whom the board was named, was recruited from France to head the project. Bernard had been Napoleon Bonaparte's chief of engineers.

The Bernard Board was mired in political and petty jealousies. Officers found it increasingly difficult to work together -- the American officers felt slighted because the president had not asked one their own to head the study. Two officers resigned from the board. Totten stayed on and assisted Bernard. Eventually, Bernard resigned his position and returned to France. Totten then became known as the foremost expert on seacoast fortifications.

Survey crews had visited Key West to determine the need for building a fort. The engineers saw it was a place with great potential for a fortress to guard against attack either from the Straits of Florida or the Gulf of Mexico. Key West was compared to Gibraltor which is at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Congress was convinced to appropriate monies to begin construction of Fort Taylor. That was in 1836. But the appropriation didn't become a reality until 1844. In 1845 the building of Fort Taylor was underway.

When Fort Taylor was planned, the Corps of Engineers decided that the best place to put the fort would be off shore on the southwestern side of the island to protect the main harbor approach. A little more than 60 acres of land was purchased to build piers and supply areas. Engineers constructed a dam and pumped out ten feet of water. They then established the foundation of granite. The three-tier fort would be connected to Key West by a wooden causeway spanning 1,000 feet. There would also be a drawbridge constructed between the fort and the cover face so the fort could be secured in the event of a land attack.

The construction of this fort was not an easy task. Materials had to be shipped from the mainland as did the workforce. Lack of appropriations also suspended work from time to time. Work crews also had to deal with numerous outbreaks of Yellow Fever as well as the heat of the sub-tropical region. And, of course, there was the weather. One year after the building of Fort Taylor had begun, the project was halted due to a violent hurricane striking Key West. Of the 601 buildings in the town, 594 had been greatly damaged or leveled. The fort's cisterns, smithy and stable were spared but four workmen drowned. They were among the 50 people who lost their lives in Key West. The lighthouses on Key West and at Sand Key-seven miles southwest of Key West-were toppled. Those who had taken refuge in the lighthouses drowned. The Naval Hospital near the fort works project was severely damaged. The winds were reported to be what is today considered Category Four or Category Five strength winds. However, it is important to note that there are no official surviving records of that storm, so the strength of the winds is speculation on the part of ship's reports. Damages were estimated to be $200,000 in 1846 dollars ($4 million today). Colonel Totten, in his report to the Secretary of War and Congress in 1846 wrote that a hurricane "of unparalleled violence arose, which overwhelmed not only our establishments, but the town of Key West, the vessels in the harbor, the neighboring lighthouse and, in short, everything near, in one common ruin." In 1851, a hurricane passed to the west of Key West with winds estimated at 90mph. In August 1852, a hurricane with winds estimated at Category Two strength passed just to the south of Key West. The area was spared from hurricanes until 1856 when a hurricane caused limited damage to the works. In 1861, Captain Hunt wrote to Colonel Totten about "a gale, blowing... violently... and strongly" damaging the fort. A hurricane in 1865 perhaps caused the most extensive damage to Fort Taylor. The eye of the October 23rd storm passed just to the west of the fort destroying the breakwaters and washing away the cover face fill. Sixty feet of seawall was destroyed. The land bridge from the fort to Key West was demolished. That storm has been analyzed as a Category Two when it reached the Florida Keys. In the years beyond 1870 additional storms come close to Fort Taylor. But, damage reports specific to the fort are not available because the army had all but abandoned the building.

By 1851, the walls had risen 10 feet. Eight years later crews had much of the trapezoid-shaped fortress completed. They installed the drawbridge and tidal flush latrines. Cannon had been shipped down and mounted in casemates on two levels and on barbette mountings on the very top of the fort. Toward the end of 1860 the fort was basically ready for occupancy.

The American Civil War

While this fort was being built, the political situation in the U.S. was deteriorating at a rapid rate. Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, there was a call from southern political leaders to leave the union. Federal forts along the eastern seaboard in the southern states were being seized by secessionists. While Florida delegates were meeting to decide their course of action, U.S. Corps of Engineers Captain E.B. Hunt--the latest commander of the construction project at Fort Taylor--met with U.S. Artillery Captain John Brannan, Captain Meigs, the engineer in charge of the Fort Jefferson project, and Lieuts. Craven and Stanly of the U.S. Navy to discuss securing Fort Taylor and Fort Jefferson. All reasoned that the projects were too important to the Union to lose. It was decided that Craven and the Mohawk would protect Fort Jefferson while Stanly and the Wyandott would remain at Key West to protect Fort Taylor. On November 20, 1860, Brannan ordered Lieut. Webber of Battery B and 20 men to move into Fort Taylor under the guise of training on the large seacoast cannon. Capt. Hunt arrived at the fort on December 2, 1860 with another 60 laborers who all pledged their loyalty to the Union and proclaimed they would fight to hold Fort Taylor. On 11 December 1860 Brannan wrote his superior officers in Washington, D.C. for instructions. None were forthcoming and the possibility Florida leaving the Union was rapidly becoming a reality. Delegates at Tallahassee voted in early January to secede. The news reached Key West January 11, 1861.

