PLANS OF THE INSURGENTS EXPOSED.

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plan of General Bragg's for seizing the fort, which was to have been executed on the night of the 11th; but which, on account of the rough weather, was deferred until the following night, and was not unknown to Lieutenant Slemmer. That officer had been kept acquainted with affairs in the insurgent camp at Warrington by Richard Wilcox, a loyal watchman at the Navy Yard, who addressed him over the signature of "A Friend to the Union." During the siege, Slemmer had been allowed to send a flag of trace to the yard every day. The bearer was carefully conducted from his. boat to the yard and back. Wilcox was generally on hand to perform that duty, and used these opportunities to communicate with Slemmer. On the 10th of April he discovered that one of Slemmer's sergeants was holding treasonable correspondence with two secessionists on shore (Sweetman and Williams), who were employed by General Bragg. The sergeant had arranged to assist in betraying the fort into the hands of the insurgents, for which service he was to receive a large sum of money and a commission in the "Confederate" Army. He had seduced a few companions into a

promised participation in his scheme. The act was to be performed, as we have observed, on the night of the 11th of April, when a thousand insurgents were to engage in the matter. They were to cross over in a steamboat (the same that conveyed Lieutenant Worden from Pensacola to Warrington) and escalade the fort at an hour when the sergeant and his confederates would be on guard. Wilcox informed Slemmer of the fact, and his testimony was confirmed by a Pensacola newspaper' that found its way into the fort. In that paper was a letter from a correspondent at Warrington, in which the intended attack on Fort Pickens was mentioned.

1 Pensacola Observer. Its correspondent "Nemo," named Mathews, was not a traitor, but a blunderer, and was arrested and sent to Montgomery. His indiscretion was of service to the National cause, and for this the conspirators were disposed to punish him.

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RE-ENFORCEMENT OF FORT PICKENS.

Slemmer prepared to frustrate the designs of the insurgents, but friends instead of enemies visited him the following night.'

The re-enforcement of Fort Pickens was performed as follows:-Early in the evening the marines of the Sabine and St. Louis, under Lieutenant Cash, were sent on board the Brooklyn, Captain Walker, when she weighed anchor and ran in as near to Fort Pickens as possible. Launches were lowered, and marines, with Captain Vogdes's artillerymen, immediately embarked. The landing was effected not far from the flag-staff bastion, at about midnight, under the direction of Lieutenant Albert N. Smith, of Massachusetts. They had passed into the harbor, and under the guns of Forts McRee and Barrancas, unobserved. The whole expedition was in charge of Commander Charles H. Poor, assisted by Lieutenants Smith, of the Brooklyn, Lew and Newman, of the Sabine, and Belknap, of the St. Louis. The insurgents, in endeavoring to conceal their own movements, had assisted in obscuring those of the squadron, by extinguishing the lamp of the light-house. In the thick darkness, the expedition struck the designated landing-place with great accuracy. When the important work was accomplished, heavy guns were fired on the vessels, the fort was lighted up, and the insurgents, who were on the point of making an attack on Fort Pickens, observing the ominous appearance of affairs there prudently remained on shore.3

MAP OF PENSACOLA BAY AND VICINITY.

sacola, and at nine in the evening left there in a railway car for Montgomery, hoping to report at Washington on Monday night. He was disappointed. Bragg had committed a great blunder, and knew it early on the morning

1 The loyal Wilcox tried to escape to the North. He reached Norfolk, where he was pressed into the "Confederate service," in which he remained, at that place, until it was taken possession of in May, 1862.

2 Report of Commander H. A. Adams to the Secretary of the Navy, April 14, 1861.

Statement of Mr. Wilcox. A correspondent of the Charleston Mercury, writing on the 13th, said that the firing alarmed the insurgents. An attack on Fort McRee was expected. The troops were called out, and