8,078
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Lt. Slemmer thereafter held Fort Pickens until reinforcements arrivedwas lauded as a hero in the North, refusing three demands for surrender from rebel Colonel [[William Hand after being relieved in April 1861 he attended receptions in his honor in New York and Philadelphia. Chase]]In May, he was promoted two full grades, to Major. <ref name="auge" /> ===Remainder of the war===Slemmer's decision to hold Fort Pickens prevented was badly injured in the Confederacy from taking advantage [[Wikipedia:Battle of Stones River|Battle of Pensacola's excellent harborStones River]] in December 1862 but recovered.<ref name="auge" />
{{sect-stub}}After the war, Slemmer was bretted a brigadier general. He died of typhoid fever while in command of [[Wikipedia:Fort Laramie National Historic Site|Fort Laramie]] in Wyoming.
no edit summary
In [[1860]], Slemmer was ordered to Florida.
==[[Civil War]]=====At Pensacola===
In January 1861, at the onset of the [[Civil War]], then-First Lieutenant Slemmer was stationed with Company G, 1st United States Artillery at [[Barrancas Barracks]], near [[Fort Barrancas]]. The company's commanding officer, Captain [[Wikipedia:John H. Winder|John H. Winder]], as well as his executive officer, First Lieutenant A. R. Eddy, were absent on leave, leaving First Lieutenant Slemmer in command.<ref name="withslemmer">J. H. Gilman. "With Slemmer in Pensacola Harbor." ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War''. Century Company, 1887.</ref> On [[January 10]], Florida became the third state to secede from the Union. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Slemmer decided to abandon Forts Barrancas and [[Fort McRee|McRee]] and consolidate Union forces at [[Fort Pickens]]. Slemmer explained his decision as strategically necessary:
{{cquote|I called on Commodore [[James Armstrong|[James] 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.|20px|20px|"Pensacola in the Civil War." ''Florida Historical Quarterly'', Vol. IX, No. 2, 1978.}}
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 Forts Barrancas and McRee. Lt. Slemmer thereafter held Fort Pickens until reinforcements arrived in April, refusing three demands for surrender from rebel Colonel [[William H. Chase]]. Slemmer's decision to hold Fort Pickens prevented the Confederacy from taking advantage of Pensacola's excellent harbor.
==Postbellum life and death==
==References==
