Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

As I mentioned in my last post, we discovered that Fort Pickens was also in Pensacola, Florida.

National Seashore sign in beach grasses on the sand with gulf in view. Part of Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Welcome to the Fort Pickens Area

What intrigued us was the name. Did Fort Pickens have any connection to the town that our son and daughter in law lived in? We had to explore that possibility as well as the fort itself.

Reeds and sea bushes growing in the sand along the gulf shore of Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Pensacola Beach View

So after our little shopping spree on the Pensacola Boardwalk, we drove the beautiful scenic route to Fort Pickens.

Concrete bunker hidden in the bushes at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

East Bunker of Fort Pickens

According to Wikipedia: “Fort Pickens is a historic pentagonal United States military fort on Santa Rosa Island in the Pensacola, Florida, area. It is named after American Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens. It is the largest of four forts built to defend Pensacola Bay and its navy yard.”

Cannon atop a brick fort wall, grasses and sand, with white houses in background at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Cannon Stands Guard

The fort is best known as an enormous 19th-century brick fortress that defended Pensacola Bay. It remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War. But it’s also famous for housing Apache leader Geronimo as a prisoner! Other things of note is its role in the Battle of Santa Rosa Island and its extensive, walkable coastal defense tunnels.

Buildings that were once barracks at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida are in ruins and behind chain link fence.

Former Fort Pickens Barracks

Fort Pickens was completed in 1834. It was one of the few forts in the South that never fell into Confederate hands. Which is why it played such a vital role in keeping Pensacola Harbor under Union control.

Brick tunnels in a huge protective wall at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Fort Pickens Tunnels

The fort became a major tourist attraction when the Apache war leader Geronimo was imprisoned there for two years, from 1886 until 1888, along with 15 of his warriors..

Brick fortress that is eroding with green lawn in foreground at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Eroding Fortress

Fort Pickens features large scale, abandoned coastal defense batteries, tunnels, and casemates that were designed to protect the harbor. That includes modifications for submarine mines that were installed later..

Tunnel with Civil War cannon at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Cannon in a tunnel

It’s also notable that during the Civil War, the fort served as a destination for the Underground Railroad, where African Americans seeking freedom sough Union protection.

Civil War cannon on a slide rail inside a tunnel at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Cannon on Rails

Fort Pickens continued to be an active military site through World War II, It was updated with concrete gun batteries so that it could defend against potential German U-boat attacks.

Enormous brick arch with the number 16 on it at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Brick Arch Number 16
( Our special number!)

Currently, Fort Pickens is run by the National Park Service and is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Old brick steps lead to the cannons atop the fortress at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Stairway to Cannons

As for the Revolutionary war hero that it’s named for, Andrew Pickens was born in 1739 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In his teens he moved with his family to South Carolina. Pickens fought in the Cherokee War from 1760 to 1761, serving as an officer in a provincial regiment. When rebellion against the British broke out in 1775, he was made captain of militia.

Cannon in center of fortress with black cannonballs stacked on sides at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Cannon and Cannon Balls

In the fall of that year he took part in a campaign against loyalists in the South Carolina backcountry. He fought in the Battle of Williamson’s Fort at Ninety Six, which was the first major engagement of the war outside New England. In the autumn of 1776, Pickens served in an expedition that destroyed dozens of Cherokee towns. In the spring of 1778, Pickens became a colonel of a regiment of South Carolina militia. He later led his troops to victory at Kettle Creek.

Steve looking down from the top of the fortress at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

Steve Standing Guard

On January 17, 1781, he commanded a brigade of South Carolina militia at the Battle of Cowpens that turned out to be a decisive victory for the Patriots. After Cowpens, Pickens was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He was wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs in September.

Concrete bunker hidden by trees and bushes with sand in front at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

West Bunker

Pickens was elected to South Carolina’s General Assembly in 1782, where he served for a decade. He purchased land on the Seneca River where he build the Hopewell Plantation. That site became a frequent site of negotiations with Native American tribes. From 1793 to 1795, Pickens represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives.

Gorgeous sunset over the Gulf and beach at Fort Pickens Pensacola Florida

And as the sun sets slowly…

On August 11, 1817, at the age of 77, Pickens passed away, but not before seeing his son Andrew Pickens Jr. sworn in as the Governor of South Carolina. Andrew Pickens is buried near Pendleton, South Carolina.

Dusk at Pensacola Beach

So to answer the burning question about the origin of Pickens, South Carolina… YES, it was named for the same Andrew Pickens as Fort Pickens in Pensacola Florida.