January 28, 1861 - Developments on the Gulf Coast

Fort Pickens in 1861, by a Union officer.

January 28, 1861

A series of events that took place 150 years ago today in Louisiana and Florida resulted in the loss of several facilities to the U.S. government, while another was all but guaranteed to remain in Union control for the duration of the coming war.

From Pensacola, recently resigned U.S. Senator Stephen R. Mallory telegraphed still serving senators from Louisiana, Virginia and Pennsylvania in an effort to avoid bloodshed over Fort Pickens on Florida's Santa Rosa Island. If President James Buchanan would agree not to reinforce the fort, Mallory offered, Florida would not attack it. While Mallory's intent was noble, the move would lead to the Fort Pickens Truce on the next day, an agreement that gave U.S. forces the time they needed to prepare Fort Pickens for battle. Once the guns of the fort were mounted, any hopes Southern forces might have had of taking it were all but over.

To learn more about the events that took place in Florida in 1861, please visit our sister site, Civil War Florida.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, state forces took Fort Macomb east of New Orleans while also seizing military supplies in the Crescent City. One of the two forts located at the Rigolets, a channel leading from Lake Borgne into Lake Pontchartrain and to the "back door" of New Orleans, the masonry fort was a vital defense of New Orleans.

January 27, 1861 - An Alabama Professor goes to War

Raw Troops at Pensacola, 1861

January 27, 1861

A remarkable account of the early days of an Alabama professor as a soldier originated from Pensacola, Florida, in January 1861 and was carried by newspapers around the South. If anyone can provide more information on this individual, I would love to hear from you!

The letter was datelined from the camps near Fort Barrancas, where soldiers from Florida, Alabama and Mississippi were in a standoff with the small U.S. garrison of Fort Pickens across Pensacola Bay:

Professor Day is just six and a half feet high in his stockings. His weight is three hundred and ten pounds, and he measures seven feet in the girth. He is the tallest and biggest man in the regiment, and is noted for his great strength as well as for his huge proportions. --He has been known to shoulder a six hundred bale of cotton, and has frequently taken a whiskey barrel by the chines, raised it at arms' length, and drank at the bung hole. On one occasion he threw a mustang pony and his rider over a ten-rail fence. For this offence he was tried and convicted in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale county, and fined five hundred dollars. This remarkable man is the youngest and smallest of seventeen brothers. His father is two and a half inches taller than he is, but not so thick set. His brothers are taller, but none of them are so stout as the Professor. It is necessary to remark that his father has been twice married, and has eight children by his first wife and nine by his present wife. 

The Professor is the Principal of the Marion High School, and is a learned man in every sense of the word. He is master of six languages, and as a mathematician he has no superior. He is, besides, one of the best men living, and is noted for his good nature. He never had but one fight in his life, and then he killed a horse and nearly murdered a man. 

January 24, 1861 - Mississippi mounts cannon at Vicksburg

Mississippi River at Vicksburg

January 24, 1861

Word spread across both North and South 150 years ago today that the newly independent republic of Mississippi had aimed cannon across the Mississippi River at Vicksburg and started intercepting river traffic.

The following report from the Memphis Appeal was carried in numerous newspapers on January 24, 1861:

The order of the Governor of Mississippi to place a battery of guns at Vicksburg for the purpose of hailing steamers and causing them to land, has been complied with, as we learn from one of the clerks of the Simonds, who informs us that four guns are placed at the foot of the bluff, a quarter of a mile above the wharf-boat; that while the Simonds lay there on her trip up the river, blank cartridges were fired to bring to and cause to land the Gladiator, the Imperial, and the A. O. Taylor, and that it was understood that if the summons were not attended to, the next gun fired would be shotted. The object of the surveillance has not been made known.- Memphis Appeal, January 1861.

The interdiction of river traffic on the Mississippi at Vicksburg followed numerous reports that abolitionist groups were sending weapons and other supplies south that would be used to arm slaves. There also were reports that troops would be sent to reinforce or recapture forts and other facilities on the Gulf Coast. You can learn more about Vicksburg and its history at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vicksburg5.

