Fort Taylor (2)

Fort Taylor (2) (1846-1947) - Construction of this Third System fort began in Jun 1845 and was essentially complete in 1866. Named for Zachary Taylor and also known as Fort Zachary Taylor. Declared surplus and turned over to the Navy in 1947.

Fort Taylor 1872, by Seth Eastman	Fort Taylor from the land side 1861
Fort Taylor North Casemates and Barracks	Fort Taylor South East Bastion

Fort Taylor History

Fort Taylor Lower Casemates

Fort Taylor was designed as a three tiered, double casemated, Third System brick and masonry fort in the shape of a trapezoid. The land face was 495' long and the seaward curtains were 255' long each. There were four bastions, three seaward facing curtains and one land facing gorge.

The fort was located off shore about 1000' on the southwestern side of Key West Island, Florida.

The landward side of the fort was to be protected by a large casemated coverface located on Key West itself, directly across from the fort with a drawbridge connecting them. The coverface was to have mounted 48 guns but was never built.

Fort Taylor Barracks

Construction began in Jun 1845 by the end of 1860 the fort was ready for occupancy and by 1866 it was completed. When completed the Fort could mount 140 cannons and house 450 men. The armament varied over the years but by the end of the U.S. Civil War it mounted some of the largest smoothbore cannons the Union had and the best rifled Parrot guns available.

Later modifications to the fort during the Endicott Period reduced the fort to a single tier of casemates to reduce the possibility of enemy damage to the brick walls.

Key West Barracks, built in 1831, provided a support facility in Key West during the construction and garrisoning of Fort Taylor.

Martello Towers

Two Martello Towers were constructed along the eastern shore of Key West as defensive structures for the fort itself. Each tower was fronted by a casemated battery with positions for 14 guns. The towers were square structures with a single tier of two story casemates. On the top of each tower was a barbette tier with four gun emplacements.

The two towers were called Martello Tower 1 (West) and Martello Tower 2 (East). Tower 1 was located near the corner of Atlantic Blvd. and White Street. During the Endicott Period Tower 1 was modified and Battery Inman placed where the frontal casemates were originally located. Tower 2 is located at the southeastern end of South Roosevelt Blvd.

Martello Tower 1 Plan 1934

U.S. Civil War

Rodman Cannon in Casemate

Union troops secured the fort for the Union 15 Jan 1861 and by March 1861 the fort had a complement of 178 guns. Fort Taylor, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Pickens were held by Union forces throughout the U.S. Civil War. Fort Taylor served as headquarters for the Union Navy East Gulf Coast Blockading Squadron and guarded some 300 captured vessels anchored in front of the fort. Fort Taylor never saw hostile action.

Fort Taylor U.S. Civil War Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery Unnamed	6	10"	Columbiads	1861-18??
Battery Unnamed	83	8"	Columbiads	1861-18??
Battery Unnamed	42	42-Pounder		1861-18??
Battery Unnamed	11	32-Pounder	Howitzer	1861-18??
Battery Unnamed	36	24-Pounder	Howitzer	1861-18??
Source: CDSG

Endicott Period

Rodman Cannons Used as Fill

Fort Taylor was upgraded during the Endicott Period with 10 reinforced concrete gun batteries in and around the fort proper. The top two tiers of casemates were removed and two newer coastal artillery batteries were built into the South and West casemates. Battery Osceola was built into the South casemates and Battery Adair was built into the West casemates. Fill for the cavities was provided from destroyed casemates and obsolete artillery pieces. Excavations in the 1960s and 1970s recovered many of the artillery pieces now displayed and exposed others. General Order 43, 4 Apr 1900, designated the entire military reservation around the old Fort Taylor as Fort Taylor, encompassing the new batteries.

All ten batteries were started between 1897 and 1904 and all were completed by 1904 and accepted for service by 1906. Accepted for service did not necessarily mean that they were armed, and it was 1917 before all were armed. Battery Inman was built into the West Martillo Tower.

