1825 John Quincy Adams - The Pensacola Navy Yard and Depot

When Florida was purchased on February 22, 1819 as part of the Adams Onis treaty, the Pensacola Bay was eyed as a natural location for a navy yard.  Since the bay was much more accessible than new Orleans for sailing ships, Secretary of the navy Southard recommended that plans for a naval station at New Orleans be scrapped and replaced with one on the Pensacola Bay of Florida.   On March 3, 1825, Congress concurred with Southard's recommendation and passed an act to "authorizing the establishment of a navy yard and naval depot on the coast of Florida, and appropriated $100,000 for the purchase of a site and the making of improvements thereon" (Naval Institue 1907).   Three men, Captain William Bainbridge, Captain Lewis Warrington and Captain James Biddle were selected and appointed to select a site on Pensacola Bay.   On October 25,  1825, the commission boarded the U.S.S. Hornet and sailed to Pensacola Bay.  One month later on November 4th,  the team of three men sent a letter to the  Secretary of the Navy Samuel Southard, recommending that the navy yard be built on a section of land about 6 miles from Pensacola that was  already owned by the U.S. Government. President John Quincy Adams approved their recommendation on December 4, 1825.  Just two days later, the President delivered his State of the Union Address to Congress and included in it a few words on the future Pensacola Navy yard and depot.  Adams referred the details to the Secretary's annual report that also included surveys of several harbors and plans to build ten sloops of war.

"The act of Congress of 1824-05-26, authorizing an examination and survey of the harbor of Charleston, in South Carolina, of St. Marys, in Georgia, and of the coast of Florida, and for other purposes, has been executed so far as the appropriation would admit. Those of the 3d of March last, authorizing the establishment of a navy yard and depot on the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and authorizing the building of ten sloops of war, and for other purposes, are in the course of execution, for the particulars of which and other objects connected with this Department I refer to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, herewith communicated."

Secretary Southard laid out plans for the construction of the Navy Yard including what buildings should be erected and at what locations, but the naval yard was not established until 1830.  Today, the Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola occupies this site.  NAS is best known as the training grounds for Naval Aviators, and Naval Flight Officers as well the home base for the Blue Angels, the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.  On January 11, 1861 the United States Navy surrendered the Pensacola Navy Yard to the Confederates in one of the most humiliating incidents in its history.

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). John Quincy Adams: First Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29467 [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Buchanan, D. (2018). 190 years ago, President Adams establishes Navy Yard at Pensacola. [online] The Pulse. Available at: http://pulsegulfcoast.com/2015/12/4993 [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Naval Air Station Pensacola. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Pensacola [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Naval Institute Proceedings, Volume 33, Part 1. (1907). The Institute, p.620.

Pensacola Then and Now. (2018). PENSACOLA'S MILITARY 1. [online] Available at: http://www.pensacolathenandnow.com/military-in-pensacola-1.html [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].

Wagner, D. (2018). 1819 James Monroe - Purchase of Florida. [online] Stateoftheunionhistory.com. Available at: http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2015/07/1819-james-monroe-purchase-of-florida.html [Accessed 1 Feb. 2018].