In April 1861, Northern newspapers blared headlines of federal garrisons holding out behind the ramparts of brick fortresses, defenders of the Union in recently seceded states that formed the Confederacy. Most of the attention focused on the vanguard of secession, South Carolina, and the troops assembled at Fort Sumter in the middle of Charleston Harbor. But another installation positioned at the tip of Santa Rosa Island also figured prominently in the events of those dark days on the threshold of Civil War. Today that strongpoint, Fort Pickens, is among a group of historic fortifications operated by the National Park Service that tells the military story of the Florida Panhandle.
In the 16th century, the natural harbor of Pensacola began to attract the attention of European powers seeking to establish a foothold in the New World, with Spain, Great Britain, and France battling for control of the town during the first centuries of its existence. With the ratification of the Adams-Onis Treaty between Spain and the United States in 1821, Florida became an American territory. Thus, the fortification of Pensacola Bay became a U.S. priority, especially following the establishment of a Navy yard there in 1825. After the War of 1812, Congress appropriated money for a defensive system consisting of fortifications at strategic locations around the nation. Pensacola would become the site of three of these so-called “Third System” fortifications.
Construction of Fort Pickens on the eastern side of the pass leading into Pensacola Bay began in 1829, followed over the next decade by Fort McRee on the western side of the pass and Fort Barrancas west of the Pensacola Navy Yard, the latter positioned on a bluff overlooking the bay. To guard against an overland attack against the Navy yard, engineers constructed an advanced redoubt on the landward side of Fort Barrancas. Ironically, it would not be a foreign power from distant shores that caused them to spring into action. On 9 October 1861, Confederate forces crossed the bay and attacked the positions of Union forces one mile east of Fort Pickens. The Battle of Santa Rosa Island triggered retaliation by Union artillery supported by naval gunfire from two Union warships that rained shells on Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas, as well as the Navy yard, prompting the withdrawal of Confederate forces from Pensacola in May 1862.
While shifting sands and waters have left little of Fort McRee, the other three installations are well preserved. The fact that two sit on a military base, Pensacola Naval Air Station—and, in the case of Fort Pickens, on preserved land that is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore—enhances the experience of visiting them.
Driving toward Fort Pickens alongside the sugar-white sands that frame the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, one can envision the isolated existence of the 19th-century soldiers who manned its guns. Their hardiness becomes evident when walking through the damp passages connecting the casemates. During a tour of Fort Pickens, visitors can see a cell identical to the one that housed the famed Apache chief Geronimo, who was imprisoned there from 1886 to 1888. A tour of the fort also gives one a sense of the evolution of coastal artillery from 19th-century cannon to batteries constructed as recently as World War II. Though they never fired at enemy ships, guns at the fort bombarded the wreck of the battleship Massachusetts (BB-2), which was scuttled in shallow waters off Pensacola for target practice.
A visit to Fort Pickens is not complete without a stop at its museum, which reopened in 2012 after being heavily damaged during Hurricane Ivan. In addition to educating visitors about the fort’s military role, it provides information about the fish and wildlife that form the ecosystem of the land around it.
Smaller and more compact than Fort Pickens, Fort Barrancas, on the other side of the bay, provides an excellent vantage point from which to take in a panoramic view of Pensacola Bay. A series of interpretive signs provides details on the fort’s history, one interesting fact being that on the evening of 8 January 1861, Union troops stationed there opened fire on Alabama militiamen; some contend these were the first shots of the Civil War. Descending through a tunnel from the ramparts of Fort Barrancas will take visitors to the Bateria de San Antonio, or Water Battery, a fortification constructed by the Spanish from 1793 to 1797. Its semicircular design provided positions from which cannon could sweep the entrance to Pensacola Bay. Situated just above the water level, gunners could fire at an angle that skipped cannonballs on the water to hole the hulls of attacking ships.
When walking through the forts of Pensacola, one cannot help but sense the history to which they are linked, whether it be a newly inaugurated President Abraham Lincoln monitoring the situation confronting the garrison at Fort Pickens or a great Apache chief longing for the freedom of the American West. One is struck by the irony of their location: The Navy yard they were built to protect would eventually become the Navy’s first air station, perfecting one of the weapons of war that rendered the forts obsolete.
Fort Barrancas
(850) 934-2600
Open: Daily 0830–1630, Scheduled tours every Sat. at 1400
Admission: $3
Fort Pickens
1400 Fort Pickens Rd, Pensacola Beach, FL 32561
(850) 934-2635
Open: Daily, 0700 to sunset; Visitor Center and Museum: 0830–1630
Admission: $3
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