At Fort Pickens

[Patrick H]

Patrick, you should like this. In the vaulted arch at the top, you can see small stalactites where the lime has leached out of the mortar in the past 150+ years. They're the little white lines.

Absolutely. The stalactites clearly show in this photo. Isn't that something?! In a limestone cave, this process would take countless millennia, but here it is happening after less than 200 years! Just leeching out of mortar, and MAYBE because the earthen roof is gone and the rain can penetrate directly into the brick joints (that part is purely speculative).

 

[David O]

Touring the fort this past June, I was struck by the size of the fort and the fact that Lt. Slemmer held the previously abandoned fort with only 80 men for several months.

 

[hrobalabama]

Looking out toward the Gulf of Mexico.

This 15" Rodman was not part of the original armament. It was placed there a few years back by the National Park Service.

 

[18thVirginia]

Touring the fort this past June, I was struck by the size of the fort and the fact that Lt. Slemmer held the previously abandoned fort with only 80 men for several months.

View attachment 80283

Thanks for the photo, mine don't quite show the immensity of the fort, which strikes one as you drive around it. The parade ground was huge compared to other Gulf Coast forts I've seen.

 

[18thVirginia]

This 15" Rodman was not part of the original armament. It was placed there a few years back by the National Park Service.

Thanks for the clarification. Anything original would have been eaten away by the salt spray by now.

 

[18thVirginia]

A photo of the bastion that was blown off in the explosion. And I just liked this photo.

 

[18thVirginia]

This is another part of the Spanish American War fortifications, outside the fort. It gives an idea of how much land was surrounding the fort.

 

[18thVirginia]

Another view of the WWII tower and the vegetation on the island.

 

[18thVirginia]

Closeup of the masonry at the fort. My husband took a community college course in bricklaying once and points out that if you look down the rows, you can see where they made a layer crosswise--you can see the ends of the bricks. On most places, that's about 6 or 7 rows, here it's 3.

 

[18thVirginia]

Looking toward the bay side. The entrance would be on first floor at bottom left of the photo.

 

[18thVirginia]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks.

Thank you, it was a fun day.

 

[18thVirginia]

David O, this photo gives a sense of the size of the parade ground and the size of the fort. The black building at left, Barracks Pensacola, cuts the parade ground in two, so you get an idea of how large it was.

 

[18thVirginia]

I know what you're doing. It's like a teaser, right? Like when the new Batman movie is due out, keep us pinned to our seats?

OK, intermission , in lieu of the comedian coming out, keeping the audience engaged before a main act- 18th's visit to Fort Picken.

" When Florida seceded from the Union in January 1861, state officials quickly ordered Florida troops to seize key federal forts and arsenals throughout the state. At Pensacola, federal troops moved from the mainland to the more defendable Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island. Florida troops, supported by soldiers from Alabama, demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens. Federal Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer refused to give up the fort.


Thus, in early 1861 the war could have easily started at Fort Pickens, Florida, rather than at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. However, a truce was worked out at Pensacola in which the North agreed not to reinforce the fort, and the South agreed not to attack it. Immediately following the southern bombardment of Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1861, Union forces landed near Pensacola to reinforce Fort Pickens. The standoff at Pensacola continued for several months. Union forces conducted a raid in which they burned a southern ship, and in early October the Confederates launched a large, nighttime raid on Santa Rosa Island. "
http://www.museumoffloridahistory.com/exhibits/permanent/civilwar/03.cfm

Did not know that!

Apache prisoners at Fort Pickens. Geronimo was there, not certain if he is included in this pic or not.


These guns are heavy artillery in Pensacola aimed at Fort Pickens

Thanks for coming to the rescue, @JPK Huson 1863 . After grabbing 2 photos from my cellphone, I realized that my Adobe downloader had decided that its downloading days were over, for whatever reason. Hence no photos.

 

[David O]

David O, this photo gives a sense of the size of the parade ground and the size of the fort. The black building at left, Barracks Pensacola, cuts the parade ground in two, so you get an idea of how large it was.

It certainly does. Thanks for posting your pictures. Much better than mine.