Lawless.

This is coolbert:

Before there was Fort Sumter there was Pensacola. And before there was Pensacola there was the Dry Tortugas and Key West?

Combat actions of the American Civil War even beginning BEFORE secession of South Carolina in December of 1860?

"From 15 November [1860] . . . Lieutenant Craven in Mohawk, with the steamer Wyandotte, defended Forts Jefferson and Taylor at Key West, from actions of  'bands of lawless men', a farsighted action that enabled the Union to retain that vital Florida base, so valuable during the forthcoming naval operations in the American Civil War. Mohawk remained on guard at Key West until the end of January 1861 and then sailed for New York."

"BANDS OF LAWLESS MEN" THE IDENTITY NOT ELABORATED UPON. PIRATES? SLAVERS? CONFEDERATES?

See also this archived item from the New York Times as of March 15, 1863.

"Secretary Toucey's Treansonable [sic] Conduct at the Opening of the War."

ACTIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY TOUCEY IN THOSE MONTHS PRIOR TO FORT SUMTER [APRIL 1861] SUSPECT AND OPEN TO QUESTION. READ THE ARCHIVE MATERIAL FOR YOURSELF.

From the New-Haven Journal:

"MESSRS. EDITORS: Having been charged with the construction and custody of Fort Taylor at Key West, during the period of danger when secession councils ruled our Government, I wish to say that your denunciation of the course of Ex-Secretary TOUCEY in regard to the Mohawk and Wyandotte, is every whit deserved. I so well remember the bitter, burning indignation with which that dastardly order was received by those who were straining every nerve to maintain the supremacy of the Government, as to loathe the attempted emergence of its author into a position of a public counselor."

"The Ex-Secretary has this alternative: either be understood the bearings of his own order, or he did not; if he did, he was a traitor; if he did not, he was a fool."

Toucey a traitor or a fool? Again take your pick?

coolbert.