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Full of enthusiasm and military spirit, but suspecting little what trials lay before them, the Confederate volunteers pictured here are drilling at one of the forts that had been abandoned by the
Federal Government, even before the momentous shot was fired at
Sumter.
Fort Pickens, through the forethought of
Commander Henry Walke, who disobeyed his orders most brilliantly and successfully, had been saved to the
Federal Government.
The other batteries and forts at
Pensacola, however, had been handed over to the
Confederacy, and here we see the men in gray, early in 1861, taking advantage of the gift.
Note the new uniforms, the soldierly and well-fed appearance of the men, the stores of ammunition for the great guns.
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Confederates in the newly-captured Pensacola fort--1861.
where the blockaders came too late |
