Fort Barrancas Tour: Stop 6

Fort Barrancas Guard Room

Kiss

Quick Facts

Location:

Pensacola, Florida

Significance:

Civil War, Black History, Confederates, Network to Freedom

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Trailhead

Guard Room

In the 1800s, people in the United States believed that keeping a large army during peacetime was a threat to their nation. They preferred to rely on citizen-soldiers if war erupted, like their ancestors had in the American Revolution.

Of the forts, one Army engineer wrote: “When once constructed they require but little expenditure for their support. In time of peace they withdraw no valuable citizens from the useful occupations of life. Of themselves they can never exert an influence dangerous to public liberty; but as the means of preserving peace, and as obstacles to an invader, their influence and power are immense.”

To support this attitude and tradition, Army engineers did not design Fort Barrancas with living quarters for soldiers. Instead, professional soldiers serving in the small US Army lived nearby at Barrancas Barracks.

Even in peacetime, Fort Barrancas stored dozens of cannon and large quantities of ammunition that needed guarding. Soldiers stationed at the Army post took turns standing guard over the fort. They rotated with two men on duty (two hours on, four hours off, for 24 hours) while four men rested in this guard room.