The African American Experience at Fort Jefferson 1847-1876
Pirtle J, Smith GC, Reed MB. 2019. The African American Experience at Fort Jefferson 1847-1876. Historic Resource Study. Dry Tortugas National Park. Homestead, Florida
This study, a partial HRS (Historic Resource Study) for Dry Tortugas National Park (DRTO) examines the developmental history of its most prominent feature, Fort Jefferson, highlighting its important context as a military site and its role within the nation’s Third System of coastal defense constructed in the early 1800s. In particular, this HRS focuses solely on the African American experience at Fort Jefferson between 1847 and 1876. African Americans played a significant role in the fort’s history as slaves, freedmen, soldiers, and prisoners, and this study addresses their contribution directly through primary and secondary research. The narrative is divided into chapters that speak to each of these layers of the African American experience at Fort Jefferson on Garden Key. Research suggests that no African Americans came of their own volition; either military orders or servitude brought them to Garden Key. Enslaved African Americans formed the core of the fort’s labor force during the construction period from 1847 to 1863, and research for this study sought to identify who they were and their daily lives at the remote Union fort where their labor was leased to the Army engineers and they lived among a diverse crowd of other workers and Union soldiers from the northeast. The Emancipation Proclamation would change their status in 1863 when the fort’s black labor force would change from slaves to freedmen and women. Chapter 1 contains what little is known about this pivotal event and its impact. Chapter 2 discusses the occupation of the 82nd United States Colored Infantry garrisoned at the fort for a five-month period between September 1865 and January 1866. This is followed in Chapter 3 by a summary of what is known about African American prisoners jailed at Fort Jefferson. The final chapter summarizes future research avenues for further study and exploration.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Pirtle, Jennifer; Smith, Greg; Reed, Mary
- Date of Issue
- 2019
- Publisher
- Dry Tortugas National Park
- Units
- DRTO
- Keywords
- 82nd USCI, African American Experience, Black Soldiers, Civil War, Coastal Defense, DRTO, Dry Tortugas National Park, Emancipation, Escape, Florida, Florida Keys, Fort Jefferson, Garden Key, Garden Key Lighthouse, Key West, Monroe County, National Park Service, NPS, Prison, Prisoner, Race, Race Relations, Racism, Samuel Mudd, Slavery, Slaves, U.S. Colored Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops, USCI, USCT, Yellow Fever