Hurricane Ida left a calling card at Pensacola Bay in Florida. 194 cannonballs were uncovered along beach near Civil War Fort McRee

Shells were found Sept. 3-5 and 21-23 (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

Fort McRee did not resemble most other coastal fortifications erected in the U.S. after the War of 1812. The fort was shaped somewhat like a wing or boomerang so that it could be squeezed onto a narrow barrier island separating Florida’s Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

McRee’s brief moment of fame – until last month – came in November 1861, when it was in Confederate hands during the Civil War. The garrison engaged in gunfire with nearby Union-held Fort Pickens and a couple warships -- and came up on the losing end. The heavily damaged brick fort, built on sand, was abandoned, only to fall into further ruin over the years.

Inaccessible by road, McRee’s main visitors are sea birds, boaters and beachgoers who come to Gulf Islands National Seashore. The park is home to McRee, Pickens and Fort Barrancas, another Civil War outpost.

Soldiers at Fort McRee, year unknown (Gulf Islands National Seashore)

Category 4 Hurricane Ida -- bringing heavy rain and wind -- paid its own visit in late August, and its impact left quite a surprise: Days later and over three weeks, park staff discovered 194 Civil War-era cannonballs, deposited in a couple clusters along the beach.

The shells weighed between 25 and 35 pounds and are believed to be of the same type, park public information officer Susan Teel told the Civil War Picket in an email. “They are hollow, potentially black powder filled cannonballs considered discarded military munitions.”

Experts from the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field (below) detonated the artillery shells on site, officials said.

“What’s unclear is whether they are Union or Confederate, whether they were associated with Fort McRee or another type of facility,” GUIS Superintendent Darrell Echols told TV station WKRG.

It appears the cannonballs had been discarded or buried; that may be determined in coming weeks during a cultural resource survey of the find. 

Erosion regularly occurs on these barrier islands and park officials say the ordnance was likely placed in a spot that was inland at the time. Echols told WEAR-TV the artifacts do not appear to have been fired upon the island.

The park has closed a portion of the beach on the Perdido Key Area’s southeastern end, at the Fort McRee site, and is monitoring it should more ordnance appear.

“Our goal is to ensure that the area is safe for the public and staff and that cultural resources are protected,” Teel said late last week. “In an abundance of caution, the park has closed the area surrounding where the cannonballs were located. This closure is signed and visitors walking or boating in this area are prohibited from entering. Staff will be monitoring and patrolling the area regularly.”

A park news release says it is illegal for the public to handle, deface or remove such artifacts.

Cannonballs likely were further inland during the Civil War (GUIS)

This is not the first time a storm uncovered Civil War munitions. For example, 2019’s Hurricane Dorian revealed two cannonballs on South Carolina’s Folly Beach.

In almost all cases, military or local emergency services employees destroy discovered ordnance because of the potential for them to explode. On some occasions, they are defused or found not to still contain harmful material.

Asked whether a discussion was held on whether the rounds could be saved, Teel wrote: “As a federal agency, we have arrangements with the military to detonate munitions or unexploded ordinance found in the park. Munitions have been found in national parks across the USA and the military has assisted the National Park Service to successfully mitigate the danger these munitions may pose to the public and staff.”

Teel said if someone comes across munitions, they should not disturb the items. They should leave the area and contact local emergency services, she said.

A Virginia relic collector died in 2008 when a cannonball he was restoring exploded.

(Wikipedia Commons)

McRee had 12 casemates and an associated water battery, which may be underwater today. Virtually nothing remains today, with the exception of part of the fort's foundation. (After the Picket posted this article on social media, a few readers commented they believe the ordnance was made for a 32-pounder cannon.)

A GUIS web page details its history and service. The federal government built the fort in the 1830s at part of defenses of Pensacola Bay and a naval yard. Interestingly, Fort Pickens was one of the few forts in the South that remained in Union hands throughout the Civil War.

McRee was seized by state militia in early 1861 and guns were mounted by Confederate troops. On Nov. 22, 1861, Pickens opened fire on shore batteries, the navy yard and McRee and Barrancas.

“Under heavy artillery fire, Fort McRee was exposed to severe bombardment at its front, flank, and rear,” the park service says. “Two Union warships, U.S.S. Niagara and U.S.S. Richmond joined the bombardment of Fort McRee. This massive artillery exchange shook houses ten miles away and concussion-stunned fish which floated to the surface of the bay.” Confederate guns were able to damage one of the Federal warships.

But damage to the fort and its vulnerability put it out of action for the next day.

Rebel forces abandoned the outpost by March 1862.

“The once imposing fortification had been reduced to a burned-out and fragmented brick shell. Essentially abandoned after the Civil War, the toll of warfare and of the elements continued to take Fort McRee into further ruin,” according to the website. “By the early 1900s, what little was left of this once imposing defensive structure was rapidly crumbling. Today, nothing visible remains of this Third System fortification, although later coastal defense structures built in the area are commonly referred to as old Fort McRee.”

A battery was built near the old fort about the time of the Spanish-American War and it had guns during World War II. It was deactivated shortly after the war ended.

Aerial view of a battery on island in 1928 (National Archives

The region during the Civil War (Wikipedia Commons)