Fort Jefferson

But Mr. Marano’s research revealed that it had once held a quarantine hospital and cemetery for those stationed at Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era military fortress in the Dry Tortugas National Park.

During the American Civil War, Fort Jefferson was used as a military prison.

The cemetery, uncovered in a survey underwater that began in August 2022, has been identified by archaeologists as the Fort Jefferson Post Cemetery.

The only identifiable grave found underwater belongs to one John Greer, who is listed in the records for Fort Jefferson as a civilian laborer who died on Nov. 5, 1861.

While Fort Jefferson was abandoned by the Army in 1873, the site still served as a coaling station – including for the famous USS Maine, whose sinking in Cuba’s Havana harbor in 1898 sparked the Spanish-American War.