Civil War Florida

January 27, 1862 - A Tampa Bay Fort that Wasn't Really There

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

Tampa Bay, Florida

The morning of January 27, 1862 (150 years ago today) found the captain of the U.S.S. Kingfisher writing a report on an unsuccessful boat expedition into Tampa Bay.

The expedition was launched after sailors reported seeing the sails of small vessels moving back and forth across Tampa Bay. The commanders of the two blockade vessels stationed off the bay came to believe that these were the boats of a developing coast guard effort at Tampa and that a fort was under construction on the south side of the bay at the mouth of the Manatee River.

Civil War Drawing of USS Kingfisher

After a consultation with the captain of the Ethan Allen, Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph P. Couthouy assembled the crew of the Kingfisher on deck and announced plans for a boat party to investigate both the strange sales and the rumored fort. When he called for volunteers, every man on the ship threw up his hand:

...At 8 p.m. I dispatched the first, second, and third cutters in charge of Acting Master J.H. Hallet and Master's Mates J.E. Whiteside and C.E. Sloan, with 35 men, fully armed, the whole under charge of Mr. Hallet, with writen instructions to act in concert with an equal number of boats and men from the Ethan Allen, in charge of Acting Master Stephenson. - Acting Volunter Lieutenant Joseph P. Couthoy, U.S. Navy, January 27, 1862.

Modern Aerial of the Mouth the Manatee River

The results of the boat expedition, however, were not what the Federal officers had hoped. Not only did they find no armed vessels in the bay, they also landed at the mouth of the Manatee River to find there was not even a fort there. The presumed fort was actually an abandoned and temporary building built on top of an Indian mound:
...The boats returned last evening having found no armed vessel nor any enemy on shore, after capturing the sloop Mary Nevis, of Tampa, of about 12 tons burden, engaged in carrying the mails, freight, and passengers between Fort Brooke, Manatee River and the intermediate points, with a woman and child only on board, the one man forming her crew having run her ashore and taken to ths bush. They also burned the temporary barracks erected on a mound near the beach, lately occupied, according to parties on shore, by a troop of 115 or 120 cavalry, with one gun mounted on wheels. - Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph P. Couthoy, U.S. Navy, January 27, 1862.
The expedition did not result in combat, but a similar operation in 1863 would lead to the Battle of Fort Brooke.

Eating Possum by the Pound in Pensacola!

2012-01-22T14:36:00.000-06:00

Fort Barrancas at Pensacola Bay

On January 22, 1862 (150 years ago today), the Memphis, Tennessee, Daily Appeal printed a letter from an Alabama soldier stationed near Fort Barrancas on Pensacola Bay.
The account is fascinating because it includes a detailed listing of what the Confederate soldiers in the Army of Pensacola were eating and how much they were paying for it. My favorite item on the menu was 'possum (or opossum, to use the corrent spelling), which was selling for as much as or more than duck!

Possum Monument
Wausau, Florida

...We are living better now than ever before. There is a daily cart trade from Pensacola, which brings us a good supply of edibles. We get chickens, turkeys, ducks, fresh port, country-made sausages, “in the dab” and “in the link,” eggs, butter, oysters, potatoes, opposums, “and so forth. Do you know what the trite phrase contained in the last three words of the previous sentence means? I f you don’t, inquire of the man who, when asked what he had for dinner on a certain occasion, replied that he had “mutton and so forth. What had he besides the mutton? I bought to-day a saddle of venison, fresh from the country, at two bits a pound. Would you like to know our market prices current? Fresh pork 25 cents per pound; eggs, 50 cents per dozen; butter 75 cents; turkeys $2.25 for gobblers; ducks, $1.50 a pair; chickens, $5 a dozen; sausages, 35 to 40 cents per pound; sweet potatoes, 1.50 per bushel; Irish potatoes, $5 per bushel; opossums 75 cents to $1.25 each. - Anonymous Letter, dated January 17, 1862.

Possum Monument
Wausau, Florida

Even considering their taste for "possum and taters," the soldiers at Pensacola were eating very well compared to many of the men in the Confederate army. This would change, of course, as they left the routine of garrison life at Pensacola Bay for the hardships of the active fronts and it is certain that many would look back on their time (and food) in Florida with longing.

