Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Dec. 28, 1860: The Sad Shape of Forts Taylor and Jefferson in Florida

Continuing with Winfield Scott's letter to the Secretary of War.

Scott said that Forts Taylor and Jefferson were "of far greater value to even the distant points of the Atlantic coast and to the people on the upper waters of the Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers than to the State of Florida.

"There is only a feeble company at Key West (Capt. John Brannon's) for the defense of Fort Taylor, and not a soldier at Fort Jefferson to resist a handful of filibusters or a rowboat of pirates; and the Gulf, soon after the beginning of secession or revolutionary troubles in the adjacent States, will swarm with such nuisances."

Things Looking Bleak in Florida.  --Old B-Runner

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