Forts in Florida

This guide from the State Library of Florida explores the history of forts in Florida through major conflicts, such as the Seminole Wars and the Civil War.

Materials are generally available through interlibrary loan or from our circulating collection.

Links within the bibliographies take you to information in our State Library catalog or to more information on external sites.

Books and publications

Baker, Henry Alexander. Archaeological Investigations at Fort George, Pensacola, Florida. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Division of Archives, History and Records Management, 1975.
Bennett, Charles Edward. Laudonnière & Fort Caroline: History and Documents. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2001.
Bense, Judith Ann, editor. Presidio Santa Maria De Galve: A Struggle for Survival in Colonial Spanish Pensacola. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003.
Carlisle, Rodney P., and Loretta Carlisle. Forts of Florida: A Guidebook. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2012.
Deagan, Kathleen A., and Darcie A. MacMahon. Fort Mose: Colonial America’s Black Fortress of Freedom. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1995.
De Quesada, A. M. A History of Florida Forts: Florida’s Lonely Outposts. History Press, 2006.
Florida Department of Military Affairs, and Gay Cooper. St. Francis Barracks History, 1578-1962; Post Commanders, 1878-1900. St. Augustine, FL: 1980s.
Manucy, Albert C. The Fort at Frederica. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Department of Anthropology, 1962.
Reid, Thomas. America’s Fortress: A History of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006.
Schene, Michael G. History of Fort Foster. Tallahassee, FL: Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties, 1974.

Smith, Hale Gilliam. Fort San Carlos. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Department of Anthropology, 1971.
Spencer, Donald D. Florida at War: Forts and Battles. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2011.
Stockel, H. Henrietta. Shame & Endurance: The Untold Story of the Chiricahua Apache Prisoners of War. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 2004.
Van Blarcom, Ralph. Seminole War Artifacts & A History of the Forts of Florida. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2011.
Welsh, Herbert. The Apache Prisoners in Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Florida. Philadelphia, PA: Office of the Indian Rights Association, 1887.

Covington, James W. “Life at Fort Brooke 1824-1836.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 36.4 (1958): 319–30.
Davis, T. Frederick. “Fort Caroline.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 12.2 (1933): 77–83.
Dibble, Ernest F. “Giveaway Forts: Territorial Forts and the Settlement of Florida.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 78.2 (1999): 207–33.
Eidson, Scott. “In Search of Community: Historic Preservation and the Quest to Recover Fort Gatlin.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 81.1 (2002): 68–78.
Laumer, Frank. “This Was Fort Dade.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 45.1 (1966): 1–11.
Monaco, Chris. “Fort Mitchell and the Settlement of the Alachua Country.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 79.1 (2000): 1–25.
Schene, Michael G. “Fort Foster: A Second Seminole War Fort.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 54.3 (1976): 319–39.
Shores, Venila Lovina. “The Ruins of Fort San Luis Near Tallahassee.” Florida Historical Society Quarterly, 6.2 (1927): 111–16.
Solomon, Irvin D. “Southern Extremities: The Significance of Fort Myers in the Civil War.” Florida Historical Quarterly, 72.2 (1993): 129–52.
Young, Rogers W. “Fort Marion During the Seminole War, 1835-1842.” Florida Historical Society Quarterly, 13.4 (1935): 193–223.

Bradford, T. G., and George W. Boynton. Map of Florida, 1838. Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
Florida Historical Records Survey. Sketch of the Military Reserve, Fort Brooke.
Hancock, I. Fort Myers, Florida, May 16th, 1856.
Langdon, Richard. Sketch of Fort Pickens, Florida, 1861.
Lucas, F. Lucas’s Florida, 1822. Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.