Archaeologists with the National Park Service identified the original burial site of Private George Tupper, a 19th-century U.S. Army soldier, at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida. The discovery came after survey work conducted in preparation for installing a new radio tower. Tupper’s grave, lost to history for more than 150 years, marks the only known soldier’s burial on the remote island fort.
Yellow fever and a mystery grave
Records show that Private Tupper died of yellow fever on October 6, 1873, during a hurricane that impacted the region. He was 22 years old at the time of his death and served at Fort Jefferson, a strategic coastal defense installation built during the Civil War era to protect the Gulf of Mexico, which later functioned as a military prison and quarantine site. The rediscovery resolves a long-standing mystery surrounding an empty marked grave on the island, which had confused historians and park staff for decades.
How researchers found the grave
Archaeologists employed ground-penetrating radar and careful excavation techniques to locate the original burial beneath overgrown vegetation and debris, uncovering personal artifacts consistent with military service and funerary practices of the 1870s. Dry Tortugas National Park, located approximately 70 miles west of Key West and accessible only by boat or seaplane, preserved many historical features precisely because of its isolation, though that same remoteness hindered detailed archaeological research until recent technological advancements.
Federal officials have documented the site and incorporated it into the park’s interpretive materials. The National Park Service said it will continue to investigate similar sites within the park to better preserve the legacy of those who lived and died there.
