Capt. Harlock
Posts: 5358
Joined: 9/15/2001 From: Los Angeles Status: offline
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150 Years Ago Today: Fort Pickens, on Santa Rosa Island off Pensacola, Florida, had been the only other major Southern fort besides Fort Sumter to stay in Union hands when the Southern states seceded. Its garrison had been increased to 600 men, and other camps had been set up on the forty-mile-long island to hold them all. Now, Confederate General Richard Anderson crossed from the mainland to the island with 1,200 men in two small steamers to surprise the Union camps on the island and capture Fort Pickens. Anderson landed on the north beach about four miles east of the fort. After proceeding about three miles, the Confederates surprised the 6th Regiment, New York Volunteers, in its camp and routed it. But this lost the element of surprise for the rebels. Anderson then adopted a defensive stance to entice the Federals to leave the fort and attack. Fort commander Colonel Harvey Brown granted Anderson's wish, making a sally against the Confederates. Unfortunately for the Southerners, Brown's men fought well, and General Anderson was badly wounded. With their leader down and Northern reinforcements arriving, the rebels reembarked and returned to the mainland. Union casualties were 67 total: 14 killed, 29 wounded, 24 captured or missing. Confederate casualties were 87 total of which 30-40 were killed. Fort Pickens would stay in Federal hands permanently, and when the Confederate army evacuated Pensacola the next May, the Union garrison took the city.
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Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers? --Victor Hugo
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