Vicksburg During Civil War
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FEBRUARY 9, 1861.] HARPER'S WEEKLY.89 INTERIOR OF FORTRESS MONROE, VIRGINIA.THE HARBOR OF PENSACOLA.THE chart on page 88 will enable our readers to understand the newspaper accounts of the position of affairs at Pensacola. Fort Pickens, the heaviest Fort in the harbor, which occupies to the other Forts the same position that Sumter does to Moultrie and Pinckney at Charleston, is in the hands of the United States troops, being held by Lieut. Slemmer of the Army, with some 80 men. Under its guns lie the United States sloop Wyandotte and a Revenue Cutter. Opposite Fort Pickens, and at a distance of about one mile and a half, stands a water battery known as Fort McRae; further along the shore stands Fort Barancas, and further on still is the Pensacola Navy Yard. All of these are held by the Florida and Alabama troops, who are commanded by Major Chase, late of the United States Army. The Pensacola Observer of the 15th ult. gives the following account of the surrender by Commodore Armstrong of the Pensacola Navy Yard. The demand was made by Colonel Lomax, commanding the State troops, in the name of Governor Perry, of Florida : "Commodore Armstrong responded substantially that he had devoted nearly the whole of his long life to the public service of his country ; that he had loved and protected its flag in sunshine and in storm; that his heart was then bleeding over the contemplation of the distracted condition of the American Union; that he was a native of Kentucky, which had no navy, and therefore knew not where he should go to make a livelihood in his declining years ; that he had no adequate force to make resistance, and that if he had, notwithstanding the foregoing considerations, he would prefer the loss of his own life to the destruction of the lives of his fellow-countrymen. His voice trembled with emotion as he closed his brief and affecting remarks by the announcement that he relinquished his authority to the representative of the sovereignty of Florida. "The order was immediately given by Captain Renshaw, Flag-Officer, to haul down the flag of the Union, which was done; and in lieu thereof is another flag with thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, and blue field, with a large white star, announcing the changed political condition of our State. "Every thing was conducted in the most orderly and respectful manner, attended with a degree of solemn interest which was manifested upon the countenances of hundreds of citizens and soldiers present. " Captain Randolph was placed in command of the yard, and Colonel Lomax took possession of Fort Barancas and quarters, where he remains stationed, immediately opposite and in full view of Fort Pickens, occupied by the United States troops, with the old flag of the Union flying in the breeze upon its frowning walls. The spiked guns, fifteen in number, in Fort Barancas, have been repaired, by drilling, for effective use. We omitted to mention that the magazine, containing a large amount or ammunition, was taken by a detachment of troops as soon as the command arrived at the yard. " Lieutenant Stemmer, when he evacuated Fort McRae, destroyed about 150 kegs of powder, by knocking out the heads and throwing them into the bay. His object appeared to be only to keep the guns from the fort being opened upon him while he retreated, as he left a large quantity of powder in the magazine. He not only spiked the guns, but rammed down the muzzles the wooden pieces used for stopping them, which had to be bored out by pump borers by our forces before they could be used. They have all been unspiked with the exception of two, and are now ready for use." MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.ON 4th February the delegates to the first Constituent Assembly of the Southern Confederacy meet at Montgomery, Ala. We accordingly present on page 88 a picture of the principal street of that city, showing the State Capitol, in which the deliberations of the Assembly will take place. Montgomery is a pretty city of some nine or ten thousand inhabitants, situated on the River Alabama. It does a lively business in cotton, and its mart is one of the most important of the secondary markets of the South. It is expected that Montgomery will become the capital of the Southern Confederacy.
FORT MONROE, VIRGINIA.IN our last Number we gave a view of the sea battery of Fort Monroe ; we now present the interior of that work, taken from the top of the gate-way. Fort Monroe, as every body knows, commands the port of Norfolk. It stands at the mouth of the James River; in summer time it is a place of fashionable resort by sea-bathers, and the parapet of the Fort is crowded every evening with gay (Next Page) THE CITY OF VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, WHERE THE BATTERY WAS RAISED TO STOP PASSING VESSELS.—[SEE NEXT PAGE.]
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