A Long Serving Military Man

Union Captain George Lucas Hartsuff was appointed assistant adjutant general March 22^nd 1861 under the duty of General William S Rosecrans in West Virginia.

George Lucas Hartsuff was born May 28^th1830 in Tyre, New York.  He moved with his family in 1842 to Michigan.  He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating 19^th in the class of 1852.  Hartsuff served in Texas and Florida and was wounded during the Seminole Indian Wars.  He survived the wreck of the steamer “the Lady Elgin” on Lake Michigan in September 8^th 1860, while serving at Fort Mackinac.

When the Civil War started Hartsuff was sent on an expedition in April 1861 to reinforce Fort Pickens in Pensacola, Florida.  He received an appointment on March 22^nd 1861 to Assistant Adjutant General under Union General William S Rosecrans in West Virginia, even briefly serving as Chief of Staff in the Mountain Department.  He was promoted to Brigadier General April 15^th 1862, serving in the III Corps of the Armies of Virginia and the Potomac, where he would lead men at the Battles of Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run.  He was wounded in the hip during the Battle of Antietam.  With another promotion to Major General, Hartsuff was back in duty, commanding the XXIII Corps in the Army of the Ohio by May 28^th 1863.  At the end of the Civil War he was commanding the defenses at Bermuda Hundred in the Army of the James.

Hartsuff mustered out of the Union volunteer army and went back to service in the United States Army on August 24^th 1865 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  Do to disabilities relating to old battle wounds he resigned his command on June 29^th 1871.  Hartsuff left the service with the rank of Major General.  He died of pneumonia May 16^th 1874 in New York City and is buried in the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point.

Demanded Surrender Of His Own Design

On January 15^th 1861 Florida militia Colonel William Henry Chase demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens which was being used as a United States Army garrison.

Florida became the third state to secede on January 10^th 1861 and began right away to seize Union property.  On January 15^th 1861 on the behest of the Florida State Governor,  Florida Militia Colonel William Henry Chase demanded the surrender of Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida.  Chase had been a Captain in the United State Army Corps of Engineers, and had designed and oversaw the construction of the Fort.

The United States commander of the Fort was Lieutenant Adam J Slemmer, he refused to surrender.  Slemmer had 81 men under his command, who he had moved from the other local Forts of Barrancas and McRee over to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island.  When Chase and his aide; Captain Ebenezer Farrand went to Fort Pickens to demand the surrender, they were met outside by Slemmer and his second in command; Second Lieutenant J H Gilman.  The Confederates were denied entrance to the Fort.  Chase had written the demand for surrender and gave it to Farrand to read, but he was without glasses, and so Gilman took it and read it out loud.

Gilman asked how many he faced and if Chase thought they could take the Fort by force.  Chase said that he could, but he would loose about half of his men.  Chase told Slemmer that Florida could not allow the Fort to be held and that he must know an attack would bring on a Civil War.

The next day Union Navy ships in the harbor moved closer to the Fort and Slemmer refused to surrender, and the Fort remained in Union hands throughout the war.

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.

One Of Three Forts

Confederate troops under Colonel William Henry Chase demanded the surrender of the Union held Fort Barrancas located near Pensacola, Florida January 8^th 1861.

Fort Barrancas was a hilltop fort built near Pensacola, Florida.   The fort was built of brick with a connected underground walkway to a battery located down the hill at sea level.  United States General Andrew Jackson fought two battles at Fort Barrancas against the Spanish one in 1814 and again in 1818.  The United State acquired Florida from Spain in 1821 and Fort Barrancas, along with Fort McRee and Fort Pickens were designed to defend Pensacola Bay.

At the start of the Civil War in 1861 Fort Barrancas was manned by 50 Union soldiers, under the command of Lieutenant Adam J Slemmer.  Florida militia under the command of Confederate Colonel William Henry Chase made a call for the surrender of the Union troops holding the Fort on January 8^th 1861.  Slemmer ordered that warning shots be made on the militia.  Knowing that he could hold Fort Pickens more easily, Slemmer had the guns of Fort Barrancas spiked, and the Fort’s supplies and ammo loaded on a flatboat.  He moved the Union company to Fort Pickens, which was held the rest of war by the Union.

An Island Surprised

The Battle of Santa Rosa Island on October 9th 1861 was attempt to take the Union held Fort Pickens.


Santa Rosa Island about thirty miles from Alabama is a barrier island belonging to Florida. Fort Pickens was located on the western side of the island and in fall of 1861 was under the command of Union Colonel Harvey Brown of the 5th artillery, and Colonel William Wilson with the 6th New York Volunteer. Just after midnight on October 9th 1861 Confederate Brigadier General Richard Anderson with twelve hundred men landed on the beach about four mile east of Fort Pickens. Anderson divided his command into three columns, and marched about three miles. They surprised the 6th New York who were routed. Anderson set up in a defensive position hoping to draw the Union command out of Fort Pickens. Brown received reinforcements, and the Confederate left the island and returned to the mainland.

The Union saw 14 killed, 29 wounded and 24 missing. The Confederate reported losses of 30 to 40 men. General Anderson was severely wounded.

Another web site about this topic Bloodshed on White Sand

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.