Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1861-12-05
Pcusacola and vicinity

. KeUo0COt8- ana vbcluisy. =
,EWkile thsseporfs ofs6arp fighting come
to Us from Pickeus and Pensacola, the fol-
lowing information regarding those points
will be of interest: ~ - -, -
The entrance Of the bay, between Santa
Rosa Island on the east, and the mainland
of the west, is about mile wide, bat with
iu it expands into capacious harbor, from
four to ten miles vide, and entirely land
locked. Fort Pickens Is on tbe extreme
point Of the long, narrow Santa Rosa, and
sasious batteries and other works have
been erected here. sf'al sra -zli' - oiaE
% the mainland TO The west are the
rebel works and rebel encampments, which
have been so often described. Opposite
the lower part of the island is Fort McRea
and about half a mile to the north, and
immediateIyin front of the entrance the
west shore making an abrupt turn TO The
east1 stands Fort San Carlos de Barracas.
1nthe rear of this fort IS situated Gen.
Brnxton Braggs main camp. Near the
fort is the lighthouse, extensive barracks
and the naval hospital About mile
above the hospital is The. navy yard, sit
,uated on Tartar Point, where The shore
bends again 10 The north. Tie village
of Warrenton lies immediately adjacent
to the wall of the Navy Yard .b2aAa; ,baa
The town Of Pensacola, reported as
evacuated. is eight miles in a noriheasierr
]y direction from the Navy Yard, and why
Gen. Braxton Bragg should have ordered
its evacuation if be positively determined
tobreach Fort Piekens "on Monday" it is
hard TO see. Itappears much more likely
that Bragg Anticipated the. destruction of
his forts and batteries by the very troops
he was on the point Of "forcing to snrren-
DER" and an immediate assault on Peusa.
cola BY the vessels Of war which be had
just .riddled with bullets 8 .ssla
i. Pensacola harbor is the best harbor on
the Gulf Of Mexico. 1t is completely land
locked, and has twenty-two feet of water
on the bar at low tide.i East Bay admits
frigates of the largest class, and is entirely
sheltered from all winds. The town OF
Pensacola, which is the principal seaport
of West Florida, had year ago, q popula
tion of about 4, 900; but a great part of
these fed from the ruin and terror that
han oyertaken the city. The houses are
generally old fashioned Spanish structures
The Alabama and Flarida Railroad which
connects the town with Montgomery (AIa)
was completed shortly after secession.
That part of the road then unbuilt was
finished with great haste by Davis orders
SO that troops and munitions might be
hurried forward for the capture Of Fort
Pckens. TAlthough thatis gnme- months
ago, however, Piekens is. .as YET uncapiared
nor, We judge by the latest news, it is not
likely soon TO be captured. The, climate
is exceedingly l,ealibful. except for occa-
sianal and rare visitations Of yellow fever.
The creole element spredominates in the
resident population. In 1914 Gen. Jack
son drove out the British who had eslab
lished themselves there lty permission O:
the Spaniards, and assaulted and took the
city and adjacent forts. Again In 1918,
General jackson, in consequence of Indian
incursions on the United States territory,
took possession Of Pensacola, and obliged
Fort Barrancas, to which the Spanish
Governor had retired, to capitulate. Iu
1921 the whole territory was cedeJ to the
United States. We hope it will tnrn out
that Col. Brown is no unworthy successor
Of Gen. Jackson. h's'77 ss.s a1aio