U.S.S. Brooklyn

Also on January 24, 1861, The U.S.S. Brooklyn steamed out from Hampton Roads, Virginia, with reinforcements for the beleaguered Union garrison of Fort Pickens in Florida. The soldiers, commanded by Captain Israel Vogdes were under orders from President James Buchanan to reinforce the fort, an action that could lead to an immediate start of war between the Union and the new Southern republics.

In Georgia, 150 years ago today, the U.S. soldiers at the Augusta Arsenal surrendered to a force of some 800 state militiamen led by Governor Joseph E. Brown in person. Brown was prepared to launch an assault on the arsenal at 2 p.m., but the soldiers surrendered just hours before the attack was to take place.

 

January 18, 1861 - U.S. Troops show confidence in Florida

Fort Jefferson (NPS Photo)

January 18, 1861

On this date 150 years ago, U.S. forces showed growing confidence in their ability to hold three key forts on islands along the Florida coast.

At Fort Jefferson, the largest masonry fort in the western hemisphere, 64 soldiers and four officers came ashore from the chartered steamship Joseph Whitney. Commanded by Brevet Major Lewis G. Arnold, they had left Fort Independence at Boston Harbor eight days earlier in a secret mission to land combat troops at Fort Jefferson before state troops from Florida could move to seize the massive fort.

Sometimes called the "Gibraltar of the Gulf," the fort was still unfinished and covered more than 13 acres, but was in a sufficient state of completion and was so remote that it would be all but impossible for secessionist forces to attack it. The fort is now part of Dry Tortugas National Park and is located 70 miles off Key West.

Fort Taylor (Florida State Archives)

At Fort Taylor in Key West, meanwhile, U.S. troops commanded by Captain John M. Brannan felt their position was one of growing strength. They had been mounting heavy guns and had plenty of water, food and ordnance supplies. The fort had such an abundance of artillery, in fact, that arrangements were immediately made to ship some of the 10-inch Columbiads there out to Fort Jefferson to assist in defending that work.

Fort Pickens

At Pensacola Bay on the same day, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer of the First U.S. Artillery received a third demand that he surrender the fort to forces of the State of Florida. The lieutenant was growing more confident in his ability to hold the fort, however, as work to mount artillery to defend it against any attack by Southern militia had been going forward with great speed. Slemmer now knew that it would be a bloody proposition for the troops of Colonel William H. Chase to attack Fort Pickens, but as he had done before, he requested time to consider the surrender demand. He would soon decline for a third time to give up the fort.

If you are interested in following a day by day accounting of the military events surrounding the Secession of Florida, please visit our sister blog: http://civilwarflorida.blogspot.com.

January 16, 1861 - The Growing Focus on Two Forts

January 16, 1861

Fort Sumter (NPS Photo)

As the middle of January passed, it became obvious that the military attention of both North and South was beginning to focus on two key forts: Fort Sumter in South Carolina and Fort Pickens in Florida.

The two fortifications had much in common. Both stood on islands that commanded the entrances to key Southern harbors, both were held by Union forces while state militia troops had occupied surrounding works and both were named for famous South Carolinians.

Fort Sumter, named for General Thomas Sumter of the American Revolution, stood on a man-made island inside the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Designed for multiple tiers of cannon, the fort controlled a long stretch of the channel that led into the harbor. With Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney and Fort Johnson, it was part of a harbor defense system that was designed to prevent an attacking navy from reaching Charleston. As long as it remained in U.S. hands, however, it bottled up the harbor and had the potential to prevent Southern commerce and warships from moving in and out of Charleston. It was incomplete in 1861, although construction had been underway since 1827. To learn more about Fort Sumter, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortsumter.

