Fort Pickens is a United States military fortification on Santa Rosa Island in Pensacola Bay, Florida. Fort Pickens is named after the Andrew Pickens a hero of the American Revolution. The fort was initially completed in 1834 and remained in use until the just after the end of World War II (in 1947).
Fort Pickens is on of the Third System of U.S. Fortifications, that was meant to enhance the older wooden, earthenwork and and simple, earlier obsolete designs of the First and Second System of Fortifications. Fort Pickens is Pentagonal in design, much like most of the other third system “Star Forts” (See Fort Jackson). Fort Pickens was constructed with a broad western wall to provide a wide range of fire over the bay, and a counterscarp to the east side built to act as a defensive moat in the event of infantry incursion coming from the west side of the island.
Engraving of wartime Fort Pickens - Fort Pickens, Pensacola Harbor, Florida, looking seaward. Fort McRae in the distance.
From a sketch by mrs. lieutenant Gilman, just arrived from Pensacola.
Gilman. Printed in Harper's Weekly - Via Civil War Harper's Weekly, February 23, 1861
