, 1861-12-18
THE PENSACOLA FIGHT.


HEADQUARTERS DErAnrnzaT or FLORIDA,
Fort P1ckENs, Nor. Is, 1851 {
GEsKRAL-That Fort Pickens has been be-
eagured by the rebels for the last nine
months, and that it vas daily Threatened with
ihe fate of Sumter, is a fact notorious to the
whole world. Since its occupancy by Lieut.
slemmer the rebels have been surrounding 1t
with batteries, and daily arning them with the
heaviest and most efficient guns known to our
service guns stolen from the United States
until they considered this fort as virtually
their OWL, its occupancy being only question |
Of time.
I have been in command since the 18th Of
April and during the whole Of that time their !
force has averaged, 60 far as can learn, from |
eight to ten times The humber Of mine. The |
position in which have thus been placed has
been sufficiently trying, and have ct three |
separate times intended to free myself from it |
By opening my batteries on them, but lmpe- |
riou5 circumstances, oFer which I had no con- |
troll, has unexpectedly in each instance pre-
vented:
Afairs were in this state On the morning Of |
the 9th Of October, when the enemy, fifteen !
hundred strong, attacked by surprise por- |
ton OF my command on IN intensely dark
night. They we're defeated and driven from
the island with great loss by less than two
hundred regulars and fifty yol1nteers--an the
pose. An insult to the flag Of MT country
could not by me be passed unnoticed, and I
designed Immediately to take appropriate no.
tice of it but, as said before, circumstances
over which / had no control prevented. I
make these predatory remarks to explain why
have now opened my batteries on the enemy,
when, from the smallest Of my forces, about
one-sixth of his, thirteen hundred to eight
thousand, I have not the means Of producing
any decisive results, and IS evidence OF my
having. accomplished what I deslgned-the
Furnishing the perpetrators Of an insult Of my
country's flag.
Having invited flag officer McKean to CO.
ope1ate with me in attacking the rebels, and
to which he gaze ready and cordial assent, I,
Ges 2a sos on the ens to whien @ n tie @ Course of
half an hour, he responded from his numerous
| forts and batteries extending from the Navy
Yard to Fort McRae, 4 distance Of about four
miles, the whole nearly equi-distant from this
! fort, and on which line be has two forts-a1c-
! Rae and Bar1ancas- fourteen separate bat
| teries, containing from one to four guns,
many Of them being ten-inch eolumbiads and
| some twelve and thirteen-inch sea coast NOR
| tars, the distance varying from two thousand
one hundred to two thousand nine hundred
| yards from this fort. At the same time Of mF
| opening, flag officer hcKean, in the Niagara,
| and Captain Ellison, in the Richmond, took
! position as near to Fort McRae as the depth
Of water would permit, but which unfortu-
| feet to their powerful batteries. They, how
ever, kept up q spirited fire on the fort and
I adjacent batteries during the whole day. 0fy
fire was incesEant from the time Of opening
| until it was too dark to see, at the rate Of q
shot for each gun every fifteen or twenty min
slower. By noon the guns Of Fort McRac
were ill silenced but one, and three hours be-
fore sunset this fort aud the adjoining battery
ceased fire. I directed the guns Of batteries
| Lincoln, Cameron and Totten principally Oh
the batteries adjacent to the Navy Yard, those
| d. ur&4+ T-% ~. = ..1,&
house batteries, and those Of the fort to al1.
We reduced very perceptiby the fire Of Bar
rancas, entirely silenced that in the Navy Yard,
and in one or Two Of the other batteries; the
efficiency Of our fire, at the close Of the day,
not being the least impaired
The next morning again opened about The
same hour, the navy, unfortunately, owing to
reduction in the depth Of wafer, caused by
a change OF wind, not being able to get so near
as yesterday, consequently the distance WAS
too great to be effectual Ny fire this day was
less rapid, and think more efficient, than thai
Of yesterday. Fort McRae, SO cfectually
sileneed yesterday. did not fire again to-day.
We silenced entirely one or Two guns, and had
one Of ours disabled by 4 shot coming through
the embrasure.
