Fort Pickens is one of a number of fortifications that protected naval facilities located inside Pensacola Bay. The name is in honor of Revolutionary War hero General Andrew Pickens of South Carolina.

The Pensacola Navy Yard was begun in 1825, and in 1829 construction of the fort began. Brigadier General Simon Bernard and Colonel Joseph Totten designed Fort Pickens, while Captain William Henry Chase was the onsite engineer for construction.

Five years and 21,500,000 bricks later, Fort Pickens was completed. The fort was not fully utilized until the start of the Civil War when 1st Lt. Adam Slemmer moved a single artillery company from Fort Barrancas to the rundown fort.

Fort Pickens is the largest of the three forts constructed to defend the Pensacola Navy Yard. When Florida seceded from the Union in January 1861, the Navy Yard and all of the defensive fortifications on the mainland side of Pensacola Bay were occupied by Florida and Alabama troops, but Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island, remained in Union hands.

Union troops from Fort Pickens conducted two raids directed at the Navy Yard in September 1861. In October 1861, at the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, a Confederate force of 1,200 men staged a night time raid against the Union encampment east of Fort Pickens.

In November 1861 and January 1862, Union forces from Fort Pickens and on U.S. Navy vessels engaged the Confederates at Fort McRee and Fort Barrancas in massive artillery duels.

Twice, over the course of a year and a half, the Confederates at Forts Barrancas and McRee exchanged fire with Federals at Fort Pickens until, responding to a need for troops in Tennessee, Confederates abandoned Pensacola to Union forces in May 1862. Fort Pickens remained in Union control for the duration of the war, serving as a base for military operations and earning the distinction of being one of only four forts in the south to remain in Union control.

Fort Pickens and the Santa Rosa Island battlefield are located in the National Park Service's Gulf Islands National Seashore. Guided and self-guided tours are available at the visitor center, and interpretive signage is located throughout the fort.

A State Historical Marker for Captain Richard Bradford is located at the Santa Rosa Island battlefield in the vicinity of where Captain Bradford became the first Confederate officer from Florida to be killed in the war.

After the Civil War the fort was relegated to caretaker status with minimal staff until 1886-1888, when it became a temporary political prison housing Geronimo and many other Apache prisoners. Around the turn of the century several concrete batteries were installed around the fort and another was placed inside the parade ground.

In 1899, a fire started near the northern bastion and grew out of control, reaching stored ammunition causing a massive explosion. The damage was more extensive than any that occurred during the Civil War.

During WWI and WWII Fort Pickens was active as both an artillery and anti-aircraft defense location. In 1946, Fort Pickens was determined to be a surplus property and the weapons were sold for scrap metal. Afterward, the Army turned the land over to the jurisdiction of the Florida Board of Parks and Historical Monuments.

Fort Pickens became established as a State park and became a part of Gulf Islands National Seashore upon its creation in January 1971. The old fort underwent extensive repairs beginning in 1975. Reopened to the public in 1976, today Fort Pickens is a popular tourist attraction.

Credits and Sources:

Image courtesy of William Lees, Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN)

Information provided by the Florida Division of Historical Resources and the National Park Service.

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