What I do find interesting is that Slemmer was at that time 'acting' commanding officer. One who was on leave at that time was of all things, the commander of the military defenses for Pensacola, Maj. John H. Winder. Slemmer was left holding down the fort and at that time, there was plenty of 'chatter' that something big may be coming. Maj. Winder resigned from the US Army and became commanding officer of Libby Prison and then Andersonville. If you remember, FC Humphrey's at the Charleston Arsenal was also 'acting' CO while the real CO was on leave. Had there been any substancial official worry, I'd think Winder's leave would have been cancelled. Also on leave were his second in command, Lt Asher R. Eddy and the chief engineer Lt Frederick E. Prine. With not only the commanding officer but two others in important positions away, Slemmer was in a pickle. IF he had knowledge such as a copy of a wire on Sumter, he may have started his move on a hunch or a just in case. I'm sort of inclined to think he knew there were other wheels in motion and I think I'm going to dig some in the OR's to see if there are some communications to or by him on the matter.
I see why Slemmer believed he had to go to Pickens except for one order that told him to hold the forts at all cost. That alone would make him restock Pickens but not just pack up and move. As it was, He did try to at least 'hide' some of the movement in doing that in the beginning. As things heated up, he ended up not really finishing the job of spiking the cannons at Barrancas or getting all of the stored ammo at McRee. At the time only a staff Sgt and his wife were at McRee and it was used for storage of ammo. The garrison of soldiers at Barrancas was not a large one. I'm thinking he made the decision and I believe he did so because he got some intel that we do not know about. What I don't see in all of this is why he felt moving to a rather rundown fort from a pretty well maintained one or why it was necessary at that time. So far, there had not been any real threat to any of the forts. I think that's an area that needs to be explored. So many little things are adding up to something much larger and the common denominator is----troop movement when there really was no need at the time they were moving. Just that alone is enough to make the Southern leaders pay attention. There has to be more and we've just not seen it.

Pam