Fort McCoy (Marion County, Florida)

Marion County · Florida · Second Seminole War / Indian Wars

Quick BriefA picket fort with blockhouses set amidst pine trees, originally called Fort MacKay, took the name Fort McCoy from the community that grew nearby. The fort was set up during the Seminole Wars and included brick structures, some evidence of which could still be seen in the 1940s.

History & Significance

Fort McCoy was originally named Fort Mackay, after settlers in the area killed by Native Americans during the war; the town took its modern spelling from settler Jeb MacCoy. The Second Seminole War, which began in December 1835, forced American troops to seek security across Middle Florida in a seven-year guerrilla conflict.

More than eighty blockhouses, camps, forts, and stockades were established across the peninsula as a result of the first two Seminole Wars. Fort McCoy was built as a picket fortification with blockhouses amid pines.

A post office was established near the fort in 1852 and discontinued in 1855–56 during Seminole War operations. Following the war's conclusion in 1842, civilian settlers arrived in the Fort McCoy area, attracted by the Armed Occupation Act of 1842, which granted up to 160 acres to individuals willing to cultivate and defend the land. Brick structures from the fort's period could still be seen in the 1940s.