Fort McRee Informations

Fort McRee was a historic military fort constructed by the United States on the eastern tip of Perdido Key to defend Pensacola and its important natural harbor. In the defense of Pensacola Bay, Fort McRee was accompanied by Fort Pickens, located across Pensacola Pass on Santa Rosa Island, and Fort Barrancas, located across Pensacola Bay on the grounds of what is now Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola. Fort Pickens was the largest of these. Very little remains of Fort McRee today.

Fort McRee was one of three major installations constructed by the United States to strengthen defenses at Pensacola Bay following the War of 1812. Its construction lasted from 1834 and 1839; the facility was a three-tiered fort and a detached water battery close to sea level. It was located on the eastern tip of Perdido Key on a stretch of beach known as Foster's Bank. It had a highly unusual shape because of its position on a small, narrow barrier island.

Fort McRee had a strange boomerang shape, of a rather archaic design. In this design, it had 19 casemates (4 on each face, 1 on the tip, and 5 on each wing), each capable of mounting 4 cannons. However, General Simon Bernard's plans for the fort called for 8 of the casemates to be used as quarters and store rooms, and 2 of the 8 were to be used as powder magazines. This left the wings of the fort rather under defended, but it still left 44 casemated guns aiming at Pensacola Pass, which was enough to stop enemy ships.

The landward facing walls of the fort, containing the Sally Port, were known as the gorge. The large rooms on the ends of the gorge were also powder magazines, and each of them were 17 x 35 feet in area. The Sally Port was 12 feet wide. The gorge was designed to have 6 casemates- 3 on either face- to be used as quarters. In each, it was possible to mount 1 carronade.

Although the fort was completed in 1839, its 122 guns were not installed until sometime between 1843 and 1845. It is likely that many of these guns were not in place for some time due to several issues, the most important of which was a problem with rot beginning in the second tier wooden decking.

Fort McRee was named in April 1840 for Army engineer Colonel William McRee.

The first troops stationed at Fort McRee, the men of I Company, 3rd Artillery, arrived on 2 May 1842. These men were joined by E Company, 7th Infantry in July. From this time until October 1845, when much of the artillery unit was ordered to Louisiana, the fort was manned at various levels.

After the Mexican–American War was finished in 1848, barracks were built near Fort Barrancas on the mainland. Once these were completed, Fort McRee was manned only during drills, maneuvers and target practice. The strength of the entire US Army on 1 December 1853 was reported at 10,417, so commanders had to be effective in use of troops. The other two Pensacola area forts were manned in a similar way until the outbreak of the Civil War.

With less than 50 men to occupy all three fortifications in Pensacola, First Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer (the senior Army officer present) decided to concentrate his small force in a more defensible location. January 8, 1861 the Union soldiers at Fort Barrancas fired upon the Florida Militia effectively firing the first shots of the war. Over 9 and 10 January 1861, his garrison spiked the guns of Barrancas and McRee then moved across the bay to Fort Pickens. The move was a timely one as on 12 January, Florida and Alabama militia arrived and took control of the evacuated fortifications.

Over the next several months, both sides built new cannon batteries and brought in more personnel. The opposing forces engaged in cannon duels many times but with little effect. Near the end of the year, manning stood at about 7,000 men on the Confederate side opposed by 2,000 Union soldiers around Fort Pickens.

On 9 October 1861 the commander of Confederate forces in Pensacola, General Braxton Bragg, ordered an assault on Fort Pickens that was ultimately unsuccessful. Colonel Harvey Brown, the commander of Union forces, felt this attack required an answer and planned an attack of his own. Fort McRee, the closest fortification to Fort Pickens and a road block to any attempted assault on Pensacola, was to be the primary target.

Starting on the morning of 22 November 1861, Fort McRee was bombarded heavily by Union forces at Fort Pickens, and by two ships, Niagara and Richmond. Initially returning strong fire, the Confederates were able to hold their own and even managed to heavily damage the Richmond. However, the combined efforts of the two ships eventually led to the suppression of fire by an adjacent battery early in the afternoon with the guns of Fort McRee falling silent by 5pm. A fall in tide and the onset of darkness caused the two ships to withdraw.

After the days fight, General Bragg sent messengers out to ascertain the extent of damage to the Confederate defenses. The commander of Fort McRee, Colonel John B. Villepique, advised that his position was heavily exposed on most sides and that half his weapons had been dismounted and their powder stores unprotected. Villepique stated he was unable to return fire and asked to sabotage the fort and withdraw. Worried about the effect the retreat would have not only on his men but the enemy as well, Bragg denied the request.

At 10am on 23 November, the Niagara resumed its attack on Fort McRee as did the cannons at Fort Pickens. The guns of Fort McRee remained silent. The end of fighting that day signaled the end of the Colonel Brown's attack. Although Fort McRee survived, it was badly battered. Large chunks of the wall were blown away while other portions had holes shot clean through by the cannon shells. In one area a section of wall totally collapsed. Most of the wood decking within the fort had gone up in flames while one powder magazine caved in, killing six Confederates in the process.

The actions on 22 and 23 November would be the last engagement for Fort McRee. Although there was an artillery duel on 1 January 1862, the fort was not a participant in that action.

When Confederate forces abandoned Pensacola in May 1862, they burned Fort McRee and several other buildings in the area believed to be of strategic value. No mention in surviving records indicate that any repairs were made or even attempted on the fort by Union forces.

Battered and burned is how Fort McRee remained for the next three decades. The only actions taken were to stem the erosion of the beach by the construction of two jetties. An example of this neglect can be seen in an 1871-1872 expenditures report which recorded a total of $191.29 being spent on maintaining the fort.

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