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→First hostilities
==First hostilities==
[[Image:Ajslemmer.jpg|thumb|right|140px|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="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:
