Fort Drum (Okeechobee County, Florida)

Okeechobee County · Florida · Second Seminole War

Quick BriefFort Drum was built and garrisoned with Federal troops in 1849 as part of the Army's network of frontier outposts following the Second Seminole War. It was constructed where two major military roads crossed, but was deactivated on May 28, 1850, though reoccupied in 1856 during the Third Seminole War before final abandonment in 1861 at the start of the Civil War.

History & Significance

After the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, the U.S. Army built a network of forts across central Florida with military roads connecting them; where two of these roads crossed, Fort Drum was built. The site featured a log stockade enclosure approximately 15 feet high with sharpened upright logs, barracks, and other wooden structures.

Fort Drum was positioned at the intersection of two significant military roads: the east-west route connected Fort Bassinger to Fort Vinton, while the north-south 'old wire road' linked Fort Kissimmee to Fort Jupiter. The Army deactivated Fort Drum on May 28, 1850, but when tensions precipitated into the Billy Bowlegs War in 1856, General Daniel E. Twiggs ordered the establishment of several forts across Florida, including Fort Drum.

The fort was abandoned around 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War, leaving behind its wooden fortifications, which gradually deteriorated. The transition to civilian use began in the post-war era with the establishment of a trading post by Henry Parker around 1870, who exchanged goods with local Seminole communities for hides and plumes.