Strong Jefferson

Located in the middle of the islands of Dry Tortugas , in the Archipelago of the Keys , the strong Jefferson is imposing a fortress coastal unfinished made up of more than 16 million bricks. It is most important construction in Maçonnerie of the hemisphere Western.

History

Between at the end of December 1824 and at the beginning of January 1825, approximately five years after the signature of the Treated of Adams-Onís, which concluded the sale from the Florida by the Spain with the the United States for 5 million dollars, the commodore American David Porter inspects the islands Dry Tortugas in the search of a site to install a naval base making it possible to fight against piracy in the the Antilles.

There little filled with enthusiasm by the places, he regards the islands Dry Tortugas as being unsuitable with the construction of such an establishment, because being only of small sand small islands hardly levelling above the sea level, not having source of drinking water, not enough offering grounds to be able to place fortifications and an insufficiently resistant basement for only supporting the weight of them.

However, of the members of the government see there an excellent site for a Phare which would make it possible to help navigation in the reefs and water neighborhood. For this reason, an small island, initially called Bush Key then later Garden Key , is selected to accommodate this project. Construction begins in 1825 and is completed in 1826. The headlight, of almost 20 meters in height, consists of bricks and a white external facing, and is accompanied by a small white maisonnette being used to accommodate the guard.

In May 1829, the commodore John Rodgers makes in his turn an evaluation of the islands Dry Tortugas as a point of anchoring. Contrary to the experiment of its predecessor, it is enchanted by the places, which it describes as being an assembly of 11 small small islands protected by coral reefs on which come to break the floods. He notices also opportunity of having an internal port and another external. The internal port offering an anchoring protected in all seasons, sufficiently important and a depth allowing to accommodate all types of ships of various sizes and in great number, compound with a narrow opening (a hundred meters).

According to him, if a hostile power were brought to occupy the islands of Dry Tortugas , that would then put largely in danger American navigation in all the gulf, unless having an absolute naval domination. On the contrary, if the Dry Tortugas occupied and were strengthened by the American army, they would then constitute a strategic advanced station for the defense of the gulf.

Follow then of many scientific studies and administrative, which lead at the end of 17 years to the beginning of the construction of Strong Jefferson (in reference to Thomas Jefferson) on the small island of Garden Key . It is then expected that the fort either built so as to include completely the headlight of Garden Key inside the fortifications, thus making it possible the headlight to continue its vital function of guidance through water of the islands of Dry Tortugas until it is replaced by a new headlight, at the top of one of the walls of the fortress, in 1876. The original brick headlight was dismounted in 1877.

The fort describes a hexagonal form irregular whose opposite sides are parallel and of the same length. Two on the sides measure approximately 99 meters, while the four others measure approximately 145 meters. With the angles advanced bastions, intended are drawn up to allow a defensive shooting along the walls. Broad Embrasure S laid out regularly accommodates the many ones and powerful parts of Artillerie, making of Strong Jefferson a theoretically impregnable and capable fortress destroy any enemy ship which would pass to range of its guns. The thick brick walls shelter in their center the hutments of the soldiers, the districts of the Officier S, the deposit of Munition S, the store, the Cantine, the cistern, like all the buildings necessary for the life and the defense of the fort.

To help with the construction of such a building, the army calls upon civil labor: Working S, Machinist S, Carpenter S, Blacksmith S, Mason S, but also with punished soldiers and slaves. In 1863, the significant growth of the number of soldiers condemned to carry out a punishment makes it possible to do without the 22 black slaves.

The strong one sheltered up to 1729 Militaire S, as well as the families of some Officier S, the personnel of maintenance, the guards of headlight and their families, the Cuisinier S a Médecin and his family, which carries the unit to approximately 2000 people.

The fort remained with the hands of the confederated during all the American Civil War. With the end of the hostilities in 1865, the population of the fort fell to 1013 people, including 486 soldiers and Civil S and 527 Prisonnier S, for the majority of the deserters.

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