Civil War

Bombardment of Fort Pickens

Pensacola and the surrounding area were home to several key clashes in the early stages of the American Civil War. The Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory, was a Pensacolian and is buried in historic Saint Michael's Cemetery.

First hostilities

South Carolina became the first state to secede from the union on December 20, 1860. On January 8, 1861, a small group of men under Colonel William H. Chase approached Fort Barrancas but were repelled by gunfire. On January 10, Florida became the third state to secede. In February the seceding states would form the Confederate States of America.

When Florida seceded on January 10, the commanding officer at Fort Barrancas, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, decided to abandon Forts Barrancas and McRee and consolidate Union forces at Fort Pickens:

	I called on Commodore Armstrong (Union Commanding Officer of the Navy Yard) ... He had received orders to cooperate with me. We decided that with our limited means of defense we could hold but one fort, and that should be Fort Pickens, as it commanded completely the harbor and the forts and also the navy yard.
—"Pensacola in the Civil War." Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. IX, No. 2, 1978.

Reinforcement of Fort Pickens by the USS Brooklyn

Slemmer's men destroyed over 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at Fort McRee, spiked the guns at Fort Barrancas, and evacuated 51 soldiers and 30 sailors to Fort Pickens. On January 12, rebel troops from Alabama and Florida occupied the Navy Yard and Fort Barrancas; William Conway famously refused to strike the Union colors. Colonel William H. Chase thereafter demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens, but Lt. Slemmer refused, and indeed Fort Pickens would remain in Union control for the duration of the war, a feat not duplicated by any other fort in a seceding state.

In the early months of 1861, while James Buchanan was still President, Stephen Mallory had negotiated a gentleman's agreement that stipulated the Union would not reinforce Fort Pickens as long as rebel troops did not attempt to take it. However, incoming president Abraham Lincoln did not intend to honor the agreement, and on March 12 ordered troops about the USS Brooklyn to land at Fort Pickens. The orders reached the Brooklyn on March 31, and on April 13 the troops successfully reinforced the fort. Additional troops were landed from the USS Atlantic on April 16.

Battle of Santa Rosa

In the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, the city of Pensacola and the two Confederate forts fought against an invading United States army and forces stationed at Fort Pickens.

Pensacola surrenders

Pensacola surrendered to U.S. troops on May 10, 1862, and most of the city was burned. Almost all residents evacuated inland to Greenville, Alabama.

Images

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  Confederate troops near Bayou Grande, April 1861

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  Ninth Mississippi unit, April 1861

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  Confederate water battery at Pensacola Bay, 1861

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  Confederate battery at Pensacola, date unknown