Fort Pickens

Fort Pickens is a pentagonal historic United States military fort on Santa Rosa Island in the Pensacola, Florida area. It is named after American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens. The fort was completed in 1834 and remained in use until 1947. Fort Pickens is currently part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and as such, is administered by the National Park Service.

History

After the War of 1812, the United States decided to fortify all of its major ports, and as a result, French engineer 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 Harbor. Constructed between 1829-1834, 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, Chase was later appointed by the State of Florida to command its troops and seize for the South the very fort he had built.

By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since the Mexican-American War. Despite its dilapidated condition, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, in charge of United States forces at Fort Barrancas, determined that Pickens was more defensible than any of the other posts in the area. His decision to abandon Barrancas was hastened when, around midnight of January 8, 1861, his guards repelled a group of local men intending to take the fort. Some historians suggest that these were the first shots fired by United States forces in the Civil War. Shortly after this incident, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at Fort McRee, spiked the guns at Barrancas, and evacuated about eighty troops to Fort Pickens. Despite repeated Confederate military threats to it, Fort Pickens remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.

From 1886 to May 1887, the famous Apache Indian chief Geronimo was imprisoned in Fort Pickens, along with several of his warriors. Their families were at Fort Marion.

During the late 1890's and early 1900's, new gun batteries were constructed at Fort Pickens. These batteries were part of a program initiated by the Endicott Board, a group headed by a mid-1880's Secretary of War, William Endicott. Instead of many guns located in a small area, the image most people have of a fort, the Endicott batteries are spread out over a wide area. This system used dispersement and concealment for protection from naval gunfire, which was more accurate and powerful than in the past. The use of the modern, powerful weapons eliminated the need for the concentration of guns that was common in the Third System fortifications. [http://andy_bennett.home.mindspring.com/endicot.html] At Fort Pickens, one such battery was constructed physically inside the fort, while other similar concrete batteries were constructed to the east and west as separate facilities. The ruins of these later facilities are also included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore complex.

On June 20, 1899, a fire in Fort Picken's Bastion D reached the bastion's magazine, which contained 8,000 pounds of powder. The resulting explosion killed one soldier and obliterated Bastion D. The force of the explosion was so great that bricks from Bastion D's walls landed across the bay at Fort Barrancas, more than one and one-half miles away. [http://fcit.usf.edu/FLORIDA/photos/military/picken/picken.htm]

Nearby Fortifications

A companion fortification, Fort McRee, was located across Pensacola Pass from Fort Pickens on Perdido Key. Abandoned by Union forces and taken over by Florida and Alabama militia in January 1861, it was badly damaged by Union bombardment during the American Civil War later that year. Abandoned by Confederate forces, battered and burned is how Fort McRee remained for the next three decades. Although subjected to improvements in the late 1800s during the run-up to the Spanish American War, the fort was struck by a hurricane 26-27 September 1906 that destroyed most of the newer structures that had been erected since 1898. After the hurricane, only a minimal caretaker staff remained to ensure the security of the site and Fort McRee once again fell into disuse. Due to its location on a site accessible only by foot or boat, Fort McRee was left to the elements. Storms and erosion took their toll on the site and today, nothing more than a few scattered foundations remain. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_McRee]

Fort Barrancas, which was built around previously constructed 17th century and 18th century Spanish forts, as well as Fort Barrancas' associated Advanced Redoubt approximately a mile to the northwest of Fort Barrancas, are located across Pensacola Bay from Fort Pickens on the grounds of what is now Naval Air Station Pensacola. At the same time Union forces abandoned Fort McRee in 1861, they also abandoned Fort Barrancas. This fort was also occupied my Florida and Alabama militia forces that were subsequnetly integrated into the Confederate forces. In May 1862, after hearing that the Union Army had taken New Orleans, Confederate troops abandoned Pensacola and Fort Barrancas and the fort reverted back to Union control. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Barrancas]

Hurricane Ivan

In late 2004, Hurricane Ivan battered the Gulf Islands National Seashore, causing extensive flooding, the destruction of a number of buildings, and a large number of felled trees. Despite the extensive damage, the actual fort "held its ground during the hurricane with only minor damage." [Gulf Islands National Seashore - Resource Management, http://www.nps.gov/archive/guis/FLA/Hurricane%20Ivan/Hurricane.html] Fort Pickens and the Santa Rosa Areas of [http://www.nps.gov/guis Gulf Islands National Seashore] are currently closed to vehicular traffic while efforts are underway to rebuild and repair damage [Gulf Islands National Seashore, http://www.nps.gov/guis/] . The Florida Department of Transportation is considering alternate plans for rebuilding the road and the Park Service is trying to arrange alternate access to Fort Pickens. Reconstruction of the road is not in progress, and won't be for a while. [Gulf Islands National Seashore - Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.nps.gov/guis/faqs.htm] .

The beach is currently accessible by boat from the ranger station east to the park boundary--however, this has been reported to be highly unreliable. Visitors may also reach the fort on foot or bike, a 7-mile one-way trip from the park entrance gate to the actual fort [ [http://www.pensacolasgreatest.com/FortPickens.html Pensacolas Greatest Resource - Fort Pickens Area ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/guis/planyourvisit/fort-pickens.htm National Park Service: Fort Pickens]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/38pickens/38pickens.htm "Fort Pickens and the Outbreak of the Civil War", a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]