Houses Trembled Ten Miles Off

Fort McRee located on the eastern tip of Perdido Key, Florida was continued to be fired on, on November 23^rd 1861 by Union batteries and the USS Niagara.

Fort McRee was a bent elliptical fort built on a barrier island.  At its widest points the fort was 450 feet by 150 feet wide.  The wall that faced the channel was 366 feet long and about 35 feet above the water line during low tide.  McRee held 128 cannons, including twenty-four 32 pounders.  The fort was built before 1839 by William Henry Chase who oversaw the construction of all the Pensacola area forts.

In early January 1861 Union troops located at Fort McRee destroyed about 20,000 pound of gunpowder and evacuated to Fort Pickens.  On January 12^th 1861 Confederate troops from Alabama and Florida occupied McRee.

On the morning of November 22^nd 1861 Union batteries located at Fort Pickens opened on some Confederate steamers docked at the Navy Yard.  The ships escaped with very little damage, while the Confederate guns located at Forts Barrancas and McRee returned fire on Fort Pickens.  The USS Richmond and USS Niagara moved in firing on Fort McRee, shooting the Fort’s flagstaffs off.  The Confederate fire was able to do some damage to the USS Richmond.  Confederate General Braxton Bragg said of that day's battle, that "the houses in Pensacola, ten miles off, trembled from the effect; and immense quantities of dead fish floated on the surface of the lagoon, stunned by the concussion."  At about 5 pm with the tide going out the two Union ships had to withdraw and the guns of McRee fell silent.

The Battle took up again on November 23^rd 1861 where it had left off.  The Union side firing around 5,000 rounds of ammo into Fort McRee did extensive damage.  Fort McRee’s Confederate commander Colonel John B Villepique sent word to Bragg that the fort was exposed, half his guns had been dismounted and the powder was in danger.  The Confederate only returned about 1,000 shots, killing 2 and wounding 13 Union men.  Fort McRee would survive the bombardment, but large chunks of wall were blown away or collapsed, and one powder magazine caved in.  Six Confederate soldiers died in the action.

Lieutenant Commander

United States Naval officer Andrew Boyd Cummings was killed in action March 18th 1863.

Andrew Boyd Cummings was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 22nd 1830. While at the Naval Academy Cummings was appointed to midshipman April 1847. He left the Naval Academy the next year for active duty on the USS Brandywine, before returning to the school in 1852. Cummings was assigned to the steamer USS Fulton and promoted to the ranks of Master and Lieutenant September 1855. He joined the steam sloop the USS Richmond in 1859 as part of the her Mediterranean deployment until 1861.

Cummings served during the Civil War as part of Admiral David Farragut’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron. He served with distinction as Executive Office of the USS Richmond. They were part of the capture of New Orleans in April 1862. Commended for his performance, Cummings was promoted July 1862 to Lieutenant Commander. He was wounded in an attempt to pass the batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi on March 14th 1863. Cummings died a few day later in New Orleans, Louisiana from those wounds March 18th 1863. He is buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A Battle In The Keys

Fort McRee, located in Florida was on the morning of November 22nd 1861 bomb by Union forces.

Located on the Perdido Key in Florida, Fort McRee was begun in 1834. It was a three tiered fort with a separated water battery. The fort was completed in 1839, but the 124 guns weren’t in place until around 1844. The fort was named in 1840 for Army Engineer Colonel William McRee. The first soldiers stationed at the fort were of Company I of the 3rd United States Artillery, and they began service there on May 2nd 1842.

At the outbreak of the Civil War there were less than 50 Federal troops in Pensacola. The senior officer, First Lieutenant Adam J Slemmer, moved them all to his most defendable location at Fort Pickens, across the bay from Fort McRee. The Union soldiers spiked the guns at Fort McRee on January 9th 1861, and the Confederate troops took over the evacuated fort on the 12th of the month.

Beginning on the morning of November 22nd 1861, Union troops at Fort Pickens along with the ships the “USS Niagara” and the “USS Richmond” laid in a heavey bombing. The Confederates in Fort McRee returned the fire and did damage to the “Richmond”. The combined effect of the ships and firing from Fort Pickens, overcame the Rebel artillery and the guns at Fort McRee fell silent around 5pm. The bombing by the Union forces resumed the next morning, but the guns at Fort McRee remained quite.

Fort McRee was badly damaged by the attack. Chunks of wall were blown away and one part of the wall had completely collapsed. A powder magazine caved in killing 6 Confederate soldiers. Confederates abandoned Pensacola in May 1862. When they left they burned the Fort.