LIVING HISTORY
SHERMAN AT THE FORT
The fort was intended to become the official headquarters
of the Army of the South — and for three days, it was —
with the arrival on horseback of commanding General
Thomas Jesup and his troops on Jan. 14, 1838.
“Fort Piece’s importance was short-lived, however, for a few
days after his arrival Jesup decamped for the interior with the
mounted troops,” former state archaeologist Carl Clausen
wrote in “The Fort Pierce Collection.” The focus of the war
was moving south, and activity at Fort Pierce declined.
At least one notable from history, William Tecumseh
Sherman, was stationed at Fort Pierce. Sherman, a lieutenant
at the time, was credited with negotiating a peace settlement
with the Seminole leader Coacoochee, also known as Wild
Cat. The Army considered Wild Cat the most dangerous
chieftain in the field. Before his capture, he had several meetings
at Fort Pierce, including one with Sherman. The future
Civil War general was so wary of Coacoochee that he refused
to get off his horse, according to reports from the St. Lucie
County Historical Museum.
When the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, Fort Pierce
was decommissioned but had a second act. The Armed
Occupation Act of 1842 allowed settlers to survey and claim
land in the Florida peninsula. The first permit went to a
physician named Frederick Weedon, and he turned parts of
the old fort into a hotel of sorts for other settlers. It became a
trading post, too, before being destroyed by fire on Dec. 12,
1844. The land lay mostly vacant in the ensuing years but
was the likely site of a trading post established by Benjamin
and Annie Hogg in 1879.
EARLY ARCHAEOLOGY
Don Neiman, an amateur archaeologist who explored the
site occasionally in the late 1950s and early 1960s, said he
recovered objects from both the Ais and fort periods. He suspects
that Christian missionaries may have even used the site
as a camping area before it became a fort in 1838 because of
an oven brick he found pre-dating that period.
Given the various oyster shell mounds throughout the
property, Neiman theorized that the Ais used the site for seasonal
living when shellfish on the coast was abundant. The
freshwater stream is one of few along the coast, making it a
perfect long-term camping ground.
“They would move with the abundance of oysters, clams
and mussels,” said Neiman, who now lives in Pennsylvania.
“The Ais encampments are up and down the coast. They
weren’t into agriculture — they were fishermen.”
Besides pottery shards, projectile points and shells,
Neiman found weights the Ais used to net fish. “They used
short nets, about three feet high, with a special type of shell
on the bottom that allowed them to drag the net,” he said.
His discovery of fort-era relics included musket caps, dice
made of bone, buttons from uniforms, bowls for cannon
shot, musket balls and portions of scabbards. Besides the
mound, Neiman said areas west also were used for target
practice. When a tennis court was built at Sunrise Boulevard
and U.S 1, he said plenty of musket balls turned up. “And I
imagine that if they dredged the river in that area they’d find
tons of them,” he said.
Neiman said the only fort structure he discovered was a
rotting stockade post. Because of erosion over the years, he
>>
William Tecumseh Sherman, the famous Civil War general, was stationed at Fort Pierce. Fresh out of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Sherman
was credited with negotiating a peace settlement at Fort Pierce with the Seminole chieftain Coacoochee, also known as Wild Cat. The engraving above
of Coacoochee is from The Exiles of Florida by Joshua R. Giddings.
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