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→First hostilities
==First hostilities==
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 J. Slemmer]] commanding, and Second Lieutenant [[Jeremiah H. Gilman]].<ref name="Battles">Johnson, Robert Underwood and Clarence Clough Buel. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=z-ESAAAAYAAJ Battles and Leaders of the Civil War]''. New York: The Century Co., 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> One witness 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>Johnson, Robert Underwood and Clarence Clough Buel. ''[http://books.google.com/books?idname=z-ESAAAAYAAJ "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War]''. New York: The Century Co., 1887.<" /ref> }}
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, the commanding officer at [[Fort Barrancas]], Lieutenant [[Adam J. 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 (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.}}