Possum was a common food in the Panhandle of Florida on up into the 20th century. Some still enjoy it even today. This fact is commemorated in the annual Possum Festival and Fun Day in Wausau, Florida. Held on the first Saturday of August each year, which has been designated by the Florida Legislature as "Possum Day" in the Sunshine State.

Wausau is also home to the famed Possum Monument, which stands on a landscaped plot by State Highway 77. To read more about the Possum Monument, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/possummonument.

January 20, 1862 - Capture of the Olive Branch off Egmont Key

2012-01-20T10:22:00.000-06:00

Egmont Key, Florida
Notice the Egmont Key Lighthouse in the left center.

Before the U.S.S. Hatteras attacked Cedar Key on January 16, 1862 (please see The Union Attack on Cedar Key, Florida), the Jacksonville owned schooner Olive Branch slipped out of the harbor there and ran through the blockade.

The Olive Branch was bound for Nassau, New Providence, and while she successfully made it out past the blockade vessels at Cedar Key, she did not reach her destination. As the small schooner was running south down the Gulf of Mexico past the mouth of Tampa Bay, she was spotted by lookouts stationed atop the Egmont Key Lighthouse on January 20, 1862, 150 years ago today.

The news was signaled to two Union warships stationed off Tampa Bay, the USS Kingfisher and the USS Ethan Allen, both of which launched small boats to pursue the fast-moving schooner. The boats of the Ethan Allen caught up with the blockade runner first, but not before five of her crewmen escaped to shore:

Sketch of Egmont Key Lighthouse, 1862

...The prize was brought in this morning by Acting Master Stephenson of the Ethan Allen, and proved to be the Confederate schooner Olive Branch of Jacksonville, burden 42 4/9 2/5 tons, from Cedar Keys 9th instant for Nassau, New Providence, with cargo of 160 barrels (5,440 gallons) spirits turpentine, valued at about $8,700, and the vessel at $1,200 to $1,500 more. - Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Joseph P. Couthouy, USS Kingfisher, January 21, 1862.

The fact that the cargo of the Olive Branch was worth more than five times the value of the schooner itself tells something about the profits realized by the captains and ship owners that risked running their sloops, steamers and schooners through the blockade of Florida. And despite captures such as that made 150 years ago today by the men of the Ethan Allen, blockade runners would continue to slip in and out of the inlets and bays of the Florida coast until the end of the war.

The Egmont Key Lighthouse, from which the Union lookouts spotted the blockade runner, is now part of Egmont Key State Park. Accessible only by boat or passenger ferry, the park is located off Tampa Bay. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/egmontkey.

January 18, 1862 - Union sailors examine Fort Mallory on St. Vincent Island

2012-01-18T21:14:00.001-06:00

St. Vincent Island, Florida

On January 18, 1862 (150 years ago today,) a boat party from the U.S. Gunboat Sagamore chased a 40 ton sloop back into the city of Apalachicola.

The vessel, armed with a 6-pounder cannon, had been seen lying at anchor at the inner anchorage of Apalachicola Bay. There is no indication of firing between the two parties, but the sloop did withdraw to the waterfront of the city itself.

USS Sagamore

On the same afternoon, however, the Sagamore made a more significant discovery. Noticing a lack of activity on St. Vincent Island, where the Confederates had built Fort Mallory to protect Apalachicola Bay, Lieutenant A.J. Drake ordered a larger boat party to find out what was going on:

In the afternoon I sent boats to reconnoiter the island of St. Vincent and found that the platforms of the late battery had been destroyed, with evident marks of a hasty retreat. Found a few cattle, sheep, horses, and chickens about a house standing on the point at West Pass. Found the barracks and buildings mostly destroyed. - Lt. A.J. Drake, U.S. Navy, January 18, 1862.

View of St. Vincent Island across Indian Pass

The battery on St. Vincent Island bore the name Fort Mallory, after Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory. A former U.S. Senator from Florida, he was the state's most influential member of the Cabinet of President Jefferson Davis.

The problem, however, was that while the guns of the fort could control West Pass (the channel between St. George and St. Vincent), it was poorly positioned to provide much actual protection to Apalachicola itself. By using East Pass, the U.S. Navy could easily bypass it with shallow draft vessels.

The fort was an earthwork built of sand with timber backing and mounted six 32-pounder cannon. After general agreement was reached that the position was too isolated to be effective, the Confederate military removed the guns to Apalachicola itself and began building fortifications there. Fort Mallory was abandoned, as was discovered by the Union navy 150 years ago today.

