LIVING HISTORY
The detachment, traveling
aboard small boats, camped
on the sand below the bluff
while building the fort, which
is about a mile south of what
today is downtown Fort
Pierce. The location had a crucial
feature that attracted the
Army, says Lucille Rieley
Rights, historian and author of
“A Portrait of St. Lucie
County, Florida.”
“I’m sure it was picked
because there was a freshwater
spring there that provided
drinking water,” she said.
“There’s a culvert there now
that looks like it could have
been where the spring was.”
A journal writer praised the
site because of the bounty
available in the river, such as
trout that were two to three
feet long, and oysters big
enough so that a half dozen
would make a meal for a
hungry soldier. “A whole
army could have been fed
from the richness of the
river,” Rights wrote.
A drawing of the fort from
1839 shows a picket fence
running along the river bluff,
a location that would have
made it difficult for intruders
to scale. The drawing shows
a blockhouse and hospital on
the south side of the fort, just
outside the pickets. Various
officer and company quarters
are arranged in a long rectangle
going north and south.
An entrance on the fort’s
west side connected it to military
roads hacked by the
army to connect military
outposts. A large pond also
was shown on the west
side of the fort, though no
evidence of such a pond
exists today.
THE MOUND
Another feature that may
have made the site attractive
for a fort was a 50-
foot-high mound of dirt
and shell that provided a
panoramic view of the
area. The survey by the
Archeological and
Historical Conservancy
revealed that the mound A view from the river looking onto Old Fort Park, where a freshwater stream flows into the river.
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Lt. Col. Benjamin Pierce, brother of U.S. President Franklin
Pierce, ordered the detachment of a party to create a fort on
the Indian River. Men under his command named it for their
worthy commander. This 1839 drawing shows the layout of
the fort. An infirmary outside the fort is on the south side. A
blockhouse is at the entrance and various officer and company
quarters are arranged around the square. To the west, the
drawing shows a pond, which is no longer in existence.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY
HISTORICAL MUSEUM