Bombardment at Pensacola, Florida

The Forts in Pensacola Bay

At the time of the Civil War there were three forts to defend the Pensacola harbor: Fort Pickens, on an island sheltering the harbor, and Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas on the mainland. Just before Florida's secession, a garrison was sent to Fort Pickens, and they the fort for the rest of the war. The Confederates were not content with this. They garrisoned the forts and batteries in the area in an attempt to capture the fort. On October 9th the Confederates made a strong attack on the fort, and Col. Harvey Brown, Union commander in Florida, decided to attack the Confederate fortifications to prevent the attack from being renewed.

Fort Pickens

The Union batteries opened in the morning of December 22nd, assisted by the warships Niagara and Richmond. A half an hour later the Confederate's two forts and fourteen batteries along four miles of coastline responded. Confederate commander Bragg wrote this in his report:

Darkness closed the contest, which had lasted for more than eight hours without an intermission. For the number and caliber of guns and weight of metal brought into action it will rank with the heaviest bombardment in the world. It was grand and sublime. The houses in Pensacola, 10 miles off, trembled from the effect, and immense quantities of dead fish floated to the surface in the bay and lagoon, stunned by the concussion. Our troops behaved with the greatest coolness and gallantry, and surprised me by the regularity and accuracy of their firing, a result which would have been creditable to veterans.

Fort Barrancas

The barrage continued all day, with the Union forces getting the best of the fight. Fort McRee's guns were silenced, and there was a little damage to the other fortifications. The fight would continue the next day.

Fort Barrancas today

Fort Pickens

Fort Barrancas

The two major forts that were held by the North at the time of the South's secession were Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and Fort Pickens in Pensacola Bay, Florida. Most historians focus on Fort Sumter because that is where the crises eventually led to war, but at the time Fort Pickens in Florida was a major focus as well.

When Florida seceded, Lt. Adam J. Slemmer held Fort Barrancas in Pensacola Bay with 50 men. On the day of secession, he transferred his men to Fort Pickens, a dilapidated fort that had not been in use since the Mexican-American war. However, he thought Fort Pickens was more defensible, probably because of its isolated position.

Fort Pickens

A truce was agreed on between Slemmer and the Confederates that the fort would not be attacked unless they received more reinforcements. While more supplies and troops were needed, the situation was not as crucial as Fort Sumter. A few days after ordering supplies to be sent to Sumter, President Lincoln ordered an expedition to be sent to Fort Pickens as well. After the war began in Charleston, Fort Pickens was resupplied, and continued to be held by the North throughout the war.

Map of the forts in Pensacola Bay

Relief for Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter

After receiving the reports from the men he had sent to Fort Sumter to check on the situation, President Lincoln now had to decide what to do about Fort Sumter so that he could take action before April 15th, at which point they would run out of supplies. Everyone expected that he would order Fort Sumter to be evacuated to prevent a Civil War. The slave states which had not seceded insisted that it should be evacuated. A Virginian who was against secession said, "The United States must instantly evacuate Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens, and give assurances that no attempts shall be made to collect revenues in Southern ports." While they did not desire to leave the Union, they wanted the right of secession to be upheld. General Winfield Scott, the longest serving general in American history and a military hero, advised strongly against a relief effort. President Lincoln consulted his Cabinet again, and a majority were for attempting to resupply the fort. Agreeing with them, he ordered Gustavus Fox, who had been sent to Fort Sumter, to organize the relief effort.

By these plans Lincoln was trying to force the Southerners into firing the first shot. He told the commanders in Charleston that no troops would be sent, only provisions. However, a sizable force of troops were included in the expedition in case they were not allowed peaceable entry. He was peacefully maintaining a fort on Southern territory so that the Confederacy would be forced to fire the first shots of the war.

Confederate Navy Forms

CSS Alabama

As the new Confederacy began to form, one of the things that they needed was a navy. At the time of secession the North had around 90 ships, while the South had only 14 which were seaworthy. There were few Southerners in the US navy as opposed to the army, therefore only few naval officers came South. The only shipyard in the South was in Pensacola, Florida. Unfortunately for the South it was under the guns of Fort Pickens, one of the forts which the North still held onto. The new nation was almost starting from scratch in building this important part of their military defense.

The largest city in the South at the time was New Orleans, therefore one of the first projects of the Confederate Naval Department was to prepare the naval defense of that city. Therefore agents were sent to purchase or build gunboats to assist in that defense. These agents arrived in New Orleans 150 years ago today, on March 17, 1861.