To learn more about historic Apalachicola, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/apalachicola.

January 17, 1862 - Capture of the blockade runner Emma off Jupiter Inlet

2012-01-17T11:31:00.000-06:00

USS Connecticut during the Civil War

Under Commander M. Woodhull, the USS Connecticut was steaming 24 miles southeast of Jupiter Inlet and about 12 miles off the Florida coast on the afternoon of Friday, January 17, 1862, when a suspicious sail was spotted about five miles away. The warship began to pursue the mysterious vessel and came alongside her in just 20 minutes.
Built in 1861 in New York as a civilian vessel named Mississippi, the side-wheel steamer had been purchased by the Union Navy that summer and was commissioned on August 23, 1861, as the USS Connecticut. She mounted five guns and was capable of 10 knots.

The mystery vessel spotted off Jupiter inlet proved to be the schooner Emma. As the Connecticut came alongside the crew of the schooner raised an English flag. And when hailed the Emma’s captain said his vessel was English and that she was bound for St. John in New Brunswick, Canada.

1862 drawing of Jupiter Inlet and Lighthouse

Despite the fact that the Emma was flying English colors and had announced herself as the vessel of a neutral nation, Woodhull ordered her boarded. All of the men on board the schooner were found to be “Americans of Southern birth or proclivity.” As a result, the warship declared her a prize and placed on board a prize master and crew. The Emma was taken to Key West where she was turned over to U.S. officials there.

Papers found on board the Emma showed that she had run the blockade off Apalachicola in December of 1861 with a cargo of tar, turpentine and other naval stores that was sold at Havana, Cuba. This cargo was replaced with one of oranges, bananas, tourniquets, soap, spool cotton, shoe thread and other items that the Federals recognized would be of value to people in the Confederacy. The investigation also found that the store of provisions on board the Emma was insufficient for a long voyage and concluded that the vessel most likely had been planning another run through the blockade.

Apalachicola Bay as it appears today

Among the prisoners taken on board the Emma were a number of individuals from Florida. These included B. Ellison, a merchant from Apalachicola; an unnamed cook who said he was a servant to Ellison, and the schooner’s captain, who was identified only by his last name of Marks.

The capture of the Emma showed that despite the imposition of a blockade of Apalachicola Bay the previous summer, Southern vessels were still making successful runs in and out of that port. They would continue to do so throughout the year 1862.

You can read more about Apalachicola, the city from which the Emma had sailed, by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/apalachicola.

January 16, 1862 - The Union Attack on Cedar Key, Florida

2012-01-16T13:21:00.003-06:00

Cedar Key, Florida

It was 150 years ago today (January 16, 1862), that the U.S.S. Hatteras descended on the Cedar Keys on Florida's Gulf Coast.
Fear that an attack was being planned against Fernandina, on Florida's Atlantic Coast, had already led to the withdrawal of most of the Confederate troops from Cedar Keys and only a handful of Southern soldiers were left there when the Hatteras made its attack:
The following is excerpted from the report of Commander George F. Emmons, captain of the Hatteras:

The Schooner Anna Smith was burned on the Waterfront

...I have been entirely successful with the expenditure of very little powder and no one killed that I am aware of, capturing or destroying all the public property here, including a battery of two long eighteens in position on the east end of Sea Horse Key, with their carriages and some ammunition and barracks, a 6-pounder field piece in Depot Key, with the railroad depot and wharf, several cars, telegraph office, and a turpentine storehouse, besides four schooners and three sloops, one ferry scow, sailboat, and launch. - Commander George F. Emmons, U.S.S. Hatteras, January 16, 1862.

The schooners captured, most of them fully or partially loaded with turpentine, included the Anna Smith (198 tons), Stag (200 tons), Aucilla (81 tons) and the Wife (also called the Nye, tonnage not given). A fifth schooner, Fanny, also was in port but slipped away during the night with a partial cargo of turpentine.

Cannon that may have been mounted on Seahorse Key

In addition, the Federals captures 1 lieutenant and 13 or 14 men from the 4th Florida Infantry. The two 18-pounders on Seahorse Key had only one barrel of powder and there is no indication that fired a single shot or even were manned during the attack.

