Editing Key West (section)

===American Civil War and late 19th century===
[[File:Florida - Key West - NARA - 23936655 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|East Martello Tower]]
[[File:Fortzacharytaylor.jpg|thumb|[[Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park|Fort Zachary Taylor]] in Key West, active during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], contains the largest collection of Civil War [[cannon]]s ever discovered at a single location.]]

During the [[American Civil War]], while Florida seceded and joined the [[Confederate States of America]], Key West remained in U.S. Union hands because of the naval base. Most locals were sympathetic to the Confederacy, however, and many flew Confederate flags over their homes.<ref name="ReferenceA">A Chronological History of Key West A Tropical Island City, Stephen Nichols, 3rd ed.</ref> However, Key West was also home to a large free black population. This population grew during the war as more enslaved black people fled from their enslavers and came under the relative safety of the Union garrison there.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=Irvin D. |last2=Erhart |first2=Grace |date=1999 |title=Race and Civil War in South Florida |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30147583 |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=320–341 |jstor=30147583 |issn=0015-4113}}</ref> [[Fort Zachary Taylor]], constructed from 1845 to 1866, was an important Key West outpost during the Civil War. Construction began in 1861 on two other forts, East and West Martello Towers, which served as side armories and batteries for the larger fort. When completed, they were connected to Fort Taylor by railroad tracks for movement of munitions.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Early in 1864, 900 men from the 2nd United States Colored Troops (USCT) arrived in Key West as replacements for the 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers. Many of these men would see action in southern Florida and the 2nd USCT would become "one of the most active" black regiments in Florida.<ref>Solomon & Erhart (1999), 336</ref> [[Dry Tortugas National Park|Fort Jefferson]], located about {{convert|68|mi|km}} from Key West on Garden Key in the [[Dry Tortugas]], served after the Civil War as the prison for [[Samuel Mudd|Samuel A. Mudd]], convicted of [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] for setting the broken leg of [[John Wilkes Booth]], the assassin of President [[Abraham Lincoln]].

In the 19th century, major industries included [[Wrecking (shipwreck)|wrecking]], [[commercial fishing|fishing]], [[Turtling (hunting)|turtling]], and salt manufacturing.<ref name="Keith Salt">June Keith, ''June Keith's Key West & The Florida Keys: A Guide to the Coral Islands'' (5th ed.: Palm Island Press, 2014), p. 8.</ref> From 1830 to 1861, Key West was a major center of U.S. salt production, harvesting the commodity from the sea (via receding tidal pools) rather than from salt mines.<ref name="Keith Salt"/> After the outbreak of the Civil War, Union troops shut down the salt industry after Confederate sympathizers smuggled the product into the South.<ref name="Keith Salt"/> Salt production resumed at the end of the war, but the industry was destroyed by an [[1876 Atlantic hurricane season|1876 hurricane]] and never recovered, in part because of new salt mines on the mainland.<ref name="Keith Salt"/>

During the [[Ten Years' War]] (an unsuccessful Cuban war for independence in the 1860s and 1870s), many [[Cubans]] sought refuge in Key West. Several cigar factories relocated to the city from Cuba, and Key West quickly became a major producer of cigars. The [[Great Fire of Key West]], on April 1, 1886, started at a coffee shop next to the [[San Carlos Institute]] and spread out of control, destroyed 18 cigar factories and 614 houses and government warehouses.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marker Details – Key West Historic Markers Project |url=http://www.keywesthistoricmarkertour.org/marker/442 |access-date=2018-11-25}}</ref> Some factory owners chose not to rebuild and instead moved their operations to the new community of [[Ybor City]] in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], leading to a slow decline in the cigar industry in Key West. Still, Key West remained the largest and wealthiest city in Florida at the end of the 1880s.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

{{USS|Maine|ACR-1|6}} sailed from Key West on her fateful visit to Havana, where she blew up and sank in [[Havana Harbor]], igniting the [[Spanish–American War]]. Crewmen from the ship are buried in Key West, and the Navy investigation into the blast occurred at the Key West Customs House.