A Second Sumter: The Struggle for Pensacola

The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in November 1860 caused a national crisis of unprecedented scope. For years, Southern firebrands had defended slavery and exalted the principle of states’ rights. Under this theory, each state had the right to secede from the Union if it didn’t agree with national laws or policies. Lincoln and his new Republican party, in their eyes, were abolitionists who wished to free the slaves and fundamentally alter Southern society.

With Lincoln’s election, secessionist talk quickly transformed into action. South Carolina, long a bastion of states’ rights and a staunch defender of the South’s “peculiar institution,” seceded from the Union that December. Soon the trickle became a flood as six more states of the lower South joined South Carolina. By early 1861, the Confederate States of America had been founded with former Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis waiting in the wings to become its first president.

Even before the Confederacy had been formed officially, the Southern states moved to seize all federal property on their soil. This included numerous arsenals, forts, and naval yards. Outgoing President James Buchanan had a major problem on his hands, one that he tried ardently to avoid. Although from Pennsylvania, Buchanan had been generally perceived as pro-Southern throughout much of his tenure in the White House. He was literally marking time—hoping to hand over the secession problem to his successor. He didn’t want to seem weak, but by the same token he didn’t want to bear the onus of starting a bloody civil war. With Lincoln’s inauguration not scheduled to take place until March, Buchanan’s shaky hand remained on the tiller of the increasingly storm-tossed ship of state.

Sensing his weakness and vacillation, the Southern states began seizing federal property with impunity. Fort Sumter, in the middle of Charleston Harbor, was destined to become the flashpoint of the Civil War. But in the early, uncertain months after the 1860 election, Pensacola, Florida, was also a major focus of attention. In some respects Pensacola was even more important than Fort Sumter because it was the home of a major naval yard and three powerful guardian forts.