Why Were the Florida Keys Important?

[WinterLeia]

The Union put a lot of effort in the opening months of the war to retain control of the Florida Keys. The Confederacy, at first, seemed inclined to try to wrest them away, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry elsewhere. Why were the Keys important to the Union and did the Confederacy make the right decision in not trying harder to take the forts?

 

[JerryD]

The Union put a lot of effort in the opening months of the war to retain control of the Florida Keys. The Confederacy, at first, seemed inclined to try to wrest them away, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry elsewhere. Why were the Keys important to the Union and did the Confederacy make the right decision in not trying harder to take the forts?

My guess, and its only a guess, is that it would make a good base to support the blockading fleet. However, given there were no major ports nearby that may be wrong.

 

[RedRover]

The Union put a lot of effort in the opening months of the war to retain control of the Florida Keys. The Confederacy, at first, seemed inclined to try to wrest them away, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry elsewhere. Why were the Keys important to the Union and did the Confederacy make the right decision in not trying harder to take the forts?

The forts dominated the trade routes through the "Florida straits" toward New Orleans.

At the close of December, 1860, General Scott noted to the administration...

General Scott to Major Arnold...

Scott later noted:

These forts being on islands, taking them without a naval force was impossible. The Southern Confederacy had no significant Navy to speak of in 1861 for offensive operations, besides a few privateers. The Confederacy labored mightily to form its nascent armies on the mainland around Forts Sumter and Pickens.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

The Union put a lot of effort in the opening months of the war to retain control of the Florida Keys. The Confederacy, at first, seemed inclined to try to wrest them away, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry elsewhere. Why were the Keys important to the Union and did the Confederacy make the right decision in not trying harder to take the forts?

The sea lanes between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast run through the Florida Straits. If the Union controls the 90 mile wide stretch of water between Florida and Cuba, it potentially disrupts or at least impedes Confederate shipping and blockade runners, forcing at least some of them to divert around Cuba. Additionally, Union possession of the Keys helps to enable amphibious operations aimed at New Orleans and Mobile.

Unfortunately for the Confederacy, they lacked the naval means to seize and hold the Keys which otherwise could have served as a potential shield against Union operations in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Union's defenses in the Keys were close to non-existent at the very beginning of the war, they could be reinforced fairly quickly, likely faster then the Confederacy could acquire the capacity to both attack them and hold them long-term. This failure of you want to call it that was perhaps not so much as an error as a structural weakness the Confederates simply lacked the means and times to address.

 

[milhistbuff1]

If you're ever in Key West, the Martello Tower is well worth the climb, Fort Taylor as well. Visited back in 2010.

 

[Bruce Allardice]

"Why were they important?"
Easy answer; They weren't that important. The Confederacy had no way to project sustainable power in this then-remote region of Florida. The area was bound to be dominiated by the naval power of the U.S.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

The sea lanes between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast run through the Florida Straits. If the Union controls the 90 mile wide stretch of water between Florida and Cuba, it potentially disrupts or at least impedes Confederate shipping and blockade runners, forcing at least some of them to divert around Cuba. Additionally, Union possession of the Keys helps to enable amphibious operations aimed at New Orleans and Mobile.

Unfortunately for the Confederacy, they lacked the naval means to seize and hold the Keys which otherwise could have served as a potential shield against Union operations in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Union's defenses in the Keys were close to non-existent at the very beginning of the war, they could be reinforced fairly quickly, likely faster then the Confederacy could acquire the capacity to both attack them and hold them long-term. This failure of you want to call it that was perhaps not so much as an error as a structural weakness the Confederates simply lacked the means and times to address.

Was it a matter of volume of ships taken or sunk? I've never got a straight answer on how many union ships were on station at once.

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Was it a matter of volume of ships taken or sunk? I've never got a straight answer on how many union ships were on station at once.

I have no idea, unfortunately.

 

[JeffBrooks]

They were important militarily, as coaling stations to help maintain the blockading fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a prize court there, and other administrative machinery.

But politically, they were important, too. By holding onto even a single square foot of Florida soil, the Federal government was able to maintain a psychological toehold on Southern soil, so they could say, "Our authority over the South has never been entirely removed, you know." In a sense, it's a bit like how Taiwan still holds the islands of Quemoy and Matsu off the coast of mainland China.

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

I have no idea, unfortunately.

They were important militarily, as coaling stations to help maintain the blockading fleet in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a prize court there, and other administrative machinery.

But politically, they were important, too. By holding onto even a single square foot of Florida soil, the Federal government was able to maintain a psychological toehold on Southern soil, so they could say, "Our authority over the South has never been entirely removed, you know." In a sense, it's a bit like how Taiwan still holds the islands of Quemoy and Matsu off the coast of mainland China.

All the test that they didn't own was quite the problem for them it seems.

 

[RedRover]

Was it a matter of volume of ships taken or sunk? I've never got a straight answer on how many union ships were on station at once.

The US Navy immediately before the opening of the ball had about 42 vessels all told.

