U.S. naval units secure the forts of the Florida Keys against secessionist takeover
United States Navy units under Commander Thomas T. Craven secured all the Florida Keys military installations against any attempted seizure by Florida or other Southern authorities. Craven in U.S.S. Mohawk controlled the new 1,500 men and 450 gun Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, sixty-eight miles off Key West, while Lieutenant Fabius Stanly in the U.S.S. Wyandotte guarded Fort Taylor which protected Key West itself. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Eugene M. Wait, Opening of the Civil War (Commack, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 1999), 17.