View of damaged area of Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore

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See the Military Forts and Batteries web page for an interactive location map.

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FORT HISTORY

Construction on Fort Pickens began in 1829 and was completed 1834. The fort was 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 is 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 Pickens is the largest of three forts in the Pensacola area that were designed to protect the entrance to Pensacola Bay so enemy ships could not reach the U. S. Navy Yard. Beginning in the late 1890s and continuing through World War II, the west end of Santa Rosa Island grew into a military complex comprised of officer housing, headquarter buildings, and reinforced concrete batteries that eventually replaced the obsolete brick behemoths such as Pickens. The fort itself was used for various purposes up until 1947, though its value as a defensive structure ended with the development of rifled artillery shells in the 1860s.

Of the other two forts, only Fort Barrancas still exists. It is located within Pensacola Naval Air Station and is also part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. A third fort, Fort McRee, stood at the western tip of Perdido Key, but it crumbled into the ocean a long time ago due to erosion.

Fort Pickens

Fort Pickens is a masonry fort built from 21.5 million bricks. Brick had no problem stopping a typical cannonball, for these didn’t travel with much velocity, nor were they very accurate, so the chance of blasting a hole in a masonry fort wall by hitting the same spot over and over again was slim. However, rifled artillery shells were a different matter. Developed during the Civil War, instead of round balls, rifled shells looked like large bullets and spun like a football when fired. This allowed them to travel faster and with more accuracy, and they could destroy a brick wall in no time. By the end of the Civil War, brick forts were no longer viable defensive structures.

Many of the old forts were turned into military offices and training grounds. Others had reinforced concrete batteries constructed on their parade grounds, which is what happened to Fort Pickens in 1898 with the installation of Battery Pensacola. The new batteries could withstand the rifled shells, and by utilizing the most modern guns, they did not need to be outfitted with hundreds of cannon like the old forts.

Battery Pensacola inside Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore

Fort Pickens is one of only four coastal forts that remained under Union control for the duration of the Civil War. Once it was obvious that Florida would secede from the Union, a small garrison of U. S. troops opted to abandon forts Barrancas and McRee and occupy Fort Pickens, for it provided the best possibility for defense. Confederate troops under the command of General Braxton Bragg occupied all other forts in the area and took control of the Navy Yard on January 12, 1861.

In September, a small force of Union soldiers attacked the Navy Yard without success. In response, Bragg sent one thousand men to attack Camp Brown, the camp of the 6th New York Regiment commanded by Colonel Harvey Brown. The camp was destroyed. Seeking revenge, Brown initiated the bombardment of Fort Barrancas and McRee from Fort Pickens on November 22nd and 23rd. Fort McRee was heavily damaged.

The Confederates ended up abandoning Pensacola in May 1862 in an effort to shift troops to Mississippi and Tennessee. Not long after they left, Union troops occupied all of the abandoned forts, the Navy Yard, and even the city of Pensacola.

In 1886 the fort became famous as the prison of Apache warrior Geronimo. Most Indian prisoners from south Florida were sent to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, but citizens of Pensacola petitioned the government to allow Geronimo and a few other Indians to stay at Fort Pickens because they knew he would be a big tourist attraction. Though a prisoner, Geronimo made a lot of money signing autographs and selling his belongings. A year later, all of the Apaches were moved to Mobile when Yellow Fever broke out.

Fort Pickens remained in use until 1947. At this time all guns were removed, most of which were sold for scrap. Any guns remaining in the fort today, while authentic weapons of the era, are not original to the fort. A few were brought in for display purposes by the National Park Service. The fort remained a tourist attraction after it was decommissioned, originally becoming Fort Pickens State Park. It was incorporated into Gulf Islands National Seashore in 1971.

FORT TOURS

Today Fort Pickens is open to visitors for both Ranger-guided tours (or a knowledgeable park volunteer) and self-guided tours. The schedule for guided tours is posted on the door of the Fort Pickens Visitor Center, or you can check the National Park Service’s official Calendar web page for Gulf Islands National Seashore. Tours meet at the Visitor Center. The Calendar page claims they run a half hour, but the tour I took lasted about an hour, so all depends on the guide and the number of questions asked by the group.