As of April 12, 1861, the Southern Confederacy had a Navy Department at Montgomery, but only a handful of ships. At Pensacola, the State of Florida secured the USS Fulton, which was in poor condition. The Confederate Navy later took it over, but it was never fitted out for active service, and was destroyed when the Confederates abandoned Pensacola in 1862.

On April 18, 1861 the CSS Sumter was commissioned at New Orleans, and converted/fitted out for commerce raiding; the only major effort of the Confederate Navy in the vicinity of the Gulf in 1861:

The Sumter had to run the US Navy blockade of the mouth of the Mississippi River in the summer of 1861 to cruise against US flagged merchant vessels.


While the Confederacy labored to fit out the above vessel, the US Navy's vessels in the Gulf had full sway to establish the blockade of the Southern ports, having already aided the Army in securing Forts Taylor, Jefferson and Pickens on the Florida coast.




Fort Jefferson was somewhat indefensible, having no guns mounted. The Navy at Key West aided in carrying some heavy guns thither, and the USS Mohawk remained thereabouts to aid in the defense of the Tortugas and neighboring waters while the guns were mounted...

With Fort Taylor at Key West in Union hands, a fort which dominated the harbor and anchorage about the island, Confederate naval vessels like the Sumter could find no succor there, nor any vessel under Confederate papers. It remained a principal depot and coaling station of the US Navy throughout the war.

Among the vessels aiding in securing Key West and the Tortugas in 1861:

USS Brooklyn...

In early April, US Secretary of the Navy Welles noted that the forts being secured by the Army, the naval vessels could concentrate upon the blockade, etc.

Besides the US Navy vessels about Forts Jefferson and Taylor, there was the vessels laying off Pensacola, photographed here from about the Confederate positions opposite Fort Pickens...

After abandoning Pensacola in mid-1862, the Confederate Navy only maintained one vessel in Florida waters during the balance of the war. the steam gunboat CSS Spray, which defended the water approaches to St. Marks. Shown below (at right background) opposite the blockader USS Mohawk (left foreground)...

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

The US Navy immediately before the opening of the ball had about 42 vessels all told.

As of April 12, 1861, the Southern Confederacy had a Navy Department at Montgomery, but only a handful of ships. At Pensacola, the State of Florida secured the USS Fulton, which was in poor condition. The Confederate Navy later took it over, but it was never fitted out for active service, and was destroyed when the Confederates abandoned Pensacola in 1862.

On April 18, 1861 the CSS Sumter was commissioned at New Orleans, and converted/fitted out for commerce raiding; the only major effort of the Confederate Navy in the vicinity of the Gulf in 1861:

View attachment 575184

View attachment 575185

The Sumter had to run the US Navy blockade of the mouth of the Mississippi River in the summer of 1861 to cruise against US flagged merchant vessels.


While the Confederacy labored to fit out the above vessel, the US Navy's vessels in the Gulf had full sway to establish the blockade of the Southern ports, having already aided the Army in securing Forts Taylor, Jefferson and Pickens on the Florida coast.




Fort Jefferson was somewhat indefensible, having no guns mounted. The Navy at Key West aided in carrying some heavy guns thither, and the USS Mohawk remained thereabouts to aid in the defense of the Tortugas and neighboring waters while the guns were mounted...

View attachment 575194



View attachment 575187

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With Fort Taylor at Key West in Union hands, a fort which dominated the harbor and anchorage about the island, Confederate naval vessels like the Sumter could find no succor there, nor any vessel under Confederate papers. It remained a principal depot and coaling station of the US Navy throughout the war.

Among the vessels aiding in securing Key West and the Tortugas in 1861:

View attachment 575189

View attachment 575190
View attachment 575191

USS Brooklyn...

View attachment 575192


In early April, US Secretary of the Navy Welles noted that the forts being secured by the Army, the naval vessels could concentrate upon the blockade, etc.

View attachment 575195

Besides the US Navy vessels about Forts Jefferson and Taylor, there was the vessels laying off Pensacola, photographed here from about the Confederate positions opposite Fort Pickens...

View attachment 575193


After abandoning Pensacola in mid-1862, the Confederate Navy only maintained one vessel in Florida waters during the balance of the war. the steam gunboat CSS Spray, which defended the water approaches to St. Marks. Shown below (at right background) opposite the blockader USS Mohawk (left foreground)...

View attachment 575196

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Thanks. The CSS Spray remained a thorn in the US Navy's side until the end of the war. At one point they tried to get up the St Marks to destroy her. That didn't work out.

She put a landing party at Natural Bridge. With a couple marines along no less. She surrendered at the end of the war. Not bad fjr just the one ship.

 

[RedRover]

Thanks. The CSS Spray remained a thorn in the US Navy's side until the end of the war. At one point they tried to get up the St Marks to destroy her. That didn't work out.

She put a landing party at Natural Bridge. With a couple marines along no less. She surrendered at the end of the war. Not bad fjr just the one ship.

