The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-06-06

| Year.,h Y HE tsaFl@48 '1t}4E t8''
The wharves ct Pensacola are but slight
" damaged, Long Wharf being the princi-
pal snfferer.9 By the surrender Of the town
General Arnold secured between six and
seven thousand feet of lumber. An exten.
sive oil factory in the outskirts of Pensaco-.
Ia, containing fifteen thousand dollars worth
of oil, was entirely destroyed to prevent it's
falling into the hands of the Unionists.
BUN AT THE NAVY YARD.
The Navy Yard presents scene of ruin
and desolation. Smoke and flames still rise
from the burning timbers of the exten.
sive storehouses, workshops and the wharves,
all of which are destroyed. The skeleton
frame of the old Fulton has vanished into
thin air, and the stocks on which she stood
so long are now an ash heap. The splendid
granite dock appears to be unharmed, and
it's wooden duplicate lies a wreck under
Deer Island. The shears are standing in
the yard, the foundry building and the
blacksmith shop are safe, and the tall CHM
ney is still erect.
The rebels made every preparation to
burn the Custom House, but were probably
driven away by the fire from Fort Pickens,
as it is unipjured. All the Government
buildings outside the yard were burned.
The rebels moved all the heavy colum~
biads from the forts and batteries, but left
many 42-pounders. When the fire broke
out twenty guns were seen in position from
Fort Pickens.
The rebels left the keys of the magazines
of McRae and Barrancas, and of the gates
to the latter Fort, hanging against the wall
outside, as if to invite their successors to
walk in and take possession. But our
troops were not to be caught with that
chat. The disposition of the keys had too
much the appearance of sinister design,
and with the wariness which makes the true
soldier when venturing into the enemy's
country, they avoided the trap which may
have been laid to blow them up, and instead
of entering the Fort by the main passage,
they scaled the walls. The magazines of
both forts will be excavated, in order to
ascertain if the rebels left any internal me-
chanism by which to destroy the Federals.
THE REBEL BATTERIES.
Bragg took away with him, in March, a
! large rlhed cannon and ten-inch cOlumbiad,
which constituted the light house battery.
The ornaments OF the different batteries
and forts at Pensacola at the time of the
bombardment, as near as it can be ascer-
tanned, was as follows: there were forty
two guns on the island on which Fort Nc
Rea is situated, including the armament OF
that work and the water batteries. There
was battery of two tensinch mortars and
another of two ten inch columb iads, Just
above the residence of Col. Chase, which
also mounted between them three forty
twos and two eight inch guns. The light.
house battery, rendered famous by the de.
structive fire it poured into Pickens during
the January bombardment, remained intact.
| The guns have been removed. In the rear
OF the light house was q mortar, supposed
to be a 10 inch sea coast.
| There were four batteries between the
light houses and Barrancas, which mounted
seven AIS and FIVE eight-inch columbiads.
| Between Fort Barrancas and the barracks
were four AIS in two batteries, which are
still there, besides four ten.inch columbiads
which had been removed. Next to the
hospital battery, to which have referred
were four 8.inch columbiads, which did not
open fire. Next in order was Wheet's bat.
terry, consisting of two lO.inch columbiads
and three 32s; Church's battery with
one 1O-inch and two smaller guns. There
was l0-inch columbiad mounted on a
point in the Navy Yard, and batteries of
unknown number and strength lined the
shore from the yard to the Pensacola. At
the mouth of Big Bayou there were two
lO-inch and several smaller guns mounted.
Nearly all the heavy guns used here were
transported from Norfolk after the seizure
OF that place by the rebels.
OUR FORCES IN POSSESSION.
The first intimation General Arnold had
OF the intended evacuation was on the 25th
OF March, when some negroes and white
people came over to Pickens, by whom he
learned that the only troops remaining at
Pensacola were the 22d Mississippi regi.
ment, numbering 800 or 1000 men, and 1000
raw troops. Gen. Arnold desired to rOut
the enemy, but had 10 means of transpOrta-
ton. He wrote to flag officers Farragut
and Mexican, requesting them to furnish
him with gunbOats to take his troops across
the channel. But the extensive prepara~
lions in progress for the reduction of New
Orleans prevented them from aiding Gen.
Arnold in the desired attack. About the
first of April Gen. Butler proposed to CO.
operate with the commander of Fort Pick.
ems in a combined attack on the rebel works.
General Butler was to land a strong
force at PerditO Inlet, while with the steams
err j. P. Jackson he expected to land at
Pensacola. All the necessary ofders were
issued, and the troops provided with four
days. rations, when General Arnold receiv-
ed communication from General Butler,
stating that the Flag Officer was about
commencing the attack upon Forts Jack.
son and st. Philip, and desired the pres
ence of all bis available troops in the river,
and he was therefore reluctantly compelled
to abandon the enterprise.
He has low taken peaceable possession of
the late rebel stronghold. Twelve hundred
troops now garrison Forts McRae, Barran-
cas- and the Navy Yard, and tomorrow
Gen. Arnold will establish his military
headquarters on the main land of Florida.