574 



PENSACOLA BAY. 



island near the fort. No serious conflict, how- 

 ever, took place, although the hostile forces 

 were within a short distance of each other. 

 Some daring exploits were performed by Fed- 

 eral troops, one of which, under Lient. Russel's 

 command, is thus described by a Confederate 

 officer : " The enemy executed, last night, the 

 most brilliant and daring act which has yet 

 marked the history of the war. For some time 

 past they have exhibited unmistakable indica- 

 tions of eagerness for a fight, and have grown 

 more and more audacious. First they fired on 

 one of our schooners. Next they burned the dry 

 dock, and last night, Sept. 13, they made a most 

 daring and reckless raid upon the navy yard. 

 About three o'clock in the morning, live 

 launches, containing about thirty men each, 

 pulled across from Santa Rosa Island to the 

 navy yard, a distance of about two miles. 

 Each launch had in it a small brass howitzer 

 on a pivot. Their main object seems to have 

 been to burn the largest schooner of our harbor 

 police, which was anchored near the wharf. 

 They were led by an officer with the courage 

 of forty Numidian lions, and their success was 

 perfect. Under cover of the darkness, silently, 

 with muffled oars they approached the wharf, 

 and were not discovered until very near it. 

 They then pulled rapidly to the schooner, and 

 grappled to her, when their daring leader 

 shouted, ' Board her*' leading the way himself 

 with a cutlass in one hand, and a blazing fire- 

 ball in the other. He threw the flambeau into 

 the hold of the schooner, and feeling sure that 

 she was on fire, he ordered his men to take to 

 their launches and pull for life, as he said that 

 a shower of grape would soon be rattling after 

 them. They pulled off a short distance ; but 

 before going, they sent back a shower of grape 

 from their howitzers, directed upon our men 

 as they were forming. The darkness rendered 

 the fire uncertain, and only two of our men were 

 wounded. The schooner burned rapidly, and 

 we had to cut her loose from the wharf to save 

 it from destruction. She floated off on the tide, 

 emitting a brilliant flood of light over the sur- 

 rounding darkness of the scene." Such is the 

 brief account of this very daring adventure. 



Affairs continued quiet until the night of the 

 8th of October, when the enemy attempted a 

 daring attack upon the forces on the island. 

 They hoped to break up the encampment of 

 the volunteer regiment. Early in the evening 

 Col. Jackson, visited the camp of the Fifth 

 Georgia Regiment at Pensacola, and informed 

 the troops that he required one hundred and 

 fifty men for an important service, also twenty- 

 seven from the Clinch Rifles, and nineteen from 

 the Irish Volunteers. Every man who was 

 willing to volunteer, was requested to shoulder 

 arms, and every one did so. The captains 

 were then ordered to select the men, who were 

 put under the command of Lieut. Hallenquist. 

 The expedition was accompanied by Col. Jack- 

 son. It consisted of twelve hundred men, under 

 the command of Gen. Anderson. About two 



o'clock in the morning they landed on the 

 island, and marched upon the Zouave camp. 

 ,They were first met by Major Vodges, with 

 eighty-five men, some distance above the camp. 

 The major was taken prisoner. The Zouaves 

 were taken chiefly by surprise, but as soon as 

 they recovered, fought desperately. The Con- 

 federates penetrated the camp, which was 

 almost entirely destroyed. A number of pris- 

 oners were taken on both sides. The Confed- 

 erate loss was severe. Of the Zouaves and 

 regulars, fourteen were killed, and thirty-six 

 wounded. The officers and men lost almost 

 every thing. 



In November, the force at the fort and on 

 the island was thirteen hundred men, and it 

 was supposed that upon the opposite side 

 were near eight thousand, when Col. Brown, the 

 commandant of Fort Pickens, determined to 

 open fire upon the batteries occupied by the 

 Southern troops. 



Having invited Flag-officer McKean to coop- 

 erate in the attack, on the morning of the 22d 

 of November, Col. Brown opened his batteries 

 on the enemy, to which, in the course of half an 

 hour, he responded from his numerous forts 

 and batteries, extending from the navy yard 

 to Fort McRea, a distance of about four miles, 

 the whole nearly equidistant from Fort Pick- 

 ens, and on which line he had two forts 

 McRea and Barrancas and fourteen separate 

 batteries, containing from one to four guns, 

 many of them being ten-inch columbiads, and 

 some twelve and thirteen-inch seacoast mortars, 

 the distance varying from two thousand one 

 hundred to two thousand nine hundred yards 

 from Fort Pickens. At the same time Flag- 

 officer McKean, in the Niagara, and Captain 

 Ellison, in the Richmond, took position as near 

 to Fort McRea as the depth of the water would 

 permit, but which unfortunately was not suf- 

 ficiently deep to give full effect to their power- 

 ful batteries. They, however, kept up a spir- 

 ited fire on the fort and adjacent batteries 

 during the whole day. The fire from Fort 

 Pickens was incessant from the time of opening 

 until it was too dark to see, at the rate of a 

 shot for each gun every fifteen or twenty min- 

 utes, the fire of the enemy being somewhat 

 slower. At noon the guns of Fort McRea were 

 all silenced but one, and three hours before sun- 

 set this fort and the adjoining batteries ceased 

 firing. The guns of batteries Lincoln, Cameron, 

 and Totten were directed principally on the bat- 

 teries adjacent to the navy yard, those of Bat- 

 tery Scott to Fort McRea and the lighthouse 

 batteries, and those of Fort Pickeus to all. 

 They reduced very perceptibly the fire of Bar- 

 rancas, entirely silenced that in the navy yard, 

 and in one or two of the other batteries. 



The next morning Col. Brown again opened 

 about the same hour, the navy unfortunately, 

 owing to a reduction in the depth of water, 

 caused by a change of wind, not being able to 

 get so near as on the day before ; consequently 

 the distance was too great to be effectual. The 