Fort Pickens

Fort Pickens, named for General Andrew Pickens of the American Revolution, stood on the western end of Santa Rosa Island at the entrance to Pensacola Bay. It had two levels for artillery and, with Fort McRee opposite the inlet to the bay and Fort Barrancas on the mainland, was designed to prevent enemy warships from entering Pensacola Bay or approaching the vitally important Pensacola Navy Yard. It had a key advantage over Fort Sumter in that it was located directly on the Gulf of Mexico instead of on a man-made island in the bay. Like the South Carolina fort, however, as long as it remained in Union hands, Pensacola Bay was effectively closed to Southern use. To learn more about Fort Pickens, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortpickens1.

An attack on either fort would lead to the outbreak of civil war. In mid-January it appeared that the first spark might ignite at Fort Pickens, where on January 16, 1861, 150 years ago today, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer of the U.S. Army refused a second demand that he surrender the fort to a growing force of state militia. The government in Washington, D.C., was faced with the issue of whether to attempt to reinforce either fort or both forts, with the realization that doing so might well ignite the war they hoped to prevent.

January 15, 1861 - An Engineer Demands the Surrender of the Fort He Built

Col. William H. Chase

January 15, 1861

On this date, 150 years ago, Colonel William H. Chase of the State of Florida demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida.

It must have been the most unexpected duty of his long military career, as Chase had once supervised the construction of the massive brick fort. A former U.S. Army officer and engineer who had graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1815, Colonel Chase was of northern birth but had spent much of his career in the Deep South. After supervising the construction of Forts Pike and Macomb in Louisiana, he had arrived in Florida in 1828 where he spent the next seven years directing the construction of Fort Pickens.

Fort Pickens, Florida

Located at the western end of Santa Rosa Island and designed to control the entrance to Pensacola Bay, the huge fort was designed to mount more than 200 pieces of artillery and was to be manned by 1,200 men during siege positions. When Chase arrived at its gates on January 15, 1861, accompanied by Commander Ebenezer Farrand who had just resigned his post in the U.S. Navy, Fort Pickens was manned by fewer than 100 men under the command of Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer:

Listen to me, then, I beg of you, and act with me in preventing the shedding of the blood of your brethren. Surrender the fort. You and your command may reoccupy the barracks and quarters at Barrancas on your simple parole to remain there quietly until ordered away, or to resume the command of the harbor should an adjustment of present difficulties in the Union be arrived at…Consider this well, and take care that you will so act as to have no fearful recollections of a tragedy that you might have averted, but rather to make the present moment one of the most glorious, because christianlike, of your life. - Colonel William H. Chase, State of Florida, January 15, 1865.

Lt. Adam J. Slemmer

Slemmer knew that Chase more than any other officer in the South understood the strengths and weaknesses of Fort Pickens. He asked the colonel how many men he had at his command and Chase replied that he would have 800-900 by that night. It was an overwhelming force, but with sufficient artillery in position the lieutenant knew he might hope to hold the fort against such a militia command. 

He asked Chase to allow him to consider his situation until the next day, when he would give his answer. It was something of a trick on Slemmer's part. His men had been working and standing guard duty day and night for days and were exhausted to the point of collapse. A truce for the night would allow his men to get some desperately needed rest so they would be ready to fight the next day, if necessary. It would also give Slemmer time to consult with the captains of the two U.S. Navy ships still at anchor nearby. Colonel Chase was extremely anxious to avoid bloodshed and so agreed to the request.  

To learn more about Fort Pickens, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortpickens1.

 

January 14, 1861 - Fort Pike Seized and Fort Taylor Occupied

Fort Taylor (Florida State Archives)

January 14, 1861

As the military situation in the South continued to grow more tense, moves were made on January 14, 1861 - 150 years ago today - involve key forts in Florida and Louisiana.

In Florida, Captain J.M. Brannan of the First U.S. Artillery moved his company from the Key West Barracks into Fort Taylor on the night of January 14th.  Begun in 1845 and still under construction, the fort was a strong work with three tiers of artillery that commanded the harbor at Key West. The movement was made at the request of Captain E.B. Hunt of the engineers, who was supervising work on the fort, following the secession of Florida and reports of seizures of other forts and arsenals throughout the South.

