St. Lucie Historical Society, Inc.

Fort Capron

    Acting in response to the killing of John Barker in August of 1849, the Florida Legislature called upon the federal government to eject the remaining Seminoles from Florida.  The federal government dispatched a battery of the First Artillery.  The first Artillery was composed of Irish and German immigrants, most of them city dwellers, who now were being pressed into service as infantry.  The unit came in through the old Indian River inlet.  The Commander, Lt. Jonathan Ripley chose a spot opposite the river and established a fort.

   The fort was built to replace Fort Pierce, which had burned down in 1843 after being decommissioned.  Lt. Ripley named the log buildings Fort Capron, after Captain Erastus Capron, a First Artillery officer known for his courage during the Second Seminole War.  Fort Capron was destined to become larger and more important than Fort Pierce had been.

   It appears that Fort Capron had three commanders over it's eight year existence.  The first a Lieutenant Jonathan Ripley, followed by Lieutenant Ambrose Powell Hill who later gained notice as a Confederate colonel under "Stonewall" Jackson, and last, Captain Abner Doubleday, who closed the fort on June 14, 1858 and marched with his company, Company E-First Artillery, to Kissimmee.

   The plan to drive the Seminole Indians from Florida was developed by General Jesup.  He proposed to wall the Indians into the Everglades.  He ordered the occupation of a string of forts, stretching from Fort Brooke in Tampa to Fort Capron on the east coast.  The route used by his patrols, between these two locations, was the only east-west road in South Florida for many years to come.  The general also ordered heavy patrols southward between Fort Capron and Fort Jupiter.  Pushing further south from Fort Jupiter to include Fort Lauderdale and Fort Dallas in Miami.  The route used by these patrols still exists today and is known as Military Trail in Palm Beach County.

   With his wall set up, Jesup ordered a new style boat, costing $132 each to South Florida.  This new style boat was and deemed unsinkable, made of stamped metal parts,  designed along the lines of a Maine log-driving batteau.  The batteau was a sturdy boat that could carry two men and 4,000 pounds of cargo or 25 soldiers with all their arms and equipment.  A much needed replacement for the rotting, barely floating wooden boats reported by A.P. Hill at Fort Capron.  In the year Hill commanded Fort Capron, he had many clashes with the Seminoles.  He lost about eight men to combat, but many more to disease.

   All that remains of the fort today is a stone monument.  Some of the settlers who had been driven from the Indian River Colony returned, and lived near this fort for protection.  The civilian population remained after the fort was decommissioned.  This area is now St. Lucie Village.

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