Maj. Julius Heileman ordered that a supply depot be established at Garey's Ferry in what was then the southerastern section
of Duval County, in 1836. When Heileman, by then a Bvt.Lt.Col, died soon afterward, the fort was named in his honor.
Approximately $1,000,000 of ordinance passed through the fort in the five years it existed. When fighting moved southward,
the fort was abandoned in 1841.
The documents here are from the National Archives, military records, local and state government archives, and the personal
papers of local families. Through the bills of sale, letters, orders and requests for supplies, medical reports,
and other bits of paper, the image of a beleagured fort emerges.
Never the focus of any attack, the commanding officers struggled to feed, house, and care for over a thousand refugees
who were drawn to the proximity of the military as infuriated Seminoles attacked neighboring farms.
