Editing Civil War

[[Image:Slemmer.jpg|thumb|right|Lt. [[Adam Jacoby Slemmer|Adam J. Slemmer]], commanding officer at [[Fort Barrancas]]]]

In January 1861, the United States Army forces in Pensacola consisted of Company G, 1st United States Artillery, which was stationed 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, which left only two relatively inexperienced Army officers in Pensacola: First Lieutenant [[Adam Jacoby Slemmer|Adam J. Slemmer]] commanding, and Second Lieutenant [[Jeremiah H. Gilman]].<ref name="withslemmer">J. H. Gilman. "With Slemmer in Pensacola Harbor." ''Battles and Leaders of the Civil War''. Century Company, 1887.</ref>

[[Wikipedia:South Carolina|South Carolina]] became the first state to secede from the union on [[December 20]], [[1860]]. On [[January 8]], [[1861]], a small group of men attached to Colonel [[William H. Chase]]'s command approached [[Fort Barrancas]] but were repelled by gunfire.<ref name="Views">Parks, Virginia and Sandra Johnson. ''Civil War Views of Pensacola''. Pensacola: 1993.</ref> Lt. Gilman, second in command at Pensacola, recounts the scene:

{{cquote|About midnight a party of twenty men came to the fort, evidently with the intention of taking possession, expecting to find it unoccupied as usual. Being challenged and not answering nor halting when ordered, the party was fired upon by the guard and ran in the direction of Warrington, their footsteps resounding on the plank walk as the long roll ceased and our company started for the fort at double-quick. This, I believe, was the first gun in the war fired on our side.|20px|20px|Lieutenant J. H. Gilman, "With Slemmer in Pensacola Harbor."<ref name="withslemmer" />}}

On [[January 10]], Florida became the third state to secede. In February the seceding states would form the [[Wikipedia:Confederate States of America|Confederate States of America]]. Shortly after Florida's secession, 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; [[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.

 

[[Image:Whchase.PNG|thumb|right|Colonel [[William H. Chase]] of Florida]]

On the evening of January, Colonel [[William H. Chase]] of the Florida state troops sent a party of four men to Fort Pickens, who "demanded a peaceable surrender of [the] fort." The party was turned away.

On [[March 11]], [[1861]], Confederate general [[Wikipedia:Braxton Bragg|Braxton Bragg]] arrived in Pensacola and assumed command of the troops present. On [[April 19]], Bragg declared martial law in Pensacola.<ref name="PICW" /> On [[October 22]], the Confederate troops under General Bragg's command at Pensacola were organized as the Army of Pensacola.<ref>Miller, Francis Trevelyan and Robert Sampson Lanier. ''The Photographic History of the Civil War''. New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911.</ref>

In response to the attack on the ''Judah'', Confederate general Braxton Bragg ordered an attack on [[Fort Pickens]]. A force of over 1,000 men under general [[Wikipedia:Richard H. Anderson|Richard H. Anderson]] set out from Pensacola on the evening of [[October 8]], landing on [[Santa Rosa Island]] about four miles east of Fort Pickens. From there the Confederate troops were divided into three groups: one which travelled on the north (Sound) side of the island, one which travelled on the south (Gulf) side, and a third which trvalled just behind both, used as a flank to connect the groups. After marching for three miles, the Confederate troops were spotted by an encampment of the [[Wikipedia:6th New York Volunteer Infantry|6th New York Volunteer Infantry]] and fired upon. However, the Confederate troops had the element of surprise and quickly overwhelmed the encampment, sending the 6th New York retreating back to Fort Pickens. Soon after, though, the Confederate general Anderson decided to retreat, during which Union forces pursued and caused extensive casualties. The retreat is described in the ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' article, "Pensacola in the Civil War":

At 10:00 AM on the morning of [[November 22]], the Union batteries at Fort Pickens opened fire on the Confederate steamers docked at the Navy Yard wharf. The steamers escaped the line of fire with minimal damage, but the Confederate guns returned fire. The Union ships ''[[Wikipedia:USS Richmond (1860)|USS Richmond]]'' and ''[[Wikipedia:USS Niagara (1855)|USS Niagara]]'' soon moved closer to shore and joined the Union barrage, firing primarily at [[Fort McRee]]. Union guns shot off the flagstaffs at both McRee and [[Fort Barrancas]]. Confederate general Braxton Bragg called the artillery battle "grand and sublime," and wrote that "the houses in Pensacola, ten miles off, trembled from the effect; and immense quantities of dead fish floated on the surface of the lagoon, stunned by the concussion."<ref name="Davis">Davis, William Watson. [http://books.google.com/books?id=YlIpAAAAYAAJ ''The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida.''] New York: Columbia University, 1913.</ref>

The artillery battle continued the next day. In all, Union troops expended 5,000 rounds of ammunition while Confederate troops returned some 1,000 shots. Fort Pickens on the Union side sustained little damage, but Confederate-held [[Fort McRee]], its water battery, as well as the navy yard and the village of [[Warrington]] all sustained extensive damage. Federal troops did sustain two deaths and 13 wounded. Federal artillery inflicted even more damage on [[January 1]] and [[January 2|2]], 1862, causing extensive fire damage at the Navy Yard and exploding the powder magazine at [[Fort McRee]].<ref name="PICW" />

The Union invasion of Tennessee in early 1862 necessitated Confederate reinforcement and on [[March 19]] around 8,000 Confederate troops left Pensacola for Tennessee, leaving behind only a token force. Confederate Colonel Thomas M. Jones was left in command at Pensacola and authorized to use his own discretion concerning the evacuation of the city. Upon learning on [[May 7]] that Union commander [[Wikipedia:David Farragut|David Farragut]]'s fleet was anchored off [[Mobile Bay]], Colonel Jones quickly removed most of the Confederate artillery and supplies from Pensacola. The last Confederate troops to leave, on [[May 9]], set fire to the remnants of the Navy Yard and other Confederate defenses. Most Pensacola residents evacuated inland to Greenville, Alabama.<ref name="Davis" /><ref name="PICW" />