Today in History:

437 Series I Volume VI- Serial 6 - Fort Pulaski - New Orleans

Page 437 Chapter XVI. DESCENT ON NAVY YARD AT PENSACOLA, FLA.

Feb. 28, 1862.-Brigadier General Samuel Jones, C. S. Army, supersedes Major-General Bragg in command of the Department of Alabama and West Florida.*

March 8, 1862.-Colonel Thomas M. Jones, Twenty-seventh Mississippi Infantry, assigned to command at Pensacola.

15, 1862.-The Department of Florida merged into the Department of the South, Major General David Hunter, U. S. Army, assumes command of the Department of the Gulf.

27-31, 1862.-Reconnaissance on Santa Rosa Island, Fla.

April 3-4, 1862.-Expedition from Ship Island to Biloxi and Pass Christian, Miss.

7, 1862.-Affair at Saint Andrew's Bay, Fla.

18-28, 1862.-Bombardment and capture of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip, La.

25, 1862.-New Orleans, La., captured by the U. S. Navy.

27, 1862.-Fort Quitman, La., abandoned by the Confederate forces.

Forts Livingston, Pike, and Wood, La., recaptured by Union forces.

28, 1862.-Surrender of Forts Jackson and Saint Philip, La.

28, 1862.-Brigadier General John H. Forney, C. S.. Army, assigned to command of the Department of Alabama and West Florida.

May 1, 1862.-New Orleans, La., occupied by the Union forces.

9-12, 1862.-Evacuation of Pensacola, Fla., by the Confederates, and its occupation by the Union forces.

SEPTEMBER 14, 1861.-Descent on Navy-Yard at Pensacola, Fla.

REPORTS.


No. 1.-Colonel Harvey Brown, Fifth U. S. Artillery.


No. 2.-Brigadier General Braxton Bragg, C. S. Army.


No. 1. Report of Colonel Harvey Brown, Fifth U. S. Artillery.


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF FLORIDA, Fort Pickens, September 14, 1861.

COLONEL: A naval boat expedition, under command of Lieutenant [John H.] Russell, of the flag-ship Colorado, this morning, at 2 o'clock, burned the piratical schooner Judah and spiked the gun of the only battery in the navy-yard. The schooner was armed with five guns, and was lying in the slip in front of the battery, evidently awaiting an opportunity to go to sea. We lost three killed [one of them instantly, by one of our own party], four badly and three or four slightly wounded, among the latter Lieutenants Russell and [F. B.] Blake, [Captain E. McD.] Reynolds, of the Marines, and a midshipman. The whole affair was well conceived, well managed, and entirely successful.

I took it for granted it would cause the opening of the rebel fire on this fort, but until the present time no demonstration has been made.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
HARVEY BROWN,

Colonel, Commanding.

Lieutenant Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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*On March 4 Major-General Bragg, at Jackson, Tenn., issued an order resuming command of the Department of Alabama and West Florida, but that order appears to have been inoperative.

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Page 437 Chapter XVI. DESCENT ON NAVY YARD AT PENSACOLA, FLA.