Fort Jefferson

Six million dollars have been set aside by the Federal government for restoration of Fort Jefferson.  The largest brick structure in the western hemisphere has started to crumble at places on two of the six walls.  Two crews are working to save the structure, brick by brick.

Stone masons working on the restoration project are impressed by the workmanship on Fort Jefferson,  which was built by U.S. army soldiers, slaves, and during the Civil War, Union deserters.  The archways in particular are of fine workmanship and few masons could make them today.  Consider also that everything was carried to Garden Key by boat, and Key West is 70 miles away.  It’s even impressive that today’s restoration crews are working such a remote site, with the nearest hardware store so far away!

The mason work done on Fort Jefferson was of such fine quality that much of the fort would be in great shape if it weren’t for iron structures built into the brick.  In spite of 150 years of salt water corrosion and high winds, the bricks are in fine shape.  It’s the iron that expanded and cracked the surrounding bricks and mortar.

Crews are working carefully to re-use as many bricks as they can.  Other bricks will come from a factory in Louisiana that makes bricks from a press dating back to 1860.

The original lighthouse at Fort Jefferson was built forty years before construction on Fort Jefferson was even begun.  In 1826 a lighthouse was built on Garden Key, the future site of Fort Jefferson, to warn sailors of the shallow waters.  This was several years after the U.S. gained Florida from the Spanish.

The light was not sufficient, however, and the government received many complaints about its inadequacy.  The original lightkeeper didn’t keep the windows clean enough and the buildup of soot obscured the light.  More lights were added but there were still complaints.

A new, taller lighthouse was built three miles west of Garden Key, on Loggerhead Key.  The old lighthouse was downgraded and called the Tortugas Harbor Lighthouse.

In 1873 the lighthouse at Fort Jefferson was badly damaged so they built a new one.  The new one was ironclad and still stands today.  In 1921 there was no longer need for the light so it was discontinued.

Dry Tortugas has long been known as a critical location for ship navigators.  Ships passing from the Mississippi River who wanted to reach the Eastern seaboard had to swing down and out around the Florida Keys, and Dry Tortugas marked the edge of this route. A lighthouse at Dry Tortugas was built and completed in 1826.  Today there’s an iron lighthouse within the brick walls of Fort Jefferson, where the original once stood.  This marked the spot where ships could run aground as well as where they should turn to navigate to and from the Gulf of Mexico.

Militarily, whoever controlled the Dry Tortugas also controlled the Gulf of Mexico. Fort Jefferson was a gateway to the Gulf of Mexico, and was therefore dubbed Gibraltar of the Gulf.

Fort Jefferson was an important outpost for the United States in other ways as well.  It was from this fort and the good harbor behind it, that ships could weather a storm, get repairs, and load up on coal.

At the start of the Civil War, Fort Jefferson was a valuable asset for the Union.  The Union navy had only two bases in the South: Fort Jefferson in Key West and another in Virginia.  The Confederacy contained 3,500 miles of coastline.  The Union needed to patrol these areas  in order to maintain a blockade and this was no easy task given they had only these two bases.

Fort Jefferson was therefore very important, serving as a place where Union ships could recharge, get supplies and make repairs.  With so much coastline to patrol, Union ships spent almost as much time going to and from the bases as they did on actual patrol duty. Blockade runners had great odds at first, more often than not making it through the blockade to get goods in and out of the Confederacy’s ports.

As the number of Union blockade ships grew and as the Union captured more bases in the South, the importance of Fort Jefferson faded a bit, until it became mostly a prison for Union deserters.