At the very moment when these sentences are
being written (in 1880), although the army of the United States is twice
as large as in 1860; although four years of internal war and a yet
longer period of subsequent military occupation of the South have
habituated the public to the presence of troops in their midst, to an
extent that would formerly have been startling if not offensive;
although allegations of continued disaffection on the part of the
Southern people have been persistently reiterated, for party
purposes--yet it is believed that the forts and arsenals in the States
of the Gulf are in as defenseless a condition, and as liable to quiet
seizure (if any such purpose existed), as in the beginning of the year
1861. Certainly, those within the range of my personal information are
occupied, as they were at that time, only by ordnance-sergeants or
fort-keepers.
There were, however, some exceptions to this general rule--especially in
the defensive works of the harbor of Charleston, the forts at Key West
and the Dry Tortugas, and those protecting the entrance of Pensacola
Bay. The events which occurred in Charleston Harbor will be more
conveniently noticed hereafter. The island forts near the extreme
southern point of Florida were too isolated and too remote from
population to be disturbed at that time; but the situation long
maintained at the mouth of Pensacola Bay affords a signal illustration
of the forbearance and conciliatory spirit that animated Southern
counsels.
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