page_title: Fort Pickens
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Pickens / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: 1864 CIVIL WAR GENERAL SLEMMER CDV PHOTO MATHEW BRADY
context_page_description: Fort Pickens is a pentagonal historic United States military fort on Santa Rosa Island in the Pensacola, Florida, area. It is named after American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens. The fort was completed in 1834 and was one of the few forts in the South that remained in Union hands throughout the American Civil War. It remained in use until 1947. Fort Pickens is included within the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and as such, is administered by the National Park Service.
context_section_description: By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since shortly after the Mexican–American War. Despite its dilapidated condition, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, in charge of United States forces at Fort Barrancas, decided Fort Pickens was the most defensible post in the area. He decided to abandon Fort Barrancas when, around midnight of January 8, 1861, his guards repelled a group of local civilians who intended to occupy the fort. Some historians claim that these were the first shots fired in the Civil War.
  On January 10, 1861, the day Florida declared its secession from the Union, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at Fort McRee. He then spiked the guns at  Fort Barrancas, and moved his small force of 51 soldiers and 30 sailors to Fort Pickens. On January 15, 1861 and January 18, 1861, Slemmer refused surrender demands from Colonel William Henry Chase of the Florida militia. Chase had designed and constructed the fort as a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Slemmer defended the fort against threat of attack until he was reinforced and relieved on April 11, 1861 by Colonel Harvey Brown and the USS Brooklyn.
  The Confederates attacked the Fort on October 9, 1861 in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, with a force of a thousand men. The attack came from the east, after forces landed four miles away. The attack was repelled by artillery and gunfire, and the Confederates retreated with 90 casualties.
caption: Adam Jacoby Slemmer
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