Civil War Fort with Yellow Fever Graves in Key West
601 Howard England Way, Key West, FL 33040
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
$6 per vehicle (up to 8 people); $4.50 single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle. Monroe County surcharge included.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved paths and compacted surfaces within the park; sandy beach area
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1845 · Civil War · Yellow Fever Epidemic · National Historic Landmark · Union Military Occupation
Construction of Fort Zachary Taylor began in 1845, commissioned by the U.S. government to anchor a chain of fortifications defending the southeastern coastline after the War of 1812 exposed the nation's coastal vulnerabilities. The building proceeded slowly — yellow fever swept through the garrison repeatedly, and material shortages compounded the delay. The fort was not completed until 1866.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Union Captain John Milton Brannan acted quickly, seizing control of the fort before Confederate sympathizers could claim it for the South. His move proved strategically significant: Fort Taylor became a base for interdicting blockade runners attempting to supply Confederate ports and represented the Union's firm hold on the Florida Keys throughout the conflict.
The fort's most somber chapter was disease, not combat. Yellow fever killed dozens — and by some accounts far more — of the soldiers stationed there during the antebellum and wartime years. Historical accounts and the fort's archival records indicate the presence of mass graves beneath the parade ground, where fever victims were interred in conditions that made individual burial impractical. The fort was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973, and subsequent archaeological work has confirmed the scale of the site's military history, including the discovery of an extraordinary quantity of sealed Civil War ordnance that ranks it as the largest such collection in the country.
Today, Florida State Parks administers the property as Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, incorporating the fort into a broader recreation area that includes Key West's most popular public beach.
Sources
The figure of Wendall has been seen by multiple workers at Fort Zachary Taylor, and his identity was reportedly confirmed during a guided tour when relatives who had come to see the fort produced a photograph — and recognized the apparition they had encountered as a kinsman who died of yellow fever during the Civil War. His image has also been captured in photographs taken on the grounds.
The mass graves beneath the parade ground — where yellow fever victims were interred during the fort's antebellum and wartime years — are the source of most of the reported activity. A young girl with visible burn injuries has been reported near what remains of the old hospital area, though no historical documentation connects a specific individual to this account. Staff and investigators over the years have noted that the concentration of deaths from fever, accidents, and self-inflicted wounds on the small island fort creates an unusually dense record of human loss for a site of its size.
Photographic anomalies have been reported by multiple visitors and investigators over the years, with images showing unexplained forms that have not been attributed to optical defects or lighting conditions. The fort's enclosed brick corridors and subterranean chambers contribute acoustically to the sense of occupancy the site produces in visitors who arrive early or stay late.
Notable Entities
Walk through the massive 19th-century brick fortification — the same parade ground where yellow fever victims may still rest in mass graves — and study interpretive panels covering the Civil War and Spanish-American War. The fort holds the largest cache of Civil War armaments in the United States.
The southernmost state park in Florida extends to a popular beach offering swimming, snorkeling, and picnicking. The third weekend of each month, costumed re-enactors conduct historic demonstrations on the fort grounds.
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