U. S. FRIGATE SABINE,

Off Pensacola, April 14, 1861.

Honorable GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy, Washington:

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that immediately on the receipt of your order by Lieutenant Worden, on the 12th instant, I prepared to re-enforce Fort Pickens. It was successfully performed, on the same night, by landing the troops under Captain Vogdes, and the marines of the squadron under Lieutenant [John C.] Cash. No opposition was made, nor do I believe the movement was known on shore until it was accomplished.

A strong party of officers and seamen were sent to assist in case of resistance, who afterwards returned to their ships. The marines remained in the fort, at the request of Captain Vogdes, a copy of which I inclose.* The whole expedition was under the charge of Commander Charles H. Poor, assisted by Lieutenant [Albert N.] Smith, of the brooklyn, Lieutenants [R. F. R.] Lewis and [L. H.] Newman, of the Sabine, and Lieutenant [G. E.] Belknap, of the St. Louis; and it is highly creditable to these officers that this service was performed without accident or disorder under unfavorable circumstances. The Brooklyn, Captain [W. S.] Walker, and the Wayandotte, Lieutenant Commanding [J. R. M.] Mullany, were very skillfully managed. They carried the landing party to the designated spot with accuracy in spite of the darkness of the night, and not having the light-house to guide them, the light having been extinguished early in the evening.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. A. ADAMS,

Captain, Senior Officer Present.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF FLORIDA,
Transport Steamship Atlantic, April 15, 1861.

Lieutenant Colonel E. D. KEYES,

Secretary to the General-in-Chief, Washington, D. C.:

COLONEL: I wrote you at Key West, reporting our arrival there, and took from Fort Taylor some guns and stores necessary for our expedition, and detached from the companies of the fort and barracks thirty-three men to fill up in part the companies of the command to their maximum organization, intending to take the balance from Fort Jefferson. These men are required to fill vacancies caused by desertion or other absence at New York.

We left Key West at daybreak yesterday morning (the 14th), and arrived at Fort Jefferson at 1 p. m. I found this post in the good order to be expected from its vigilant commander. The present armament of the fort is thirteen 8-inch columbiads and a field battery, and 104 barrels gunpowder, 608 shells, 150 shot, and a vessel now at the wharf is unloading thirty 8-inch columbiads and twenty-four 24-pounder howitzers, with carriages, implements, &c., complete, with 250 barrels of powder, 2,400 8-inch shells, 600 round shot, and a proportioned quantity of fixed ammunition, so that this post may be considered secure from any force that the seceding States can bring against it. The whole lower tier of this work may with little labor be prepared for this armament. Some flagging and the traverse circles are the principal work to be done. On the recommendation of Captain Meigs, chief engineer,

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*Not found.

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