Brannan received a letter from Capt. Hunt on 12 January 1861 requesting that Brannan assume military command of Fort Taylor. On the night of 14 January 1861, Brannon marched the remaining troops under his command at the Key West Barracks and 16 civilian laborers to Fort Taylor and secured the fort for the Union. 60 cannon had already been sent down and mounted and there were enough stores for four months. In a letter to his superiors dated 15 January 1861, Brannan requested more soldiers and supplies. On 26 January 1861 Brannan received a reply from his superiors who ordered him to secure the fort. That letter was dated 4 January 1861. Mail services had been cut off, which is why Brannan didn't receive a reply to his initial letter of 11 December 1860. All communications were now being routed through the American Consul in Havana. In the months to come, the fort received additional cannon, black powder, ammunition and supplies.

Fort Taylor was one three forts in Florida to be held by Union forces throughout the Civil War. Fort Jefferson remained in Union hands as did Fort Pickens in Pensacola. The main role of Fort Taylor during the war was to serve as headquarters for the Union Navy East Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron. Close to 300 vessels were captured by the squadron and forced to anchor in front of Fort Taylor.

Fort Taylor never saw hostile action. But once the federal troops moved in, they discovered that while the fort had formidable defenses seaward, a land attack from Key West could cause problems. The engineers hastily worked on the cover face between the island and the fort and mounted ten 8-inch Columbiad. The attack from Key West never came.

Fort Taylor 1865 - 1947

At the end of the Civil War troops that had garrisoned Fort Taylor were mustered out or ordered to other posts. Army engineers, though, remained and continued construction on the coverface. However, the project never received adequate funding and was significantly damaged in an 1875 hurricane, leading to a complete work stoppage. An Ordnance detachment also remained in the fort to maintain the cannon.

In March 1871, the Board of Engineers for Fortifications submitted a report discussing modifications to the fort. The Board recommended adding "two barbette 12-inch rifled guns, one in each of the sea bastions, removing ten of the present guns and modifying the parapet for this purpose." The report also said the main magazines should be strengthened against hostile fire. The report further stated that "the upper story of the barracks be removed, and the stories below, projecting beyond the terreplein, be covered by a flat roof of iron." The Secretary of War approved the plan in May 1871. A report to the Board of Engineers in December 1893 explained what progress had been made. "Two barbette platforms on the main work, with three sand traverses, one on each of the sea fronts, have been constructed, eighteen gun platforms were removed and the four magazines had been strengthened," the report said. These batteries held six 15-inch guns, two in the north battery and four in the south battery. As for the overall condition of the fort, the report said repointing and stuccoing were necessary, the wooden gun platforms had decayed beyond use, and the temporary wood shutters covering the Totten embrasures failed to keep out the sea water during storms. Many of the hinges for the original iron shutters were broken and rust had claimed the plates around the exterior openings of the embrasures. The brick quarters, the report said, were "in a deplorable condition." The report said a new roof was needed, as well as new doors, windows, ceilings, and "a general renewal of the floors, especially those of the upper story." There were also leaks and portions of the building were separating. The wooden part of the bridge leading from the fort to the cover face was also decaying. The earthen batteries to the north and south of the main works, constructed after the Civil War but never completed, had deteriorated beyond repair.

In 1885, President Grover Cleveland's secretary of war, William Endicott, chaired a panel that revisited the nation's harbor defense system. Known by the name of the Endicott Board, this group recommended taking a number of Civil War era fortresses that had previously defended harbors and modernizing them with concrete batteries to allow newer weapons to be mounted. These newer guns had the range to battle hostile naval forces before those forces could reach the harbors.

While Congress was enthusiastic about these new defense methods, the enthusiasm waned when it came time for appropriations. The first monies for these projects didn't become available for Fort Taylor until 1896 when the likelihood of war with Spain loomed. And, with Spain having control over Cuba, the fort once again had a mission. The New York Times reported in an August 14, 1897 story that "Fort Taylor, which commands both entrances to the harbor, is being rehabilitated throughout, and will be able to offer some resistance to a hostile fleet of ironclads." The newspaper went on to report that a subterranean mine will be excavated from the fort to the city that will be used to transport supplies to the troops or for the troops to evacuate from the fort. This mine would be one-half mile long with three openings; one at the fort, one at the quarter mile mark and one at the half mile mark. Also, according to Col. W.R. Kerr, disappearing guns would be placed on the recently improved sand batteries on either side of Fort Taylor.

Army engineers and civilian contractors began the process of converting the Civil War fort and surrounding military reservation to a more modern coastal artillery installation in early 1897. The first project would be construction of a mining casemate on the coverface. This was a fire control building for the mines that would be submerged in Key West Harbor. It was completed in late 1897 and remained in service until 1904 when it was converted to a magazine for gun cotton for the submarine mines. Also in 1897 civilian contractors would begin construction on batteries outside of the fort but located on the "Fort Taylor Reservation" on Key West. These batteries were built on the site of the old water battery at Whitehead Point, which is the geographic southernmost point in the continental U.S. They were completed, for the most part, by 1899 and emplaced with two 10-inch rifles on disappearing carriages and two 8-inch rifles mounted on disappearing carriages. These batteries were named DeLeon (for Ponce DeLeon, Spanish explorer and European discoverer of Florida) and Covington (for War of 1812 Brigadier General Leonard Covington). Construction of the mortar battery (Seminole) also began at this time.

