America's Fortress

America's Fortress PDF Author: Thomas Reid
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813030197
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 163

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Book Description
"Historian Thomas Reid chronicles the threats and challenges Fort Jefferson's troops faced, which were unlike any faced by soldiers serving elsewhere during the Civil War. Tales of epidemic disease, hurricanes, shipwrecks, prisoner escapes, and Confederate attack stand in stark contrast to "the beauty of the sunsets and the surrounding panorama of nature." Reid offers keen insight into white northerners' perceptions of slaves, slavery, and the emerging free black soldiers of the latter years of the war. He also draws on the writings of Emily Holder, wife of Fort Jefferson's resident surgeon, to offer the first female perspective on life at the fort."--BOOK JACKET.

Dry Tortugas National Park

Dry Tortugas National Park PDF Author: James A. Kushlan and Kirsten Hines
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467104213
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Isolated 70 miles west of Key West, the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park appear to arise as if by magic, floating atop the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Discovered by Juan Ponce de León over 500 years ago, Tortugas is North America's second-oldest persistent place name. The adjacent Florida Strait provided essential passageway for navies, ships of commerce, pirates, and privateers. Its reefs claimed hundreds of ships over the centuries. The nation's largest masonry fort, Fort Jefferson, secured Union control of the Florida Strait during the Civil War and served as the infamous prison for Dr. Samuel Mudd and other convicted Lincoln conspirators. Its waters, coral reefs, and aquatic life remain among the most biologically intact in North America. Seabird species nest here that nest nowhere else on the continent. The Tortugas has attracted generations of naturalists, scientists, fishermen, divers, birders, and other visitors. The islands and waters of the Dry Tortugas remain today remote, historic, and biologically pristine.

Storm Over Key West

Storm Over Key West PDF Author: Mike Pride
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1683340949
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
A few weeks after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, James Montgomery sailed into Key West Harbor looking for black men to draft into the Union army. Eager to oblige him, the military commander in town ordered every black man from fifteen to fifty to report to the courthouse, “there to undergo a medical examination, preparatory to embarking for Hilton Head, S.C.” Montgomery swept away 126 men. Storm over Key West is a little-known story woven of many threads, but its main theme is the denial to black people of the equality central to the American ideal. After the island’s slaves flocked to freedom during the summer of 1862, the white majority began a century-long campaign to deny black residents civil rights, education, literacy, respect, and the vote. Key West’s harbor and two major federal forts were often referred to as “America’s Gibraltar.” This Gibraltar guarded the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba and thus access to the Gulf of Mexico. When Union forces seized it before the war, the southernmost point of the Confederacy slipped out of Confederate hands. This led to a naval blockade based in Key West that devastated commerce in Florida and beyond.This book is the widest-ranging narrative history to date of the military bastion in the Florida Keys.

The Florida Keys a History Through Maps

The Florida Keys a History Through Maps PDF Author: Todd Turrell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578609973
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
A history of maps in the Florida Keys.

America's Fortress

America's Fortress PDF Author: THOMAS REID
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813072719
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
A little-known Civil War outpost that was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States history Known as the “American Gibraltar,” Fort Jefferson, located in the Dry Tortugas, Florida, was the most heavily armed coastal defense fort in United States history. Perceived as the nation’s leading maximum-security prison, the fort also held several of the accused conspirators in the Lincoln assassination. America’s Fortress is the first book-length, architectural, military, environmental, and political history of this strange and significant Florida landmark. This volume also fills a significant gap in Civil War history with regard to coastal defense strategy, support of the Confederacy blockade, the use of convicted Union soldiers as forced labor, and the treatment of civilian prisoners sentenced by military tribunals. Reid argues that Fort Jefferson’s troops faced very different threats and challenges than soldiers who served elsewhere during the war. He chronicles threats of epidemic tropical disease, hurricanes, shipwrecks, prisoner escapes, and Confederate attack. Reid also reports on white northerners’ perceptions of enslaved people, slavery, and the emerging free black soldiers of the latter years of the war. Drawing on the writings of Emily Holder, wife of Fort Jefferson’s resident surgeon, Reid is the first to offer a female perspective on life at the fort between 1859 and 1865. For history buffs and tourists, America's Fortress offers a fascinating account of this little-known outpost which has stood for over 160 years off the tip of the Florida Keys.

A Year in the National Parks

A Year in the National Parks PDF Author: Stefanie Payne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780692926789
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
On January 1 of 2016, Stefanie Payne, a creative professional working at NASA Headquarters, and Jonathan Irish, a photographer with National Geographic, left their lives in Washington, D.C. and hit the open road on an expedition to explore and document all 59 of America's national parks during the centennial celebration of the U.S. National Park Service - 59 parks in 52 weeks - the Greatest American Road Trip. Captured in more than 300,000 digital photographs, written stories, and videos shared by the national and international media, their project resulted in an incredible view of America's National Park System seen in its 100th year. 'A Year in the National Parks, The Greatest American Road Trip' is a gorgeous visual journey through our cherished public lands, detailing a rich tapestry of what makes each park special, as seen along an epic journey to visit them all within one special celebratory year.

At the Dry Tortugas During the War

At the Dry Tortugas During the War PDF Author: Emily Holder
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781542455855
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
At the Dry Tortugas During the War by Emily Holder, first published in 1892. The following is an account written by Emily Holder describing her memories of Fort Jefferson. As the wife of the post surgeon during the turbulent 1860s, she led a very singular life on one of the most out-of-the-way places then imaginable. As the congenial wife of a prominent member of the fort's garrison (and one of the few women on the island), she had broad access to many areas around the fort. Beginning in January 1892, her journal was published in a series of installments of The Californian Illustrated. Reproduced here, they tell the poignant and often fascinating story of the hardships, isolation and drama of daily life at the Dry Tortugas in the nineteenth-century. Among our coast defenses thirty-five or forty years ago Key West and Tortugas, Florida, were considered stations of sufficient importance for the establishment of elaborate fortifications.

The Jefferson Key

The Jefferson Key PDF Author: Steve Berry
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 9780553841428
Category : Code and cipher stories
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


A Slumbering Giant of the Past

A Slumbering Giant of the Past PDF Author: Rodman Bethel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dry Tortugas (Fla.)
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description


The History of Kentucky

The History of Kentucky PDF Author: Zachariah Frederick Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kentucky
Languages : en
Pages : 900

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Book Description