Resources

The following is a select bibliography of important works on the history of Key West and Fort Taylor.

Browne, Jefferson B. Key West: The Old and the New. (Key West, FL 1912. Excellent overview of Key West history from 1822 to 1912.

Camp, Vaughan, Jr., “Captain Brannan’s Dilemma: Key West 1861,” Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida 20 (1960), 31-43. Civil War

England, Howard S., with Ida Barron, Fort Zachary Taylor; “A Sleeping Giant Awakens”: A Pictorial Story of the Far Outpost on the Island Known as Key West Where Brave Men Lived and Died for the Preservation of Freedom and the Union (Key West, FL: Howard S. England, 1977).  3rd Edition, 2015.

England, Jennifer K. with Edward L. England, Digging Into History: One Man’s Journey of Discovery (Fairborn, OH: England Historical Enterprises LLC, 2014).  Howard England’s 16 ½ years of discoveries at Fort Taylor.

Foster, William H., “This Place Is Safe; Engineer Operations at Fort Zachary Tay­lor, Florida 1845-1865,” (Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Florida State University, 1974). Construction of Fort Taylor and Martello Towers.

Gaines, William C., “The Coastal and Harbor Defenses of Key West, Florida,” CDSG Journal: The Quarterly Publication of the Coast Defense Study Group 7 (November 1993), 21-30.

Keister, John L., “Fort Taylor, Fla., Claims Largest Amount of Civil War Armament,” The Muzzle loading Artilleryman 12 (Summer 1991), 11-13.

Leslie, Candace, “Florida’s Furthermost Forts,” The Retired Officer 43 (August 1987), 26-29. Forts Taylor and Jefferson.

Maloney, Walter C. A Sketch of the History of Key West. (Newark, NJ, 1876).  The original history of Key West written by Judge Maloney for presentation on July 4, 1876.

Roth, Clayton D., “150 Years of Defense Activity in Key West, 1820-1970,” Te­questa: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida 30 (1970),33-51.

Roth, Clayton D., “The Military Utilization of Key West and the Dry Tortugas From 1822 to 1900,” Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Miami, 1970.

Sasser, Michael, “The North’s Southernmost Outpost,” America’s Civil War 7 (November1994), 58-64. Key West, FL, including Fort Taylor and the Mar­tello Towers.

Schellings, William L., “Key West and the Spanish American War,” Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida 20 (1960), 19-29.

Slattery, J. R, “Quartermaster and Submarine Mine Wharf at Key West, Fla.,” Pro­fessional Memoirs, Corps of Engineers, United States Army and Engineer Department 7 (November-December 1915), 663-71.

Schmidt, Lewis, Keys and Fevers, Volume III of the Civil War in Florida Series (Allentown, PA, 1992).  Excellent summary of the Florida Keys in the years 1860-1865.  Excerpts of Schmidt’s Key West in the Civil War are also available on the Florida Keys Sea Heritage Journal at http://keywestmaritime.org/
journal.htm
.  Consult the Index on this page for articles entitled “Key West in the Civil War – Parts 1 through 9.”

Weaver, John R. II, A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System – 1816 to 1867.

Wilder, John Augustus, “Key West in the Summer of 1864,” edited by Millicent Todd Bingham, The Florida Historical Quarterly 43 (January 1965), 262-65. Civil War.

Williams, Ames W., “Stronghold of the Straits: A Short History of Fort Zach­ary Taylor,” Tequesta: The Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida 14 (1954), 3-24.