There weren't any CS Marine Corps personnel aboard the Spray. When the crew were dispatched to join the Army in the Natural Bridge campaign, they were armed with muskets, and informally referred to as "marines" by General Miller etc.

Not uncommon. The Confederate sailors in a James River expedition late in the war were similarly referred to as "marines" by the soldiers.

"a body of foot soldiers clad in dark blue, with burnished guns at the right shoulder shift, steadily advancing southward. This was enormously puzzling! Why would federal infantry be advancing south at that moment? And there was something singular in the uniforms and equipment of the men--very unlike federals. Their coats were navy blue, of unfamiliar cut; and they had cutlasses apparently in their belts...The men in blue were a battalion of Confederate marines." [John Esten Cooke, Wearing of the Gray, New York, E.B. Treat & Co., 1867, 557-558.]

By "marines" he means naval types, etc. acting as a body of soldiers. From Webster's Dictionary, 1845, "Marine" as an adjective and a noun...

Anyways, many of the CSS Spray's crewmen in 1865 had been transferred to it from Army service. No doubt familiar with common infantry drill, etc.

The Confederate Marine Corps was very small.

 

[51st Georgia]

Control the Keys, control Margaritaville. It's just that simple

 

[ColonelBuckwalter]

There weren't any CS Marine Corps personnel aboard the Spray. When the crew were dispatched to join the Army in the Natural Bridge campaign, they were armed with muskets, and informally referred to as "marines" by General Miller etc.

Not uncommon. The Confederate sailors in the James River expedition of 1865 were similarly referred to as "marines" by the soldiers.

"a body of foot soldiers clad in dark blue, with burnished guns at the right shoulder shift, steadily advancing southward. This was enormously puzzling! Why would federal infantry be advancing south at that moment? And there was something singular in the uniforms and equipment of the men--very unlike federals. Their coats were navy blue, of unfamiliar cut; and they had cutlasses apparently in their belts...The men in blue were a battalion of Confederate marines." [John Esten Cooke, Wearing of the Gray, New York, E.B. Treat & Co., 1867, 557-558.]

By "marines" he of means sailors, acting as a body of soldiers. From Webster's Dictionary, 1845, "Marine" as an adjective and a noun...

View attachment 575212


Anyways, many of the CSS Spray's crewmen in 1865 had been transferred to it from Army service. No doubt familiar with common infantry drill, etc.

The Confederate Marine Corps was very small.

View attachment 575203

Control the Keys, control Margaritaville. It's just that simple

I hadn't even thought of that. Lost shaker of salt? Death of the Confederacy.

 

[RedRover]

I hadn't even thought of that. Lost shaker of salt? Death of the Confederacy.

Indeed!

 

[35th MA InfRegt]

Indeed!

View attachment 575284

Salt has been a strategic resource since ancient times. Incidentally, that book looks familiar to me. I think I may have at least skimmed it years ago. And by years, I mean about forty of them.

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

First, let's note what the Keys were like in 1861, because it is very different than today.

Key West was the largest city in Florida yet the island itself was smaller in area that it is today. There was a naval station (which came to include HQ of the East Gulf Blockade Squadron), customs house, Admiralty court, and Fort Taylor. Lighthouses marked the island and the northwest channel into the harbor.

To the west were the Dry Tortugas with Fort Jefferson and a major seacoast lighthouse.

Three major seacoast lighthouses marked the Florida Reef then, all 6-8 miles from dry land: Sand Key, Sombrero Key, Carysfort Reef. How important were lighthouses in the Florida Keys? The largest job sector was wreck salvage.

The Florida Straits are less than a hundred miles wide in most places and are a vital international shipping lane even today. All Union operations on the Gulf Coast had to pass through there as did Confederate blockade runners heading to the Bahamas unless they took a longer course around the south side of Cuba. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, then Spanish, which meant an excellent base for the Union Navy to intercept blockade runners headed there.

There were no roads or railroads or bridges between the islands. Practically no permanent habitation between Miami and Key West.

Miami was tiny. Naples didn't exist and Fort Myers was tiny. Most of Florida's population was located at the north end of the state. The population of Key West was a mix of Northerners, Southerners, and Bahamians with a few Cubans and other random foreign sailors in the mix.

There were Confederate sympathizers. Escapees from Key West formed the Key West Avengers company of one of the Florida infantry regiments.

But Confederate attempt to capture Key West would have been stupid verging on delusional. There were no ships to get Confederate soldiers there or defeat the Union Navy, no troops available, no way to supply the troops once there.

 

[Bruce Allardice]

Key West had 2,800 residents in 1860. It would be classified as a small town today.
The Confederacy never had a chance of controlling it, unless the Union navy magically disappeared.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

The Union put a lot of effort in the opening months of the war to retain control of the Florida Keys. The Confederacy, at first, seemed inclined to try to wrest them away, but then decided they had bigger fish to fry elsewhere. Why were the Keys important to the Union and did the Confederacy make the right decision in not trying harder to take the forts?

Any efforts that the Confederacy put into holding the Keys would have been futile, a waste of time and effort, as the Union ships would have easily dominated the situation.