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|ownership=[[National Park Service]]
 
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'''Fort Pickens''' is a pentagonal historic United States military fort on [[Santa Rosa Island]], at the entrance to [[Pensacola Bay]]. It is named after [[Wikipedia:American Revolutionary War|American Revolutionary War]] hero [[Andrew Pickens]]. The fort was completed in [[1834]] and remained in use in some form until [[1947]].
 
'''Fort Pickens''' is a pentagonal historic United States military fort on [[Santa Rosa Island]], at the entrance to [[Pensacola Bay]]. It is named after [[Wikipedia:American Revolutionary War|American Revolutionary War]] hero [[Andrew Pickens]]. The fort was completed in [[1834]] and remained in use in some form until [[1947]].
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Fort Pickens is currently part of the [[Gulf Islands National Seashore]], and as such, is administered by the [[Wikipedia:National Park Service|National Park Service]]. The '''Fort Pickens Area''' encompasses the western seven miles of Santa Rosa Island, including the fort itself as well as numerous auxiliary batteries.
 
Fort Pickens is currently part of the [[Gulf Islands National Seashore]], and as such, is administered by the [[Wikipedia:National Park Service|National Park Service]]. The '''Fort Pickens Area''' encompasses the western seven miles of Santa Rosa Island, including the fort itself as well as numerous auxiliary batteries.
  
==Design and construction==
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==Construction==
The Fortifications Bill of 1828 was signed into law by President John Quincy Adams on [[May 24]] of that year. It allocated $50,000 for the construction of fortifications at Pensacola. A supplemental appropriation the following year allocated another $55,000.<ref name="Bearss">Bearss, Edwin C. [http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/uwf%3A3960#page/1/mode/1up ''Historic Structure Report, Fort Pickens''.] U.S. Department of the Interior, 1983.</ref>
 
 
 
The land on the western end of Santa Rosa Island on which the proposed fort was to be located was owned by [[Henry Michelet]]. On [[May 28]], [[1828]], the United States purchased 1,181 acres from Michelet for the sum of $4,000. On [[June 4]], [[1829]], a contract with [[Underhill and Strong]] for construction of the fort was approved by Chief Engineer [[Wikipedia:Charles Gratiot|Charles Gratiot]] of the Army Corps of Engineers.<ref name="Bearss" />
 
 
 
 
[[Image:Fort Pickens map 1861.png|thumb|right|1861 sketch of the fort]]
 
[[Image:Fort Pickens map 1861.png|thumb|right|1861 sketch of the fort]]
French engineer [[Wikipedia:Simon Bernard|Simon Bernard]] was appointed to design Fort Pickens. The fort is pentagonal in shape with walls 40 feet high and 12 feet thick.<ref>Kaiser, Harvey H. ''The National Park Architecture Sourcebook.'' Princeton Architectural Press, 2008.</ref> Construction on Fort Pickens lasted from [[1829]] to [[1834]], with 21.5 million bricks being used to build the fort.  Much of the construction was done by slave labor.
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French engineer [[Wikipedia:Simon Bernard|Simon Bernard]] was appointed to design Fort Pickens. Construction on Fort Pickens lasted from [[1829]] to [[1834]], with 21.5 million bricks being used to build the fort.  Much of the construction was done by slave labor.
  
 
Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of forts designed to fortify Pensacola's harbor. Fort Pickens supplemented [[Fort Barrancas]], [[Fort McRee]], and the [[Navy Yard]]. Located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland, Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor. Its construction was supervised by Colonel [[William H. Chase]] of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ironically, during the [[Civil War]] some years later, Chase was later appointed by the State of Florida to command its troops and seize for the South the very fort he had built.
 
Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of forts designed to fortify Pensacola's harbor. Fort Pickens supplemented [[Fort Barrancas]], [[Fort McRee]], and the [[Navy Yard]]. Located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland, Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor. Its construction was supervised by Colonel [[William H. Chase]] of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ironically, during the [[Civil War]] some years later, Chase was later appointed by the State of Florida to command its troops and seize for the South the very fort he had built.
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===Battery Worth===
 
===Battery Worth===
[[Image:Batteryworth.jpg|thumb|right|Battery Worth]]
 
 
Completed in [[1899]], '''Battery Worth''' housed eight 12-inch mortars in two gun pits. Although the battery lost half its armament in [[1918]] in accordance with the War Department policy to reduce weaponry mounted in the nation's older emplacements, the other four mortars remained active until [[1942]]. The battery became essential for Army-Navy defense activities in the 1940s by housing the Fire Control Switchboard Room, Harbor Entrance Control Post and the Harbor Defense Command Post.<ref name="NPS" />
 
Completed in [[1899]], '''Battery Worth''' housed eight 12-inch mortars in two gun pits. Although the battery lost half its armament in [[1918]] in accordance with the War Department policy to reduce weaponry mounted in the nation's older emplacements, the other four mortars remained active until [[1942]]. The battery became essential for Army-Navy defense activities in the 1940s by housing the Fire Control Switchboard Room, Harbor Entrance Control Post and the Harbor Defense Command Post.<ref name="NPS" />
  

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