Dry Tortugas Fort
The Dry Tortugas Fort is a beautiful coastal fort that stands today as an important historical landmark. Almost thirty years in the making, from 1846 to 1875, Fort Jefferson was never even finished and was never armed to capacity. It was important, nevertheless, as part of a chain of coastal forts from Maine to Florida and to California.
The Dry Tortugas Fort is located along one of history’s busiest and most important shipping routes- the Gulf Coast and the eastern seaboard of the US. As part of the Dry Tortugas set of seven islands, it’s located on Garden Key. It’s one the largest ever built, and made quite an impression on the heavy ship traffic that passed by. The Dry Tortugas Fort was never attacked, but it helped stabilize the area when the US was a young nation.
During the Civil War, the Dry Tortugas Fort was in the hands of the Union, and therefor was used as a base from which to blockade ships involved in shipping for the South. It was also used as a prison in the Civil War era, housing Union deserters. Dr. Samuel Mudd, who tended to John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg, was imprisoned here.
The US Army abandoned the Dry Tortugas Fort in 1874 and was then used as a coaling station for warships. In 1989 the USS Maine anchored at Dry Tortugas Fort before it sailed to Cuba during the Spanish American War. In 1935 Fort Jefferson National Monument was established, and then in 1992 the seven islands became Dry Tortugas National Park.