Fort Ward (Florida)

Fort Ward was a Confederate States of America fort located in Wakulla County, Florida, at the confluence of the Wakulla River and St. Marks River and named after Colonel George T. Ward, owner of Southwood Plantation, Waverly Plantation, and Clifford Place Plantation south of Tallahassee. During the American Civil War, Confederate troops placed a battery of cannons at Fort Ward.

The site on which Fort Ward stands was originally a camp site of Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez, in 1528, when he ventured north from Tampa. Narváez saw that the area was advantageous in a geographic sense. In 1539, Hernando de Soto followed with his men.

By 1679, the Spanish governor of Florida started construction on the first fort (named Fort San Marcos de Apalache) using logs coated with lime to give the look of stone. The fort stood, until 1681, then was burned and looted by pirates. In 1719, Spanish Captain Jose Primo de Ribera arrived to construct a second wooden fort. The fort was called San Marcos de Apalache. The wood for construction was cut at Mission San Luis de Apalachee to the north.

As a stone fort, its construction began in 1739.

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