The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-01-22
IN THE DRY ToRTuGAs.
Fort Jefferson's History and Present Use
fulness AS u Station.

TO the announcement that a board of
navy and army officers is to examine
Fort Jefferson, on Garden Key, in the
Dry Tortugas, with view to rehabili-
tating it and to founding naval sta
tion there. There are ten low-lying is
lands, partly covered with mangrove
bushes, and the group lies about 100
miles southwest of the end of the Flor
ida mainland.
Unlike nearly or quite all our other
defensive works, Fort jefferson was not
designed to protect an important city.
1t rs perhaps the most conspicuous ex-
ample to be found of our fortifying
a purely strategic position, for Key
West has some intrinsic consequence
as a'town. In the Dry Tortugas what
we have of value is one of the finest,
most commedious and safest harbors
OF the southern coast, and it is desired
both to make it available for ourselves
and TO prevent it from being seized
as the sheltering haven and the base
of an enemy.
A round half-century has elapsed
|
under President Polk, with jefferson
Davis as secretary of war. 1t is one
OF the largest works in the United
States, covering the greater part of Gar
den Key, and was originally designed
if we do not mistake, for about 400
guns, although only part were mount
ed; and it cost about $5,000,000. 1t was
seen then, as now, that an enemy's fleet,
obtaining the harbor of the Dry Tortu-
gas as base, might control both the
Florida straits and the Yucatan chan
mel. For this reason it has shared
with Key West the reputation of being
the military key of the Gulf of Mexico
During the civil war Fort Jefferson
was used as military prison, but when,
in the reaction after the war, post after
post on the seaboard lost its garrison,
and was even suffered to fall into de-
cay, Fort jefferson followed this fate.
1t attracted attention for time as the
place of confinement for DR.. Mudd,
whose life sentence was RENTED after
his valuable service during the yellow
fever scourge of 1868, When the sur
geons Of the station succumbed. Then
1t became, as it is to-day, quarantine
station; and this use of it is according
to report made by the inspector-gen-
erals department a few years ago, an
obstacle to its reoccupation.
In that report it was urged that the
harbor Of the Dry Tortugas has been
for years "a tempting and easy prize
for the audacious," and that lowing to
its isolation and accessibility, we might
have lost it at any time during the in
terval without knowing, until too late.
that 1t had passed out of our possess
sion." Its real value as a naval allxili-
airy would have become apparent in the
effort to recapture it.
1t is noticeable that in the list of the
81 principal ports requiring defense.
compiled by the Notifications board of
1885, the harbor of the Dry Tortugas
is not included. But that is not a point
against it, as even Puget sound was
not found in the list Several years ago
zen. Howard advised the reoccupation
OF Fort Jefferson; and the present move
ment is founded on the desirability OF
getting a more sheltered and deeper
harbor than Key West for naval coal
ing station in that region. The Dry
Tortugas, lying about 60 miles to thu
west, furnish, it is believed, such har-
Dor. and, at all events, on this point the
board will report.
Twenty years or more must have
passed since the garrison of Fort JEFF
ferson, after being reduced in 1870, was
withdrawn altogether. The marine
hospital service, which then took pos
session of it, naturally kept up only
what it's own accommodations needed,
and the account given by the army in
speeding officers a few years ago as to
its military condition was discourag.
ing:
Rotten gun carriages, cracked bas-
lions. rusty guns-in fact, general de
cay-were apparent on all sides. The
brick work throughout needed, and still
needs, repairing. All the bastions had
cracked and settled, and there were
thousands of lineal feet of cracks in
other parts of the walls. Many of the
classmates leaked, and the moisture had
caused an excessive formation Of sta
lactites. Nearly all the embrasures of
the two tiers of classmates had been en-
larged SO as nearly to equal in width
the span of the arches. 1t is said that
this mutilation of the fort was done
by the troops during the fever epidemic
of 1868.
"The six wooden platform for the
15-inch guns in barbette are in ruins
through decay. The other barbette
platforms are Of old pattern, but with
four-inch pintles. Whether they would
withstand the shock of full-service
charges cannot be definitely settled, but
probably not"
II the Dry Tortugas should be turned
into naval coaling base, the hospital
would doubtless be removed and a
wharf built. Probably many Of the
buildings could be repaired and made
useful, both for naval purposes and for
the artillery garrison that would be sta
toned there. Fort Jefferson is of the
old type, as are the guns now mounted
there; but the condition of 25 ten-inch
guns was found by the inspectors to be
good, and it would be easy to supple
ment the old ordnance by some modern
high-power guns and mortars, so as TO
| give the station an adequate defense
Y. Y. Sun.
FASHION NOTES.
The Popular Modes and Materials for