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 26, 1861 - Louisiana Secedes

Old Capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

January 26, 1861

Celebrations erupted in Baton Rouge 150 years ago today when the State of Louisiana seceded from the Union. In declaring its independence from the Union, Louisiana became the sixth Southern state to do so, joining South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Georgia in becoming an independent republic.

The following account of the key day of the state's secession convention was written by a correspondent of the Richmond Daily Appeal:
 

Baton Rouge, Jan. 26.

--The vote on submitting the ordinance to the people was taken this morning — ayes 45, nays 84.

John Perkins addressed the Convention on the passage of the Secession Ordinance.

The debate closed, and a vote was ordered.

The galleries and lobbies were intensely crowded, and a deathlike silence prevailed.--On the call of the roll many members were in tears.

The Clerk announced the vote — ayes 113, nays 17--and the President declared Louisiana a free and sovereign republic.

Capt. Allen then entered the Convention with a Pelican flag, accompanied by Governor Moore and staff, and put the flag in the hands of the President, amid tremendous excitement.

A solemn prayer was then offered, and a hundred guns were fired.

The Convention adjourned to meet in New Orleans on the 29th inst.

Before the Convention adjourned the resolution accompanying the ordinance, declaring the right of free navigation of the Mississippi river and tributaries to all friendly States, and the right of egress and ingress to boats of the Mississippi by all friendly States and Powers, passed unanimously.

A gold pen was given each member with which to sign the Ordinance of Secession. 

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 11, 1861 - Alabama Secedes & Demand for Surrender of Fort Sumter is Refused

Alabama State Capitol

January 11, 1861

Just 24 hours after Florida seceded the previous day, Alabama joined the growing number of Cotton States in leaving the Union on January 11, 1861.

As the ladies of Montgomery unveiled a blue flag that included the words "Independent Now and Forever" on one side and the Latin words "Nole Me Tangere" or "Touch Me Not" on the other, the delegates to the Alabama Secession Convention passed an ordinance of secession that specifically blamed the "election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of President and Vice-President of the United States of America."

The document also included an invitation to the other Southern states to meet in Montgomery on February 4, 1861, to consider measures for the "common peace and security." This convention, of course, would lead to the formation of the Confederate States of America.

Please click here to learn more about Alabama's historic old capitol, where the ordinance of secession was passed: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/montgomerycapitol2.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, state troops took possession of Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River below New Orleans. The forts were the primary river defenses for New Orleans and were considered of vital military importance.

Fort Sumter in 1861

In South Carolina, the first demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter was made by the State of South Carolina. Major Robert Anderson, commanding the fort, refused. Work continued on the fort at a rapid pace as soldiers and workmen struggled to place the unfinished citadel into a defensible condition. Guns were mounted and traverses constructed to protect exposed positions inside and on the top of the fort.

Around Charleston Harbor, state forces pushed forward with the construction of battery positions. Defenses facing the harbor and Fort Sumter were improved at Fort Moultrie and sand batteries were thrown up at other positions. The progress was rudimentary at this stage of the growing siege, but would intensify over the coming months.

To learn more about Fort Sumter, please visit http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortsumter.

January 10, 1861 - Florida Secedes from the Union & Fort Caswell is seized in North Carolina

Florida's Old Capitol

January 10, 1861

150 years ago today, as a large crowd gathered outside the historic Old Capitol building in Tallahassee, the delegates to Florida's Secession Convention voted by a margin of 62 to 7 to secede from the Union.

Governor-elect John Milton, an ardent secessionist, read the state's ordinance of secession from the east portico of the capitol:

We, the people of the State of Florida in Convention assembled, do solemnly ordain, publish and declare: That the State of Florida hereby withdraws herself from the Confederacy of States existing under the name of the United States of America, and from the existing Government of said States: and that all political connection between her and the Government of said States ought to be and the same is hereby totally annulled, and said union of States dissolved: and the State of Florida is hereby declared a Sovereign and Independent Nation: and that all ordinances heretofore adopted in so far as they create or recognize said Union, are rescinded: and all laws or parts of laws in force in this State, in so far as they recognize or assent to said Union be and they are hereby repealed.

Florida became the third state to leave the Union and the announcement ignited celebrations not only in Tallahassee, but in communities across the state as well as in South Carolina and Mississippi. If you would like to learn more about the state's historic Old Capitol, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/oldcapitol.

Meanwhile, military movements continued across the South. At Charleston Harbor, Union troops in Fort Sumter worked to mount guns and improve their defenses while state troops continued to mount guns and build batteries in Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson and at other points bearing on Sumter. In Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Arsenal and Barracks were seized. In Florida, a small force of around 80 U.S. soldiers and sailors moved across Pensacola Bay from Fort Barrancas and occupied a more defensible position at Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. In North Carolina, citizens took matters into their own hands at captured Fort Caswell.  

Historical Marker for Fort Caswell

Located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, Fort Caswell was a strongly built masonry fort that had been completed in 1836. Designed to mount 61 cannon, it looked out over the channel that led from the Atlantic Ocean up the Cape Fear River to the key port city of Wilmington.

Believing that war was inevitable, a local military company called the Cape Fear Minutemen moved on the fort and seized it from its lone caretaker. The move was done without authorization from the governor or anyone else and a potential crisis loomed. Since North Carolina had not yet decided whether it would secede from the Union, Governor John Ellis ordered Fort Caswell returned to the U.S. government. His orders were followed.

You can learn more about Fort Caswell at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortcaswell.