Cannon exhibit at Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
See the Fort Barrancas Area web page for an interactive location map.
GETTING THERE
Fort Barrancas is located within the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Tourists and those not employed by the Department of Defense must enter through the west gate on Blue Angel Parkway. All passengers other than children need an ID to get onto the base. A driver’s license will suffice unless it is not compliant with the Real ID Act. Those with a non-compliant license will need a valid passport or other form of identification.
Your vehicle is subject to search, so leave your guns and illegal drugs at home. Though not asked for it here, I have been asked for a vehicle insurance card and registration when entering other military bases, so be sure to have these with you as well.
Once you enter the base, drive straight on Blue Angel Parkway until it forks, at which point bare left on Taylor Road. Be on the lookout to your right for the Fort Barrancas Visitor Center. Fort Barrancas is on a hill behind the Visitor Center, though you cannot see it from the road. A second fort, Advanced Redoubt, is located a little farther down Taylor Road on the left—you can’t miss it.
Fort Barrancas is open on weekends from 9 AM to 4:30 PM.
HISTORY
Fort Barrancas was designed to protect the entrance of Pensacola Bay so that enemy forces could not attack the Pensacola Navy Yard (aka Warrington Navy Yard). Construction on the fort began in 1839 as part of the United States’ effort to strengthen coastal defenses as a result of how easily the British were able to blockade and even invade American cities during the War of 1812. This included successfully burning Washington, D.C., to the ground. Today you might wonder what’s so bad about that, but back in the early 1800s it started a national panic. This age of fort construction was termed the “Third System,” and from 1816 though 1867, forty-two forts were built. Many of the forts that are still standing today are part of the National Park system.
Fort Barrancas was built in five years by a crew of sixty slaves on the site of a former Spanish fort, San Carlos de Barrancas, which was severely damaged during the War of 1812. A water battery, also built by the Spanish, survived the war intact and was modified and incorporated into the new fort (water battery is the term for a battery located at water level). An underground passageway connects the two together. The original Spanish forts were constructed in 1797 and officially became U. S. property when Spain sold Florida to the United States in 1821.
There was still plenty of open land to the north of the fort, leaving the Navy Yard vulnerable to a land-based attack from the west. To counter this, another fort, Advanced Redoubt, was built to block the way. Defensive trenches were then dug to connect the two forts together. An enemy now approaching the Navy Yard would always be within range of the guns from one of the two forts, not to mention the men stationed in the trenches.
Map of Pensacola Bay defenses (rotated to proper northward orientation)
The only action Barrancas ever saw was during the Civil War. As soon as Federal troops realized that Florida’s secession from the Union was inevitable, they opted to abandon Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and Advanced Redoubt and retreated to Fort Pickens, which was determined to provide the best possibility for defense. Confederate troops under the command of General Braxton Bragg occupied the abandoned forts and took control of the Navy Yard on January 12, 1861, the same day that fighting broke out at Fort Sumter.
In September, a small force of Union soldiers attacked the Navy Yard without success. In response, Bragg sent one thousand men to attack the camp of the 6th New York Infantry and burned it to the ground. That provoked the guns at Fort Pickens to open up on the Confederate forts and the Navy Yard for two consecutive days in November. Fort McRee was heavily damaged.
The Confederates eventually abandoned Pensacola in May 1862 in an effort to shift troops to Mississippi and Tennessee. At this time, Union troops reoccupied all of the forts, the Navy Yard, and even the city of Pensacola.
The area did see action later in the war when on October 8, 1863, approximately two hundred Confederate troops attacked the black pickets (forward soldiers serving as sentinels) manning the trenches—they did not purposely intend to shoot at the white soldiers. This attack had little effect, and the Confederates retreated at the end of the day. On the 9th they attacked black pickets at Advanced Redoubt with the same results. That was the last time either of the forts was involved in the fighting.
Fort Barrancas remained active until 1947. It became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore when it was created in 1971 and underwent restoration by the National Park Service until 1980.
TOURING THE FORT
Fort Barrancas is located on a hill behind the Visitor Center. A fairly steep path leads up to an overlook where you can view both the fort and the Spanish Water Battery.
Paved walkway to Fort Barrancas at Gulf Islands National Seashore
View of Fort Barrancas from the overlook area, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Backside of the Spanish Water Battery at Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
The hill you are standing on is actually a part of the fort called the glacis. The fort cannot be seen from the bottom of the hill—the rear of the fort—so anyone attacking from that direction will be surprised to find themselves separated from the fort by a twenty-foot deep moat once they reach the top of the hill.
Moat of Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
The wall of the fort is called the scarp and the wall opposite the moat is called the counterscarp. When at the overlook, you are actually standing on top of a structure called the counterscarp gallery, which is a passageway wide enough for soldiers to maneuver around in. Men can travel back and forth between the counterscarp gallery and the fort though underground passageways.
Fort Barrancas scarp (left) and counterscarp (right), Gulf Islands National Seashore
Interiors passageways of Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Rifle ports in the walls on either side allowed the soldiers to fire their weapons at anyone trapped in the moat. The larger windows at the far end (see above photo of the moat) are where artillery was installed that could shoot what is called canister—dozens of mini cannonballs designed to tear into people, similar to a shotgun blast. There was really no way to capture a fort other than through a siege, which was a long term harassing fire of artillery designed to pound away at the fort walls until either a breach was created or the soldiers inside ran out of food and supplies and had to surrender.
Graphic from Advanced Redoubt illustrates the possible crossfire
There is no way to walk completely around the fort from above because the counterscarp and glacis only cover three sides. You can walk up the path from the Visitor Center to the overlook, but the only other option is to enter the fort. The entrance, called the sally port, is usually located at the rear of the fort facing the direction from which an attack is least likely to come.
Sally port of Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Once inside you will find yourself on the parade ground, which is essentially the top level of the fort. Cannon would have been mounted along the walls, most aimed towards Pensacola Bay. When the fort was active, there were roughly three dozen artillery pieces of different size and design. Today there is one cannon on display, a 24-pounder. The name refers to the size of the cannonball that could be fired. You can also see the gun mounts and the granite and iron semicircular tracks that allowed a cannon’s carriage to be rotated.
Cannon at Fort Barrancas aims out over the mouth of Pensacola Bay
Granite stones that supported the iron tracks used by artillery carriages at Fort Barrancas
Once done looking around the parade ground—other than the cannon there’s not much to it—venture into the interior of the fort by reentering the sally port and taking stairs to the lower level.
Parade grounds and sally port of Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Other than a powder room exhibit, the interior of the fort is empty. However, you do get the opportunity to look out of the rifle ports, the narrow, vertical slits in the walls that allowed soldiers to fire their muskets and rifles at anyone attacking the fort.
Rifle port of Fort Barrancas, Gulf Islands National Seashore
Other passageways lead to both the counterscarp gallery and the Spanish Water Battery. In the counterscarp gallery you will find more of the same brick-lined passageways and rifle-ported walls. See the Spanish Water Battery web page for more information on that fort.
Interior passageways of Fort Barrancas at Gulf Islands National Seashore
A self-guided tour of Fort Barrancas takes about an hour. This includes a visit to the Spanish Water Battery. Rangers are usually walking around the fort, so you can ask them questions or talk with them about the fort’s history and design.
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Last updated on April 26, 2022
