Pensacola.
When Iberville was on his way to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, he attempted to enter Pensacola Bay, but found himself confronted by Spaniards in arms, who had come from Vera Cruz and built a fort there, under the guns of which lay two Spanish ships. The Spaniards still claimed the whole circuit of the Gulf of Mexico, and, jealous of the designs of the French, had hastened to occupy Pensacola Harbor, the best on the Gulf. The barrier there constructed ultimately established the dividing-line between Florida and Louisiana. In 1696 Don Andre d'arriola was appointed the first governor of Pensacola, and took possession of the province. He built a fort with four bastions, which he called Fort Charles; also a church and some houses.On Feb. 28, 1781, Galvez the Spanish governor of Louisiana, sailed from New Orleans with 1,400 men to seize Pensacola. He could effect but little alone; but finally he was joined (May 9) by an armed squadron from Havana, and by a reinforcement from Mobile. Galvez now gained possession of the harbor of Pensacola, and soon afterwards Colonel Campbell, who commanded the British garrison there, surrendered. Pensacola and the rest of Florida had passed into the possession of the British by the treaty of 1763. Two years after Galvez captured the place (1783) the whole province was retroceded to Spain.
In April, 1814, Andrew Jackson was commissioned a major-general in the army of the United States and appointed to the command of the 7th Military District. While he was yet arranging the treaty with the conquered Creeks, he had been alarmed by reports of succor and refuge given to some of them by the Spanish authorities at Pensacola, and of a communication opened with them by a British vessel which had landed arms and agents at Apalachicola. In consequence of his report of these doings, he received orders to take possession of Pensacola. But these orders were six months on the way. Meanwhile two British sloops-of-war, with two or three smaller vessels, had arrived at Pensacola, and were proclaimed (Aug. 4) as the van of a much larger naval [129] force. Col. Edward Nichols had been permitted to land a small body of troops at Pensacola, and to draw around him, arm, and train hostile refugee Creeks. Jackson's headquarters were at Mobile. Late in August the mask of Spanish neutrality was removed, when nine British vessels of war lay at anchor in the harbor of Pensacola, and Colonel Nichols was made a welcome guest of the Spanish governor. A British flag, raised over one of the Spanish forts there, proclaimed the alliance; and it was found that Indian runners had been sent out from Pensacola among the neighboring Seminoles and Creeks, inviting them to Pensacola, there to be enrolled in the service of the British. Almost 1,000 of them were gathered there, where they received arms and ammunition in abundance from the British officers. Nichols also sent out proclamations to the inhabitants of the Gulf region containing inflammatory appeals to the prejudices of the French and the discontent of others; and he told his troops that they were called upon to make long and tedious marches in the wilderness and to conciliate the Indians.
At this juncture Jackson acted promptly and effectively, without the advice of his tardy government. He caused a beatup for volunteers, and very soon 2,000 sturdy young men were ready for the field. After they arrived Jackson took some time to get his forces well in hand; and early in November he marched from Fort Montgomery, which was due north from Pensacola, with 4,000 troops—some Mississippi dragoons in the advance—and encamped within two miles of Pensacola on the evening of Nov. 6. He sent word to the Spanish governor that he had come, not to make war on a neutral power, nor to injure the town, but to deprive the enemies of the United States of a place of refuge. His messenger (Major Pierre) was instructed to demand the surrender of the forts. When Pierre approached, under a flag of truce, he was fired upon by a 12-pounder at Fort St. Michael, which was garrisoned by British troops. Jackson sent Pierre again at midnight with a proposition to the governor to allow Americans to occupy the forts at Pensacola until the Spanish government could send a sufficient force to maintain neutrality. This proposition was rejected; and Jackson, satisfied that the governor's protestations of inability to resist the British invasion were only pretexts, marched upon Pensacola before the dawn with 3,000 men. They avoided the fire of the forts and the shipping in the harbor, and the centre of the column made a gallant charge into the town. They were met by a two-gun battery in the principal street, and showers of bullets from the houses and gardens. The Americans, led by Captain Laval, captured the battery, when the frightened governor appeared with a white flag and promised to comply with any terms if Jackson would spare the town. An instant surrender of all the forts was demanded and promised, and, after some delay, it was done. The British, also alarmed by this sudden attack, blew up Fort Barancas, 6 miles from Pensacola, which they occupied; and early in the morning, Nov. 7, 1814, their ships left the harbor, bearing away, besides the British, the Spanish commandant of the forts, with 400 men and a considerable number of Indians. The Spanish governor (Manriquez) was indignant because of the flight of his British friends, and the Creeks were deeply impressed with a feeling that it would be imprudent to again defy the wrath of General Jackson. He had, by this expedition, accomplished three important results—namely, the expulsion of the British from Pensacola, the scattering of the gathering Indians in great alarm, and the punishing of the Spaniards for such perfidy.
At the beginning of the Civil War the United States had a navy-yard at the little village of Warrington, 5 miles from the entrance to Pensacola Bay. It was under the charge of Commodore Armstrong, of the navy. He was surrounded by disloyal men, and when, on the morning of Jan. 10, 1861 (when Fort Pickens was threatened), about 500 Florida and Alabama troops, and a few from Mississippi, commanded by Colonel Lomax, appeared at the navy-yard and demanded its surrender, Armstrong found himself powerless. Of the sixty officers and men under his command, he afterwards said more than three-fourths were disloyal, and some were actively so. Commander Farrand was actually among the insurgents, [130] who demanded the surrender to the governor of Florida. The disloyal men would have revolted if the commodore had made resistance. Lieutenant Renshaw, the flagofficer, one of the leaders among the disloyal men, immediately ordered the National standard to be lowered. It fell to the ground, and was greeted with derisive laughter. The command of the navy-yard was then given to Capt. V. N. Randolph, who had deserted his flag; and the post, with ordnance and stores valued at $156,000, passed into the hands of the authorities of Florida.
