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Storm Over Key West: The Civil War and the Call of Freedom
A few weeks after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, James Montgomery sailed into Key West Harbor looking for black men to draft into the Union army. Eager to oblige him, the military commander in town ordered every black man from fifteen to fifty to report to the courthouse, “there to undergo a medical examination, preparatory to embarking for Hilton Head, S.C.” Montgomery swept away 126 men.
Storm over Key West is a little-known story woven of many threads, but its main theme is the denial to black people of the equality central to the American ideal. After the island’s slaves flocked to freedom during the summer of 1862, the white majority began a century-long campaign to deny black residents civil rights, education, literacy, respect, and the vote.
Key West’s harbor and two major federal forts were often referred to as “America’s Gibraltar.” This Gibraltar guarded the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba and thus access to the Gulf of Mexico. When Union forces seized it before the war, the southernmost point of the Confederacy slipped out of Confederate hands. This led to a naval blockade based in Key West that devastated commerce in Florida and beyond.This book is the widest-ranging narrative history to date of the military bastion in the Florida Keys.
Storm over Key West is a little-known story woven of many threads, but its main theme is the denial to black people of the equality central to the American ideal. After the island’s slaves flocked to freedom during the summer of 1862, the white majority began a century-long campaign to deny black residents civil rights, education, literacy, respect, and the vote.
Key West’s harbor and two major federal forts were often referred to as “America’s Gibraltar.” This Gibraltar guarded the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba and thus access to the Gulf of Mexico. When Union forces seized it before the war, the southernmost point of the Confederacy slipped out of Confederate hands. This led to a naval blockade based in Key West that devastated commerce in Florida and beyond.This book is the widest-ranging narrative history to date of the military bastion in the Florida Keys.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 28, 2026
In the 21st century we've gotten history books about the Civil War in Florida's largest city (Pensacola during the Civil War: A Thorn in the Side of the Confederacy), third-largest city (Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida), and fifth-largest city (St. Augustine and the Civil War). and even Fort Clinch, Fernandina and the Civil War. Key West, the second-most populous city, seemed to have been left out until this book.
Storm Over Key West describes life at Key West (including Fort Taylor) during the American Civil War. Fort Jefferson in the nearby Dry Tortugas is also included. (The rest of the Keys were practically uninhabited in the 1860s.) It looks at men and women, white and black, military and civilian, pro-Union and pro-Confederate. The place is at times a tropical paradise and other times a disease-ridden hellhole. For what it covers, this book does a fairly good job.
The "Call of Freedom" part of the subtitle hints at the author's primary interest. Slavery and emancipation did indeed play a surprising role in Key West, and a USCT regiment was stationed there.
Photographs are supplemented by illustrations by the author's artist wife. The book has Blind Endnotes, a lengthy Bibliography, and an Index.
The book's biggest weakness is what it leaves out. The author is interested in the experience of the soldiers at the forts, but seemingly disinterested in the forts themselves. The East Gulf Blockade Squadron, based at Key West, is treated as mostly peripheral. Key West's white Bahamian "Conchs" are noted as predominately pro-Confederate, without an exploration as to why.
Lighthouses are mentioned a surprising number of times in passing, but the experience of the keepers or the impact of the war is never mentioned. Barbara Mabrity, a somewhat famous widow keeper of the Key West Lighthouse, is alleged to have been removed from her position due to her Confederate sympathies. Although the primary reason was probably Mabrity's advanced age (82) when younger, fitter keepers were available, the episode isn't mentioned at all.
Given the number of sources cited, some of the uneven coverage is probably a lack of sources. Perhaps the sparse discussion of naval activity is the author felt he could add nothing to Blockaders, Refugees, and Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861-1865.
This isn't a bad book, but I'd call it an underachiever. At 234 pages of main text, it really could have used another 50-100 pages to tell a more complete story. However, I give it a moderate recommendation for what it is, especially as it's filling a gap in the historiography.
Storm Over Key West describes life at Key West (including Fort Taylor) during the American Civil War. Fort Jefferson in the nearby Dry Tortugas is also included. (The rest of the Keys were practically uninhabited in the 1860s.) It looks at men and women, white and black, military and civilian, pro-Union and pro-Confederate. The place is at times a tropical paradise and other times a disease-ridden hellhole. For what it covers, this book does a fairly good job.
The "Call of Freedom" part of the subtitle hints at the author's primary interest. Slavery and emancipation did indeed play a surprising role in Key West, and a USCT regiment was stationed there.
Photographs are supplemented by illustrations by the author's artist wife. The book has Blind Endnotes, a lengthy Bibliography, and an Index.
The book's biggest weakness is what it leaves out. The author is interested in the experience of the soldiers at the forts, but seemingly disinterested in the forts themselves. The East Gulf Blockade Squadron, based at Key West, is treated as mostly peripheral. Key West's white Bahamian "Conchs" are noted as predominately pro-Confederate, without an exploration as to why.
Lighthouses are mentioned a surprising number of times in passing, but the experience of the keepers or the impact of the war is never mentioned. Barbara Mabrity, a somewhat famous widow keeper of the Key West Lighthouse, is alleged to have been removed from her position due to her Confederate sympathies. Although the primary reason was probably Mabrity's advanced age (82) when younger, fitter keepers were available, the episode isn't mentioned at all.
Given the number of sources cited, some of the uneven coverage is probably a lack of sources. Perhaps the sparse discussion of naval activity is the author felt he could add nothing to Blockaders, Refugees, and Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861-1865.
This isn't a bad book, but I'd call it an underachiever. At 234 pages of main text, it really could have used another 50-100 pages to tell a more complete story. However, I give it a moderate recommendation for what it is, especially as it's filling a gap in the historiography.
March 8, 2025
Alright
The book was a disappointment! I was looking for more information on the union's navy activity in Key West than the author gave.
The book was a disappointment! I was looking for more information on the union's navy activity in Key West than the author gave.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews