The Useppa Island – Casey Key Connection
Unknown to many residents of Southwest Florida, once upon a time the island of Guiseppe (now Useppa) was the site of Fort Casey, and temporary home to the US 7th Infantry Regiment. The post was named after Captain John C. Casey, a West Point graduate and veteran of the War with Mexico. The Infantry established their encampment on the high ground of Useppa, where 15 years earlier during the 2nd Seminole War, a wooden blockhouse had been built to protect the inhabitants from marauding Seminoles, who had previously slaughtered several residents. The dead included the first federal tax collector in this area-who was, surprisingly, unpopular with everyone.
Captain Casey had multiple assignments during his posting to west Florida. While at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from 1848-1854 he assisted the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey with the charting of the Florida west coast. At the time, an inlet just south of Little Sarasota Bay was named after him, as Casey Pass. In 1856, a fellow officer creating the U.S. map of Florida changed the name of an island just north of Casey Pass, to Casey Key. Thus, the connection to Useppa Island was completed.
The Captain’s survey experience led to the selection of Useppa Island as the headquarters for a Charlotte Harbor military presence. While the region was relatively peaceful, this era between the 2nd and 3rd Seminole Wars, the U.S. was striving to settle the vast territory they had acquired from Spain just 30 years prior.