Fort Taylor is now a part of the Florida State Park system and is open to the public daily. To learn more, please visit www.floridastateparks.org/forttaylor.

In Louisiana on the same day, state militia forces occupied Fort Pike. Built in 1819-1826, the strong masonry fort guarded the Rigolets, a channel that connected Lake Borgne and Lake Pontchartrain, providing water access from the Gulf of Mexico to the "back door" of New Orleans. The importance of this channel had been made clear by British operations at the time of the Battle of New Orleans (1814-1815) and the U.S. had moved quickly to strongly fortify the Rigolets.

Fort Pike is now a Louisiana State Historic Site and is open to the public by appointment. To learn more, please visit www.crt.state.la.us/parks/ifortpike.aspx,

January 13, 1861 - Key West Lighthouse, Florida

Key West Lighthouse

January 13, 1861

As the Southern states seceded, as many coastal facilities as possible were seized by state forces. Such targets included the lighthouses that dotted the Southern coastline.

Southern forces seized most of the lighthouses and very few remained in Union hands throughout the war. One of these was the Key West Lighthouse in Key West, Florida. Built in 1847-1849 to replace an earlier structure that had been destroyed by a hurricane, the lighthouse was one of two that guided ships through the treacherous waters around Key West.

Because the U.S. Army never gave up Key West and the South never launched a major effort to take the island, the Key West Lighthouse continued to operate during the war years, when virtually every other lighthouse on the Southern coast was darkened to prevent Union warships from using them to assist in navigation.

The only confrontation that took place over the Key West Lighthouse, in fact, involved not soldiers but its cantankerous keeper, 92-year-old Barbara Mabrity. She had served as keeper of the light since it was built in the 1840s (and of the previous tower as well) and had spent 32 years of her life on the U.S. payroll. During the war, however, she infuriated local officials by making comments against the Union. Mabrity was fired and replaced as a result of those comments.

If you would like to learn more of the history of the Key West Lighthouse, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/keywestlighthouse.

January 12, 1861 - William Conway takes a stand for the Old Flag

William Conway in 1861, by William Waud

January 12, 1861

150 years ago today a force of some 600 uniformed militiamen from Florida and Alabama appeared at the gates of the Pensacola Navy Yard in Florida and demanded its surrender.

The yard was commanded by Commodore James Armstrong, a veteran of five decades of service in the U.S. Navy. Informed by commissioners from the State of Florida that they had been sent to take possession of the facility, and realizing that with the limited forces at his disposal he could not hope to hold it, he surrendered.

Orders were given to lower the U.S. flag that floated over the navy yard and the task of bringing down the colors fell to William Conway, a quartermaster of long time service in the U.S. Navy. To the surprise of all, however, Conway refused his orders to do so. His announcement was striking to all present, "I have served under that flag for forty years, and I won't do it."

Of all the officers and men in the Pensacola Navy Yard on January 12, 1861, Conway was the only man who made any effort to resist the seizure of the facility. He was arrested by the militia forces and placed in the brig, but in time was released and resumed his service in the U.S. Navy.

The story of his refusal to lower the flag became a legend of the early days of the Civil War and a group of men from California had a gold medal cast in his honor. This was presented to him by officers of the Gulf Blockading Squadron, along with a letter of commendation from U.S. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles:

It gives me pleasure to cause to be delivered to you the accompanying letter and gold medal from your countrymen in California, presented to you as a testimonial of their high appreciation of your noble and patriotic conduct in refusing to haul down the flag of your country when others (your superiors in position) were wanting in fidelity to it.- Secretary of the Navy Gideon Wells, November 11, 1861.

Conway is honored today by a granite boulder and plaque in his hometown of Camden, Maine.

Also on this date in 1861, state forces demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, Florida, but were refused by Lieutenant Adam Slemmer of the U.S. Army.