Park volunteer leads a guided tour of Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore

If you can’t make one of the guided tours, then the self-guided tour is your only option. A tour booklet is available in the Visitor Center. Be sure to get one because it has a lot of interesting information, and you don’t want to be one of the many people who are just wandering aimlessly through the fort with no idea about what they are looking at.

FORT FEATURES

The first thing you will notice about Fort Pickens is that a massive chunk of the fort wall is missing just left of the sally port (fort entrance). On June 20, 1899, a fire broke out in a warehouse and quickly spread to a power magazine that contained 8,000 pounds of black powder. The resulting explosion tore out an entire bastion of the fort. By that point in time the defensive capability of brick forts had been diminished, so no repairs were made. Instead, a driveway was added that connected to Battery Pensacola. Construction on the battery had just been completed.

Damage to Fort Pickens from a gunpowder explosion in 1899

Once you enter the fort through the sally port you are confronted with the black monstrosity of the aforementioned Battery Pensacola. It appears as if an entire side of Fort Pickens has been removed and that the battery was placed in the gap. However, the brick walls of the fort are still there, you just can’t see them. Visitors are free to climb to the top level of Battery Pensacola, but the interior rooms are locked.

Upper level of Battery Pensacola at Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Another prominent feature of the fort is the casemates. Framed by archways, these reinforced rooms held artillery pieces. The arches help make the roof strong enough to support an additional level where more guns could be mounted. Most of the casemates are empty, but some do hold actual artillery pieces from the era and other exhibits.

Casemates of Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Empty casemate at Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

Cannon fires through an embrasure at Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

Cannon and ammunition cart inside a casemate at Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Each casemate is connected to the next by archways, so you can walk from room to room without venturing outside. You can also walk through the maze-like corridors inside the fort—it’s easy to get lost.

Archways lead from casemate to casemate at Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

A maze of corridors inside Fort Pickens at Gulf Islands National Seashore

Arches were not only used at the top of the entrances, but also at the bottom. Known as reverse arches, these were used to support the weight of the fort on the sandy terrain, thus keeping it from sinking into the ground. The reverse arches were covered by a solid floor so they could not be seen, but the floor has eroded away in some places and revealed the bottom arch.

Reverse arch at the bottom of an arched entranceway at Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

Stairs lead to the top level of Fort Pickens where you can get a good view of the surrounding area. The buildings with the green roofs are officers’ quarters and administration buildings that were built in the 1910s.

View of the early 20th century military buildings from the top of Fort Pickens in Pensacola

There are a number of artillery exhibits on the top level of the fort, including two Rodman guns, both a 15″ and an 8″ version. Rodman guns were the largest and most powerful smooth bore artillery pieces at the time of the Civil War. However, rifled artillery made them obsolete not too long after they were invented in 1861. A 15″ gun was mounted at Fort Pickens in 1868. Such large guns were not placed en masse at any one fort, as only 323 were made. They were so heavy—23,000+ pounds—that when it came time to move them they were simply blown up because the pieces were easier to haul away. Only 25 still exist today.

15″ Rodman gun at Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

It is not known when the first 8″ gun was installed at Fort Pickens, but one was still in place up until 1901. The current replacement sits in its original position. There were even less 8″ guns than 15″ guns produced (213). The majority were 10″ versions. There were two 20″ guns made, and these weighed 36,000 pounds. Both still exist.

8″ Rodman gun at Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

Iron tracks allowed cannon on wheeled carriages to rotate 180°

There is also a small mortar on display. These lobbed explosive shells packed with shrapnel high into the air where they exploded and rained their contents onto the enemy below. They could also be used to shoot projectiles over high walls.

Mortar at Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida

I spent right around an hour for my self-guided tour of Fort Pickens, so it appears that no matter which way you slice it—Ranger-guided or self-guided—allow an hour. I recommend that if you do the self-guided tour that you first watch the park film in the Fort Pickens Discovery Center. It is a 15-minute film that is literally a video-taped presentation of a Ranger-guided tour, and it is full of information that you won’t get from the brochure or the information panels on the fort grounds.

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