Geronimo's Next-to-Last Stand: Fort Pickens

One of our excursions while in Pensacola Beach was to visit Fort Pickens, a harbor fort that for 100 years protected Pensacola Bay and the naval yard there.  The building of the fort was begun in 1829, completed in 1834 and used until 1947 when airplanes, missiles and bombs made the fort obsolete. 



Masonry walls were strong enough to support heavy cannon on top and allow for space for cannons below, too.

According to our self-guided tour, over 21.5 million locally-made bricks were used in the building of Fort Pickens, and skilled slaves from New Orleans were brought to Pensacola Island to construct the fort.  Ironically the only time the fort saw action was during the Civil War when the Union forces held this fort (that the US government built using slave labor) during the entire war as they faced off with Confederate forces on the mainland. 

Three acres of open ground in the center of the fort once provided space to quarter and drill troops. About 850 men from the 3rd Infantry and 1st and 2nd Artillery regiments camped here in September, 1861, according to the literature we received. 

Parts of the old fort appear to be built into bluffs with look-out areas on top of the outside walls.  The other three folks in my group scrambled eagerly to the top of the walls where they took advantage of photo opportunities.


Patty and Dave at Fort Pickens



Me with my feet firmly planted on Mother Earth peering at tunnels through fort.



View of one section of the fort from high vantage point

Ricky climbed a lookout tower manned by a Park Service employee in order to get this great view.

To read more about Fort Pickens, click Here.

Fort Pickens is also famous for being one of the forts where Apache tribal members were held, including the Apache warrior, Geronimo, in 1887. 



Geronimo

Born in 1829, Geronimo lived in western New Mexico when this region was still a part of Mexico. Geronimo was a Bedonkohe Apache that married into the Chiricahuas. The murder of his mother, wife and children by soldiers from Mexico in 1858 forever changed his life and the lives of settlers in the southwest. He vowed at this point to kill as many white men as possible and spent the next thirty years making good on that promise.

Geronimo was a medicine man and not a chief of the Apache. However, his visions made him indispensable to the Apache chiefs and gave him a position of prominence with the tribe.

In the mid 1870's the government moved Native Americans onto reservations, and Geronimo rebelled against this forced removal and fled with a band of followers. He spent the next 10 years on reservations and raiding with his band. They raided across New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. His exploits became highly chronicled by the press and he became the most feared Apache.

Geronimo and his band were eventually captured at Skeleton Canyon in 1886. These Apache were then shipped by rail to Florida.  All of Geronimo's band was to be sent to Fort Marion in St. Augustine. However, a few business leaders in Pensacola, Florida petitioned the government to have Geronimo himself sent to Fort Pickens.

They claimed that Geronimo and his men would be better guarded at Fort Pickens than at the overcrowded Fort Marion. However, an editorial in a local newspaper congratulated a congressman for bringing such a great tourist attraction to the city.

On October 25, 1886, 15 Apache warriors arrived at Fort Pickens. Geronimo and his warriors spent many days working hard labor at the fort in direct violation of the agreements made at Skeleton Canyon. Eventually the families of Geronimo's band were returned to them at Fort Pickens, and then they all moved on to other places of incarceration.

The city of Pensacola was sad to see Geronimo the tourist attraction leave. In one day he had over 459 visitors with an average of 20 a day during the duration of his captivity at Fort Pickens.

Unfortunately, the proud Geronimo was reduced to a sideshow spectacle. He lived the rest of his days as a prisoner. He visited the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and made money signing autographs and pictures.  Geronimo eventually died in 1909 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

(Source of above information about Geronimo: Geronimo and Fort Pickens: An Unwilling Tourist Attraction, by Martin Kelly, About.com Guide)  Click here for original article.

"I was born on the prairies where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures."

                                                                                     ~ Geronimo

More pics from the beach

Ricky and I missed the 20" rainfall that Pensacola Beach had the day before our arrival, but we did experience this rainbow while we were there.

rainbow at Pensacola Beach

We spend quite a bit of time in vacation mode, vegetating in the living room, or eating our vegetables--artichoke dip munchies on the deck.

 

heron in sea oats

a walk on the beach in stormy seas

Contemplation of a tranquil sea

We took a pontoon boat out one afternoon for a mini-adventure and fishing excursion for our lone fisherman.

Back Seat Driver Dave

Watermelon Break

Caught one!





Sunset at Pensacola Beach









What Else I Did on My Summer Vacation

Our house on the beach with first level and second level decks

Though my last post made it sound like all I did was read books while I was at the beach, that was a bit of hyperbole.  While it was a leisurely week, we had fun and various enjoyable activities were going on all the time.  Ricky and I were listing our favorite things about the week as we drove home, trying to stay awake. 

We agreed that the best part was ten of his family being together for the week.  Because of the number in our party, we ate many meals at the beach house, all seated at the table for ten in front of wall of glass overlooking the Gulf.  Ricky's brother-in-law made gumbo one night, while Ricky contributed his shrimp pasta one night and ham and spinach frittatas for a couple of brunches.  We had homemade zucchini bread  and chocolate chip cookies.  Patty, Ricky's sister, and Monica, the wife of Ricky's nephew, made sure we always had something good to munch on. 

Patty in kitchen at beach house

Patty was also in charge of games.  Four of us laughed and squabbled through a spirited game of Buzzword, while others enjoyed Dominoes and Bananagram.  The teenage girls rarely lifted their heads from their electronic devices when they weren't outside sunbathing, hanging out on the beach or in the hot tub.  I'm not sure we adults were much better as Iphones, lap top computers and DVD players were much in evidence.

Ricky and the girls enjoy the cool waters of the "hot tub"

There are various ways you can categorize those of us on this trip:
Family Units:
Ricky's nephew Neil, wife Monica and their two children plus a friend from Nicaragua.

Neil's family jumping for joy

Ricky's sister Patty, her husband Dave, and their son, Michael, all from Colorado where the most destructive fire in Colorado history rages in their absence, blanketing their town with smoke so bad that people and pets have to stay inside.

Michael, Patty, Dave & kite in background

Ricky and me during the mandatory photo op on boardwalk leading to the beach.

You could also classify us as those who tan and those who don't:

Ricky and Patty ended up with sun poisoning, I ended up as white as the day I was born except for a few more freckles or age spots!  The other guys--Dave, Michael and Neil--had various degrees of tan and pinkness as they exercised some restraint in their hours in the sun.  And then there was the Latino contingent, those with Nicaraguan blood...brown as nuts with tans worthy of old Coppertone ads.

Those with beautiful tans

As usual, Ricky is the photographer documenting another great trip.  More pics from our beach adventure will follow in subsequent posts if anyone is interested.