Fort Denaud, Florida

History

The fort was situated next to the Caloosahatchee River, 27 miles (43 km) east of Fort Myers. The fort was first established in 1837 as a supply depot during the Second Seminole War. It was named in honor of Pierre Denaud, a French-Canadian trapper who had owned the land and had traded skins and hides with the Seminole prior to the Seminole War. The fort was reoccupied and was more tactically significant during the Third Seminole War, where it served as a headquarters for several companies of federal troops and as a middle point on the Caloosahatchee river between Fort Myers and Lake Okeechobee. In December 1854, Brevet Major William Hays took command of three companies from the 2nd Artillery Regiment serving in the area. In January 1855, he moved most of his men to Fort Denaud and established it as his operational base and headquarters. From there, patrols were sent out into Big Cypress Swamp to map out Indian villages as well as along Fisheating Creek. A sketch from 1855 shows that Fort Denaud was connected to a fort opposite the Caloosahatchee called Fort T.B. Adams by a boat bridge. On January 18, 1856, a small army detachment was attacked on the river near Denaud and all but one of the soldiers were killed.

From the History section of Fort Denaud, Florida on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.