Tortugas

[Dave Taylor]

Steve,

You hit upon a similar inconsistency that I did. Unfortunately they used many of the different keys of the Dry Tortugas to bury their dead at different times. Garden, Hospital (Sand), Bird and Loggerhead Key all held the remains of different soldiers and prisoners. For example, there was another Yellow Fever epidemic that hit the Fort in 1873. The bulk of the dead from that event were buried on Bird Key. One was buried right on Garden Key because the ocean was too rough to even get him to Bird Key on the day he died. In 1875, the post commander attempted to get grave markers for them. He was also asked to produce a full list of those who died on the island and that list includes Michael O’Laughlen’s name. Unfortunately it does not give the specific burial location of any of the men in that list. I’ve been fighting between Hospital Key and Bird Key as the burial location for O’Laughlen for a long time, which is why I'm planning on visiting both, just to cover my bases.