Fort Taylor Endicott Period Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery Seminole	8	12"	Mortar	1897-1903-1904-1942	Armament sold & removed 15 Dec 1944
Battery Osceola	2	12"	Barbette	1898-1899-1900-1943	Armament sold & removed 16 Oct 1944
Battery De Leon	4	10"	Disappearing	1897-1903-1904-1942	Battery destroyed 1962
Battery Covington	2	8"	Disappearing	1897-1903-1904-1917	Battery destroyed 1962
Battery De Kalb	2	6"	Pedestal	1904-1904-1906-1917	Battery destroyed 1950s
Battery Gardiner	2	4.72"	Pedestal	1898-1899-1900-1913	British Armstrong Guns Guns & Carriages to Hawaii Jul 1913 Battery destroyed 1962
Battery Ford	2	3"	Pedestal	1903-1904-1906-1946	Battery destroyed 1964
Battery Inman	2	3"	Pedestal	1904-1904-1906-1946	In West Martello Tower
Battery Dilworth	2	3"	Masking Parapet	1899-1900-1901-1920	Battery destroyed 1970s
Battery Adair	4	3"	Masking Parapet	1899-1901-1904-1920
Source: CDSG

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Fort Taylor Plan 1921

World War II

World War II brought the Coast Artillery Modernization Program to Fort Taylor and Key West. Two standard 200 series batteries, Battery 231 and Battery 232 were built and finished but Battery 231 never received it's gun tubes. The plan was to replace and deactivate Battery Seminole and Battery Osceola as soon as the two 200 series batteries were complete. Two Anti-Torpedo Motor Boat (AMTB) batteries, Battery AMTB 5 and Battery AMTB 6, were installed with the dual mission of anti-aircraft and torpedo motor boat defense. Each AMTB battery had two shielded 90mm fixed gun positions and two 90mm guns on mobile (M1A1) carriages.

In addition to these batteries, Battery Ford and Battery Inman remained operational through the end of the war. Anti-aircraft guns were install on Battery Adair in 1943 and at other locations. The guns and carriages for Battery Seminole and Battery Osceola were sold for salvage and removed in 1944. The remaining Endicott Period batteries had been deactivated by the beginning of World War II.

Additional defensive equipment including searchlights and radar were employed at Fort Taylor and sub-posts.

Fort Taylor World War II Battery (edit list)

Battery Click on Battery links below	No.	Caliber	Type Mount	Service Years	Notes
Battery 231	2	6"	LR Shielded Barbette	1943-194?	Not armed
Battery 232	2	6"	LR Shielded Barbette	1944-1946	East of Martello Tower Salt Ponds Military Reservation (airport)
Battery AMTB 5 - Fort Taylor	2 2	90mm 90mm	Fixed Pedestal Mobile	1943-1946	One emplacement on Battery Adair
Battery AMTB 6 - West Martello Tower	2 2	90mm 90mm	Fixed Pedestal Mobile	1943-1946	Near West Martello Tower
Battery 155 - Fort Taylor	4	155mm	Panama Mounts	1940-1943	2 on Battery De Leon 2 on Battery Covington
Battery 155 - West Martello Tower	4	155mm	Panama Mounts	1942-1942	Near West Martello Tower
Battery 155 - East Martello Tower	4	155mm	Panama Mounts	1943-1944	Near East Martello Tower
Source: CDSG

Current Status

The fort site was transferred to the Navy in 1947 and was used a storage yard for scrap metal. The Department of the Interior took over the property until it was deeded to the State of Florida in 1976. The fort is now a Florida State Park.

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Location: Key West, Florida Maps & Images Lat: 24.547884 Long: -81.810207 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: '

Sources:

• Weaver, John R. II, A Legacy in Brick and Stone: America Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, Redoubt Press, McLean, 2001, First Printing, ISBN 1-57510-069-X, page 151-154
• Robinson, Willard B., American Forts: Architectural Form and Function, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1977, ISBN 0-252-00589-9, page 114-115
• Kaufmann, J.E. and Kaufmann, H.W., Fortress America: The Forts That Defended America, 1600 to the Present, DaCapo Press, 2004, ISBN 0-306-81294-0, page 226,227
• Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 209-210
• Coast Defense Study Group, CDSG Press, CDSG Digital Library

Links:

• Fort Taylor
• Fort Taylor Endicott Period
• State Park Site
• Wikipedia
• Civil War Album

Visited: 27 Dec 2009

Fort Taylor (2) Picture Gallery

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  Fort Taylor Entrance Sign
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  Fort Taylor South Curtain