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→First hostilities
[[Image:Reinforcement-fort-pickens.jpg|thumb|right|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]].<ref name="PICW">"Pensacola in the Civil War." ''Florida Historical Quarterly, Vol. IX, No. 2, 1978.</ref> 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. The two Union naval ships in the harbor, ''[[Wikipedia:USS Wyandotte (1853)|Wyandotte]]'' and [[Wikipedia:USS Supply (1846)|Supply]]'', were commanded by officers loyal to the Union and did not fall into rebel hands. Colonel [[William H. Chase]] of the Florida state troops 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 [[Wikipedia:James Buchanan|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 [[Wikipedia:Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln]] did not intend to honor the agreement, and on [[March 12]] ordered troops about the ''[[Wikipedia:USS Brooklyn (1858)|USS Brooklyn]]'' to land at [[Fort Pickens]]. The orders reached the ''Brooklyn'' on [[March 31]], and on [[April 12]] the troops successfully reinforced the fort.<ref name="Views" /> Additional troops were landed from the ''USS Atlantic'' on [[April 16]].<ref name="PICW" />