In 1898 there was quite the activity at Battery Seminole. The New York Times reported in a dispatch dated May 28, 1898 that the artillery sergeant of the guard was shot at by three men. The newspaper said the sergeant discovered three men trying to enter the military reservation late at night. Upon the discovery the men opened fire on the sergeant with pistols. Three shots missed the soldier, but a fourth hit him in fleshy part of his left arm just above the elbow. The sergeant returned fire but the men had run out of range of his rifle. A search of the area turned up no men. Sometime after midnight the soldiers did find a carriage parked just outside the gate near the mortar battery. The men, according to the Times report, were said to be Spanish spies.

In 1893, soldiers other than engineers returned to the Key West Barracks. When war with Spain broke out in 1898, those soldiers occupied Fort Taylor. The unit that returned to the old fortress was the first to occupy it in 1861 -- Battery B, First U.S. Artillery. The soldiers remounted some of the old 15-inch Rodmans and large Parrott rifles. The declaration of war served as the motivation to complete the harbor defenses as quickly as possible. Construction on another Endicott battery was begun. Battery Gardiner (named for Captain George Washington Gardiner who was killed in action in 1835 that precipitated the Second Seminole War) was completed in 1899.

Work on the new Endicott Battery inside the fort began in 1898. These batteries would be built on the south and west face. The engineers first removed the top two tiers of the entire fort. Also, a section of the main barracks building was removed to create a new entrance into the fort. Before the newer batteries were built, the engineers took the remaining Civil War cannon and moved them into the south and west casemates. They then filled the casemates with sand, gravel and concrete. The idea would be to make the casemates strong enough to sustain bombardment and protect the new magazines. Two batteries were constructed--Battery Osceola and Battery Adair. Osceola is named for the Seminole chief against whom Colonel Zachary Taylor battled in 1836. Battery Adair was named for Lt. Lewis Adair, an infantry officer who lost his life fighting the Sioux in South Dakota in 1872. Battery Adair was constructed on top of and just behind the original casemates of the west curtain. Battery Osceola was built directly in back of the casemates of the south curtain. The batteries were completed by 1902.

Battery Adair was fitted with rapid fire three-inch guns on pedestal mounts.A seacoast mortar battery in Key West It was designed to protect Key West Harbor. But, by 1921, Battery Adair was listed on War Department maps as being abandoned. Seacoast mortars, each with a crew of a dozen men, were mounted in another battery that faced the harbor entrance. The picture on the left is a seacoast mortar battery at Battery Seminole, the remains of which are located on U.S. Navy property adjacent to Fort Taylor. Battery Seminole, Battery Osceola and Battery Adair are the only surviving structures of that era of coastal artillery in Key West.

Battery Osceola, because it faced south, was reserved for the heavier coastal artillery guns. Two 12-inch rifles were mounted here. Each piece required a crew of 43 men. It could fire a 1,000 pound round a distance of 10 miles and could be made ready to fire again within 30 seconds time. The munitions and powder for these guns was stored below. To bring up the rounds and powder, engineers had constructed a rail system along the ceiling of Battery Osceola. The rounds and powder were placed in trolleys that moved along the rail until reaching an elevator shaft. The rounds and powder were then transferred to an ammo lift in the shaft, raised up, and then transferred to another cart on the second floor where they would be moved to one of the two guns. The bottom floor of Osceola housed the magazine and storage rooms as well as the engine rooms to power the installation.

Other batteries that were built on the "Fort Taylor Reservation" included Dilworth - armed with two 3-inch rapid fire guns (named for 2LT Rankin Dilworth who died of wounds received in the Mexican War of 1846), De Kalb - armed with two 6-inch guns (named for Major General John Baron De Kalb of Bavaria who served with the Continental Army during the American Revolution) and Ford - armed with two 3-inch rapid fire guns (named for Major Mahlon Ford who served in the Revolutionary War as an Artillerist and Engineer). An additional battery (Inman) was built at the West Martello Tower and remained in service through World War II.

The coastal artillery weaponry, manned by various units of the U.S. Army's Coastal Artillery Corps and the Florida National Guard, remained at Fort Taylor and the Key West Barracks through mid-World War II. The Army then built new mounts on Battery Adair and the old north curtain of the Civil War casemates for 90mm anti-aircraft guns. Those were removed in 1947 when the Navy took over the property from the Army. In the 1919 reorganization of the artillery Fort Taylor and the Reservation became part of the IV Coast Artillery Corps, 4th Coast Artillery District. In the reorganization of 1924, it became part of the 13th Coast Artillery Regiment with headquarters at Pensacola.