1851 to July 17, 1854, but consisted of two distinct periods separated by a short tour of duty in during September 1853. Civil War In January 1861, as the Civil War approached, Walke was in command of at Pensacola, Florida. On the 12th, Captain James Armstrong surrendered the navy yard to Confederate forces from Alabama and Florida. After providing temporary support for the defenders of Fort Pickens, who refused to follow Armstrong's example, Walke took off some of the loyal sailors and navy yard employees and got underway for New York on the 16th. After arriving at New York on February 4, the commander and his ship loaded supplies and reinforcements for Fort Pickens. Supply set sail on March 15 and anchored near the fort on April 7 and landed the troops and supplies without Walke. It turned out that the Navy Secretary Isaac Toucey wanted the USS Supply to sail for Vera Cruz, Mexico with provisions, instead of delivering loyal to the Union cause personnel and their families to New York. In a subsequent court-martial Walke was cleared of several charges but admonished for disobeying his orders to rejoin the squadron of Garrett J. Pendergrast at Vera Cruz. Operations supporting the nascent Union blockade preoccupied the Navy, and Walke received orders to take command of one of the Navy's newly acquired steamers. Following that service—during the summer of 1861—and a four-day tour as lighthouse inspector for the 11th District early in September, Walke headed west in response to orders to special duty at St. Louis, Missouri. That assignment proved to be the command of , one of the river gunboats of the Army's Western Flotilla. In September and October, he took his gunboat downriver to bombard Confederate shore batteries at Hickman and Columbus in western Kentucky, and traded a few shots with the Confederate gunboat . Early in November, his ship supported Ulysses S. Grant's move on the Southern camp at Belmont, Missouri, escorting troop transports, bombarding shore batteries and, finally, covering the withdrawal of Grant's forces from the Battle of Belmont. In mid-January 1862, Commander Walke assumed command of the ironclad warship , also assigned to the Western Flotilla. In February 1862, during his tenure as Carondelet's commanding officer, Walke led her during the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson which guarded the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, respectively. In April, he led her in the passing of heavily