Forts are for protection, defense not offense, and Fort Pickens provided an excellent defense for Pensacola Bay until technology made it obsolete. There were many cannon like these bristling along both the sea side and the land side of the fort. On the grounds of the Gulf Island National Seashore, this is one of several forts you can still visit in both Florida and Mississippi. This may be the largest and best preserved of those forts and includes a WWII installation in the middle of the old parade ground.
