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Full of enthusiasm and military zeal, and suspecting little of the task before them, the Confederate volunteers pictured here are drilling at one of the abandoned federal government forts which had been deserted prior to the first shot at Sumter. Note the new uniforms, the well-fed appearance of the men, the stores of ammunition for the great guns.

Photograph from a book.

Fort Pickens, the Navy Yard, and Fort McRee guarded Pensacola Harbor. When Florida seceded Fort Pickens had been unmanned since 1850 and Fort McRee had only a sergeant and his wife as caretakers. However, Lt. Adam J. Slemmer of the U.S. Army retreated from Fort Barrancas and took charge of Fort Pickens, he destroyed 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at McRee and spiked the guns he left behind at Barrancas.