ExploreSouthernHistory.com - Fort King in Ocala, Florida
ExploreSouthernHistory.com - Fort King in Ocala, Florida
Fort King
The fort stood on a hilltop in what is now Ocala,
Florida. A major post of the Second Seminole War, it
holds a unique place in American history.
Site of Fort King
No surface traces remain of
the historic fort that played a
critical role in the outbreak of
the Second Seminole War.
Monument at Fort King
A stone monument is one of
few reminders that the fort
once stood along East Fort
King Avenue in Ocala, Florida.
Model of Fort King
A scale model of the historic
fort can be seen at the Silver
River Museum in Ocala.
Fort King - Seminole War Fort in Ocala, Florida
Start of America's Longest War
Artifacts from Fort King
Numerous artifacts from the
Fort King site can be seen at
Ocala's Silver River Museum,
which is a great place to
explore the history of the city.
Copyright 2010 by Dale Cox
All rights reserved.
Originally called Camp King or Cantonment
King, Fort King was a 19th century U.S. Army
post that stood on the present site of Ocala,
Florida.

A National Historic Landmark, the site lies on
the north side of Fort King Street west of its
intersection with Northeast 41st and is
marked by a historical marker just off the
roadway. The site is publicly owned but must
currently be viewed from the sidewalk.

The fort was built as a result of the 1823
Treaty of Moultrie Creek, signed between the
United States and leaders of the Seminole
Nation. That treaty required the Seminoles to
relocate to a large reservation in what is now
Central Florida. The Moultrie Creek treaty
also prohibited white persons from entering
or settling on Seminole lands. As the Ocala
area was central to the main Indian towns,
the army built Fort King to assure that both
sides followed the terms of the treaty.

The original fort consisted of several log
buildings and a log stockade and was held
by the army from 1827-1829. Because of its
distance from Fort Brooke at Tampa Bay, the
army decided that it was too costly to supply
and evacuated it in the latter year.

The passage by Congress of the Indian
Removal Act in 1830 and the subsequent
negotiation of the highly controversial Treaty
of Payne's Landing with the Seminoles led to
the reoccupation of the post by the army in
1832. A core group of Seminole warriors, led
by Osceola and others, fiercely opposed the
determination of the U.S. government to
remove their people to new lands in what is
now Oklahoma. Fort King and the U.S. Indian
Agency it protected became symbols of
oppression for the Indians.

Much of the Seminole animosity was aimed
at General Wiley Thompson, the U.S. Agent
assigned to them. Thompson and Osceola,
who was not a chief but a respected warrior,
engaged in a growing series of verbal
confrontations. These culminated when the
agent suddenly ordered the warrior clapped
in irons and thrown into the guardhouse at
Fort King. The act would spark a war.

Released after a few days, Osceola decided
that armed resistance to removal was the
only option left to his people. On December
28, 1835, he exacted his revenge on Wiley
Thompson.

As the agent and Lieutenant Constantine
Smith went for an afternoon walk, they were
ambushed by a war party led by Osceola.
Thompson was shot 14 times and scalped.
Six others were also killed and the Indians
ransacked a storehouse. Fort King itself was
too strong to take and they withdrew to the
Wahoo Swamp.
A larger force of Seminole warriors struck a
column of troops on its way from Fort Brooke
to Fort King on the same day. The result was
Dade's Battle, which left over 100 soldiers
dead. The Second Seminole War had begun.

Although Fort King survived the initial
outbreak, it was abandoned in May of 1836
when Fort Drane was built nearer to the
swamps from which the Seminoles emerged
to fight. The post was burned to the ground
by warriors two months later.

The site was reoccupied in April of 1837 and
the army built a new fort. It served as a base
for raids and other operations until the end of
the war in 1842. Fort King was evacuated for
good in 1843 and the military reservation
opened to settlement three years later.

In recent years an effort has been underway
to preserve the site of the fort and it is now
cooperatively managed by the City of Ocala,
Marion County and the Daughters of the
American Revolution. The actual site is
closed to the public at this time but can be
easily views from the historical marker on
Southeast Fort King Street. Artifacts from the
fort can be seen at the nearby Silver River
Museum.