Mercer, C. F. Defenceless Condition of the Southern Coast of the United States and Gulf of Mexico (Doc. No. 224) Statement submitted by The Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs to the House of Representatives...&c. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1842. [11663]
Removed, 8 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches, 7 clean pp. Good. Pamphlet.
27th Congress, Second Session, House of Representatives, Doc. No. 224.
The undefended coast of the United States stretched from western Florida all the way to Mexico. It is "the peculiar and most defenceless condition, not of that [Florida] alone of the Southern frontier of the United States, but of the entire coast and commerce of the Gulf of Mexico."
Over one thousand miles lay undefended, and agitations from Great Britain, and the content of the British press, reveal "the probability of an invasion in that quarter". At this time Florida had been for merely twenty years part of the United States, and Louisiana, thirty years. Pensacola is cited as the only port in this vast expanse large and equipped enough to harbor US navy ships for outfitting and repairs. That harbor, however, is described as practically defenseless.
A recommendation to build a military harbor at St. Joseph, Florida, is made, with reasons and explanations of its practicality.