About three o'clock fire was communicated
to one Of the houses in Warrington, and
shortly afterwards to the church stceple, the
church and the whole village being inmedi
atcly in the rear Of some Of the rebel batteries
they apparently having placed them purposclJ
directly in front Of the largest and most val
Gated to other buildings along the street uu.
til probably two-thi1ds Of it was consumed
and about tl1e same time fire was discovered
Issuing from the back part Of the Navy Yard
probably in Wolcott, q village to the north ant
Immediately adjoining the yard, as Warning
to the yard, and as it continued to burn bright
u all night, concluded that either in it or il
Wolcott many buildings were destroyed
Very heavy damage was also done to the build
! ings Of the yard by the avalanche ofshot, she1
and spllnters shoWered increasingly on then
| built Of brick and covered with Slate, coul
| not succeed in firing them, my hot shot no
shells not having any power Of ignitinE them
} The steamer Time, which was at the wIa1
at the time, was abandoned on the first da
, and exposed to our fire, which probably eu
i tire]y disabled her. The fire mas again contir
ucd till dark, and with mortars OCCASIONAL
until two O'Clock the next morning, when th
! combat ceased
This fort, at its conclusion, though it la
received great many shot and shell, is, in CT
s cry respect, save the disabling Of ono gun-cal
riasye and the loss Of service Of six men, {
efficient as it was at the commencement Of tt
T. combat, but the ends proposed in common,
T find to be impracticable with my prcsc1
means, I do not deem it advisable further
! continue it unless the enemy think it propt
+ to do so, when shall meet him with ala
rity.
Q The attack on "Billy Wilson," " camp, Il
:, attempted attack on my batteries, and the il
l. suit to our glorious flag, have been fully NJ
Z fearfully avenged. I have no means Of kno1
u | ing the loss OF the enemy, and have no disp
{ sition to guess at it. The firing on his hattc
v les was very heavy, well directed and conti
I nous for two days, and could hardly fail
= having important results.
u u Our loss would have been heavy but for Il
y foresight which, with great labor, caused I
el to erect elaborate means Of protection, al
e which saved many lives. I lost one priya
+ men {privates} wounded, only one severely.
!, u I am, General, very respectfully,
n Your obcdicnt servant,
+ Harvey BRowN, Col. Com
" An officer on board the Niagara giTcs /
1T following account Of the part taken in tile fig
is by the Niagara and Richmond:
- By sunrise on the morning OF the ed
~ were all ready Our boats had been hoist
y out and moofed alongside, shot and shell E
~ ~ up and steam al ready to move in at short
u u tiee. About Aa]f.past nine ne could sec t
~ ~ steamers coming down to the Navy Yard,
- tie suspecting that their doom was scaled
~ s a very short time they were fast to the dos
~. ~. and at just twelve minutes Of ten O'clock
" saw smoke issue from Fort Pickens, q
-, ~ heard the booming Of gun. 4 cheer bu
~ = forth from our men, and if ever 4 ships
u u chor came up lively, it WAS ours then.
~. ~ order to bring our guns within range, it !
y necessary for us to run into very shoal vat
- and consequently it required the utmost c.
49, | tion in working the ship. Even with a p
~ u. tect1y smooth sea there would be only tWe1
~ inches of water under our keel, aud If 1t sho7
u " begin to blow, or O heavy swell set in, it =
~ ~ necessary for us to have the ship in sucl
Ste position that re could easily run into dee
~ " water. While working our way in, the Ri
,ile IL mond came up under our stern, and as
y; HS draws less water than VIC do, the Commod
n n ordered her to go in and open fire as 5000
~ she VAS within range. She passed By us, tt
ol up position nearer to the land, and ope1
~, " fire. We kept on steadily until We thou
~, that VIC were within range, and then came
10 l4l anchor.
"a "a Our first shot was from the eighty -four poz
Ill" rided, aud it told with very good effect
next WAS from an elezen-inch gun, but it
short. A few more we're fired, but with N,
the same result. Finding that re were
er.1 far of, boat WAS sent out in charge Of
ure | master, In order to sound, and having fol
re. that we could get in somewhat closer with
,ra1 anchor and ran in about one-fourth Of a 4
~ further. During the time that our boat. .
6es out sounding, several Of their shots came
am near it, bnt fortunately none hit. We r
~ again opened fire from our broadsdc guns,
h;s this time to some purpose. Almost every g
~. told, and there must have been fearful S
the terlpg OF pieces, as our shell exploded {
~ their heads. do not think there was ever
;eT target practice in the navy that can show S
nd record Of effective shots, The rebels ?
nv be either increasing the charge Of powde,
-! I else pettinp more elevation for their +