Fort Jefferson (Florida)

Fort Jefferson Prison
Fort Jefferson Prison
Part of American Civil War prison camps
Dry Tortugas, Florida, U.S.
Type	Union Prison Camp
Site information
Owner	U.S. Government
Controlled by	Union Army
Site history
Built	1861
In use	September 1861 – April 1, 1869
Battles/wars	American Civil War
Garrison information
Past; commanders	Colonel Bill Wilson
Occupants	Union soldiers, Confederate prisoners of war, civilians

	Fort Jefferson National Monument
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. Historic district
	Aerial view of Garden Key and Fort Jefferson
	Interactive map outlining the fort
Location	Dry Tortugas, Florida, 68 miles (109 km) west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico
Area	47.125 acres (19.071 ha)
Built	1847
NRHP reference No.	70000069
Added to NRHP	November 10, 1970

Fort Jefferson is a former U.S. military coastal fortress in the Dry Tortugas National Park of Florida. It is the largest brick masonry structure in the Americas,^[2]^[3] covering 16 acres (6.5 ha) and made with over 16 million bricks.^[4] Among United States forts, only Fort Monroe in Virginia and Fort Adams in Rhode Island are larger. The fort is located on Garden Key in the lower Florida Keys within the Dry Tortugas, 68 miles (109 km) west of the island of Key West. The Dry Tortugas are part of Monroe County in Florida.

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
^ "Dry Tortugas National Park (U.S. National Park Service)".
^ Trips: Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park
^ Florida guide, p. 205.

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[2] "Dry Tortugas National Park (U.S. National Park Service)".

[3] Trips: Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park

[FOOTNOTEFlorida_guide205-4] Florida guide, p. 205.

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