The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-20
REVIVAL OF GOVERNMENTS
 INTEREST IN PENSACOLA
Uncle Sam the Biggest Property Owner in and Around the Florida Seaport of His
 Valuable Investments There.

Mexico for radius of twenty miles | around has been charted by the army | officers. The chart is cut in series l Of squares and a man in the watch towers could in second tell he fight l CTS in the fort in which particular | square a hostile vessel was, in its ap- | proach to the harbor. Each nf the | towers is connected with the fort by
 telephone. The big guns in the fort
 carry a distance of twelve miles. Should a hostile vessel approach with
 in that distance and be located by the I tower watcher he would telepnone to | the fort the exact 30 yard square | through which the vessel was passing and the men in the fort who might not
 be able to see the smoke from the stacks of the vessels would let fly a shot from twelve inch gun at that square which , would be also mapped out on the chart l they held
 | At present there is a battery of ar | til1ery at Fort Pickens and two bat teries at Fort McRae. Another battery l is encamped for rest and recreation from its tour of duty at the fort on the
 high hill near old Fort Baranacas. Two other batteries which are usually l stationed at one or the other fort are now in the North participating in the l artillery manouvers.
 For Alabamians a special interest | attaches old Fort Barancas. At the outbreak of the war between the States | Alabama troops marched down from Pensacola and captured the historic old fort from the Union soldiers stationed | there. A little further down they cap ! tured Fort McRae overlooking the channel and the Navy Yard 10 the north a little distance was easily taken | possession of
 To Fort Pickens across the channel | from Fort McRae, however, belongs a unique distinction. It was the only fort in the entire South that was not captured by the Confederates. From the beginning to the end of the war it. held out. Fort Pickens is on the ex- | treme end of the sandy island known as Santa Rosa and was difficult of &C., cess. As the war progressed, however. the garrisons of Confederate soldiers had to be recalled from McRae. Bar rancas and the Navy Yard to strength-A Y en the armies of Virginia, sorely beset by an overwhelming foe. When the Federal fleet finally advanced on Pen sacola the war vessels in conjunction with Fort Pickens across the channel fiercely bombarded old Fort McRIe and all but raZed it to the ground. It was. however, rebuilt in later years.
 The forts about the city give Pensa- cola a double distinction. In the first place it Is said by virtue of the equip ment of and efficiency of Pickens and
  port south of New York. In the sec ond place, few if any places in the en- tire country has so many forts of his toric and other interest, some obsolete and some modern.
 It is understood from what is here written that at present the defense of the city rests upon the modern. eff cient forts of Pickens and McRae. These two forts are located eight miles from the city. A mile to the north west is the old Barrancas fort, re- membered with keen interest by the surviving Alabama soldiers who were among those who went down in the early days of the war and captured the old stronghold.
 Barrancas Is practically abandoned now as a means of defense. No gar rison is kept in the fort proper. On the high hill near the fort. however, a garrison post has been established for the artillerymen. A fine home for the commandant is built together with series of tasteful residences for offi- cers A handsome and costly barracks is even now in the course of erection for the men of the garrisons of he diff ferent forts. The government has adopted the policy of having the men do garrison duty for a month at either Pickens or McRae and then fer the health and comfort of the men 1t gives them months stay at the garrison. each artillery company having it's regular turn at both.
 Historic Old Forts.
 The old soldiers will easily recall the remains of Fort San Carlos directly in front of Barrancas, a fort which was built by the Spaniards under De Ariola in 1896. It still endures In a good stateof preservation and Is commonly called the Half Moon Fort.
 The first settlement at Pensacola was made upon the site of :hix fort in 1859, and upon the site of r2arrancas, which is close enough to touch It. The settlement consisted of 2,000 Spanish immigrants under De Luna. It was. however, maintained for only two years when the colonists moved on to Mexico. In 1896 De Ariola with a num- Der of his Spanish countrymen came in, occupied the site of the old settlement and built the first fort. This was de- stroyed by an attack of the French in 1719 The fort was then rebuilt across the channel on Santa Rosa Island near the present Fort Pickens. In 1954 the fort and the settlement were practical ly destroyed by a Gulf storm.
 In 1765 after West Florida had passed into the possession of the English and the settlement had been moved and es- tablished on the present site of Pen sacola, the city was mapped and laid out. The English built still another fort within the corporate limits of the city on the high hill which is at the head of PalafoX Street and which was named in honor of the English General Gage, of Revolutionary fame. The city with all its forts was in 1874 surrender ed to Andrew Jackson on the public square.
 The United States began fort build ing for the defense of Pensacola as early as 1888 when Fort Pickens was begun.
 mile away from Fort Barrancas in deep wood near Grande Bayou IS one of the most interesting and picturesque ruins in all America. It is the Ameri- can fort called Fort Redoubt. Built at a cost of over a million dollars it has never yet been manned by an American garrison. The date of it's construction was some year about the time of the Mexiacn war when Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War. It is a splendid piece of masonry and hid away in the wood. but 1t has never yet been called upon to render service to the country and in all probability never will be. It Is supposed to have been erected as secondary defense in case Barrancas and Pickens should be attack%. In fact 1t is said that underground there is tunnel a mile long leading from the old fort to Fort Redoubt in the woods. The various forts here outlined and the finely equipped navy yard by no means represents the enormous hold