Life in the Barrack

The three-story Barrack on the gorge, or landward side, of Fort Taylor was the center of daily life for soldiers, with sleeping quarters, offices, chapels, kitchens, dining rooms, tidal-flushed latrines, and an infirmary. Although Fort Taylor never came under enemy attack during the American Civil War, many there died chiefly from typhoid and yellow fevers. Units that served at Fort Taylor included Batteries A, B, F, H, and K of the 1st U.S. Artillery; the 6th, 90th, 91st, and 110th New York Volunteers; the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers; the 1st U.S. Infantry; the 2nd Florida Calvary; and the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored Troops. A call for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers sought eighty able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 40 for garrison duty at Fort Taylor in Key West, Florida, and at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas, Florida, offering a bounty of $100, with $25 paid in advance, a $4 premium upon being mustered into U.S. service, and the remaining $75 paid at the expiration of enlistment. As southern states began to secede from the Union in early 1861 and hostilities approached, Captain E.B. Hunt, chief engineer at Fort Taylor, strengthened the gorge by attaching armored grills to the ground-floor windows, converting other rooms in the Barrack into gunrooms for 8-inch Columbiads, and adding additional Columbiads and siege mortars to the third floor. The Barrack was later reduced to one story when the fort was modernized during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Key West, Florida · United States