APRIL 17TH, 1861: USS Powhatan, Lt. D.D. Porter, arrived at Pensacola. Under her protecting guns, 600 troops on board the steamer Atlantic were landed at Fort Pickens to complete its reinforcement. President Lincoln had stated "I want that fort saved at all hazards."
The Presidents wish was fulfilled, and use of the best harbor in the Gulf was denied the Confederacy for the entire war, while serving the Union indispensably in the blockade and the series of devastating assaults from the sea that divided and destroyed the South.
--Old B-R'er
No comments:
Post a Comment