The Secession Convention convened in the state capitol at Tallahassee on January 3, 1861, and on January 10 voted 62-7 to withdraw from the Union, making Florida the third state to secede. Florida was the least populated of all the Confederate states. In 1860 its population was about 140,000 of which 63,000 were slaves. About 15,000 men from the state enlisted in the Confederate army, the vast majority were deployed outside Florida. The state’s primary importance to the Confederacy was as a source of beef and other agricultural supplies, its production of salt from seawater, and for blockade-runners who used its vast shoreline to evade the Union Navy.

As Florida seceded its state militia occupied Federal facilities around the state including the Apalachicola Arsenal at Chattahoochee, Fort Clinch near Fernandina, and Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine. In Pensacola, the Rebels occupied Forts McRee and Barrancas, as well as the Pensacola Navy Yard. Only Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island remained in Federal hands. The Union retained control of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas and Fort Taylor at Key West for the duration of the war. Confederate troops would attempt to force the Federals troops out of Fort Pickens. On the night of October 8-9, 1861, a Rebel force landed on Santa Rosa Island and attacked a Union camp. After a brisk engagement they were repulsed, Subsequently, artillery bombardments in November 1861 and January 1862, were also unsuccessful.

January 6- State troops seize the Chattahoochee Arsenal, Fort Marion in St. Augustine and Fort Clinch on Amelia Island.

January 10- US troops move from Forts Barrancas (link) and Fort McRee to Fort Pickens (link) on Santa Rosa Island

October 9- The Battle of Santa Rosa Island (link).

November 22-23- Artillery duel between Union forces at Fort Pickens and Confederates at Fort McRee, Fort Barrancas and the Pensacola Navy Yard

Pensacola- Historic Pensacola (link), Pensacola Cemeteries (link), and the Pensacola Lighthouse (link)