Fort Pickens - Nearby Fortifications

Nearby Fortifications

A companion fortification, Fort McRee, was located across Pensacola Pass from Fort Pickens on Perdido Key. Abandoned by Union forces and taken over by Florida and Alabama militia in January 1861, it was badly damaged by Union bombardment during the American Civil War later that year. Abandoned by Confederate forces, battered and burned is how Fort McRee remained for the next three decades. Although subjected to improvements in the late 19th century during the run-up to the Spanish American War, the fort was struck by a hurricane 26–27 September 1906 that destroyed most of the newer structures that had been erected since 1898. After the hurricane, only a minimal caretaker staff remained to ensure the security of the site and Fort McRee once again fell into disuse. Due to its location on a site accessible only by foot or boat, Fort McRee was left to the elements. Storms and erosion took their toll on the site and today, nothing more than a few scattered foundations remain.

Fort Barrancas, which was built around previously constructed 17th- and 18th-century Spanish forts, as well as Fort Barrancas' associated Advanced Redoubt approximately a mile (1.6 km) to the northwest of Fort Barrancas, are located across Pensacola Bay from Fort Pickens on the grounds of what is now Naval Air Station Pensacola. At the same time the Union forces abandoned Fort McRee in 1861, they also abandoned Fort Barrancas. This fort was also occupied by Florida and Alabama militia forces that were subsequently integrated into the Confederate forces. In May 1862, after hearing that the Union Army had taken New Orleans, Confederate troops abandoned Pensacola and Fort Barrancas and the fort reverted back to Union control.