Fort Hamer 1849-1856
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Fort Hamer Military Road

Fort Hamer 1849-1856, also, Fort Hamer Military Road. . (side 1) , A frontier military post once stood a mile northeast of this marker on the south bank of the Manatee River. The fort was built during the Seminole Scare of 1849 and named for Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Hamer, who died in 1848 in the Mexican War. It consisted of a 100 x 60 - foot warehouse, an 80 x 30 - foot hospital, log houses and hay barn. It had a garrison of 165 soldiers. The commander of Fort Brooke (Tampa) considered Fort Hamer's location "greatly superior" and recommended it be made the regional depot. Fort Hamer was abandoned in November 1850 when the danger from attack subsided. In 1856, during the Third Seminole (Billy Bowlegs) War, it was reoccupied by the Manatee Rangers, a state militia of mounted volunteers. When a Seminole war party raided Braden Castle on March 31, 1856, the Rangers tracked them to the Peace River area, killing several. The Fort Hamer site was sold to a cattleman in 1876. A century later. in 1979, Larry Adams and Roy Jones confirmed the fort's location when they found military artifacts and coins dated between 1835 and 1848 on the site. (Continued on other side.). , (side 2) (Continued from other side). A blazed trail from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort Hamer terminated at what is today called Fort Hamer Landing on the north bank of the Manatee River near Gamble Plantation. Here men and horses were ferried across the river to the fort. Supplies arrived at Fort Hamer's warehouse via steamboat and schooner, then were transported east along a wagon road to Forts Crawford, Green and Myakka. These outposts were part of a chain of forts built in 1849-50 across the Florida peninsula to separate settlers and Seminoles. Great pressure was put on the Indians to emigrate. On Feb. 28, 1850, 74 Seminoles sailed from Ft. Hamer to New Orleans, and thence to Indian Territory. They were paid $15,000 in gold for migrating and $953 for their livestock. About 100 remained at the end of the Third Seminole War in the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp. Their descendants today make up the Seminole Tribe of Florida.