Four of the Confederate soldiers taken prisoner had the measles and Commander Emmons was so concerned they might not survive if they were sent to prison that he paroled them. They were identified in his reports as Benjamin Gatlin, B.J. Simmons, J.S. Poer and John Carlton.

In a rarity, the Confederate report of the attack almost mirrored the Union account. Brigadier General John H. Trapier filed the following from Fernandina on January 20, 1862:

USS Hatteras (right) was later destroyed by CSS Alabama

...On the 16th instant the enemy, in a steamer armed with five guns, made a descent upon the harbor and village of Cedar Keys. Having burnt seven small vessels in the harbor, which were loading with cotton and turpentine with the intnetion (information of which had doubtless been conveyed to the enemy) of running the blockade, and also the wharf of the Florida Railroad, which has its Gulf terminus at that point, and seven flat cars belonging to the same road, he withdrew and went to see. There was posted at this place a small force, consisting of a lieutenant and 22 men, belonging to the Fourth Regiment Florida Volunteers, placed there as a sort of police force, to protect the inhabitants of the key (some 80 or 100 persons) against any disturbance from bands of marauders. The lieutenant and 14 privates were taken prisoners, but 4 of the latter were subsequently released.... Brig. Gen. J.H. Trapier, January 20, 1862.

Trapier went on to note that the cannon captured by the Union sailors were worthless, reporting that they "had been condemned after inspection" as unserviceable, but had never been removed "as not being worth the removal, neither the guns nor their carriages." The officers of the Hatteras must have agreed as they left the cannon behind after spiking them. It is thought that these guns may be included in the ones now on display at the Cedar Key Museum Historic State Park.

To read more about the Union attack on Cedar Key, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cedarkeyattack.

Cedar Key's Last Day as a Confederate Port

2012-01-15T20:20:00.000-06:00

Waterfront at Cedar Key, Florida

January 15, 1862 (150 years ago today) was Cedar Key's last full day as an active port of the fledgling Southern nation.
Actually a collection of small keys or islands nestled in the curve of Florida's Gulf Coast, the Cedar Keys gained their name from the large numbers of cedar trees that grew in the area. An important military depot of the Second Seminole War, the islands became an important export point for shipments of cedar slats, lumber and naval stores during the antebellum era. The Cedar Key Light, on Seahorse Key, began operating in 1854, helping schooners, sloops and steamboats navigate the the banks and shallow waters surrounding the port.

Island Hotel, built in 1859

By 1859 there were even visions of competing towns on the islands. One group of investors secured a charter for a town on Atsena Otie Key, which had been the primary U.S. Army installation during the Seminole War. A second group, headed by U.S. Senator David Levy Yulee acquired most of Way Key and planned a town there that soon would become the western or Gulf terminus of the Florida Railroad. It was the railroad town that would survive to become today's Cedar Key.

The first trains reached Way Key in March of 1861, after the secession of Florida but before Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. By that time a significant population had settled on the islands and a number of prominent buildings, including what is now the Island Hotel had been built there.

Cannon thought to have been used on Seahorse Key
Located at Cedar Key Museum Historic State Park

With the outbreak of war between the North and South, the Confederates had stationed men on Seahorse Key and Atsena Otie Key. The primary fortifications were well out into the Gulf on Seahorse Key and consisted of a battery mounting two outdated 18-pounder cannon, barracks and other facilities. The lighthouse there was used as an observation point.

Despite the establishment of the Union blockade of the Florida coastline during the summer of 1861, Cedar Key had remained an important shipping point for Confederate blockade runners and January 15, 1862, found five schooners in port there. These were the Aucilla, Stag, Anna Smith, Wyfe and Fanny, all either loaded or in the process of being loaded with cotton, turpentine products and lumber for planned efforts to run the blockade. Three fishing smacks were also in port. An eyewitness described the place as "a small town with about thirty houses, and probably one hundred inhabitants."

Marker for Yulee's Florida Railroad on Cedar Key Waterfront

What Cedar Key did not have by mid-January of 1861, however, was an effective defense force. Intelligence had been received in Florida of a planned Union attack on Fernandina, which served as the eastern or Atlantic terminus of the Florida Railroad, and troops had been rushed to that point. These reinforcements included the men from the Fourth Florida Infantry originally positioned for the defense of Cedar Key.

The cannon on Seahorse Key were considered so obsolete that they were simply abandoned where they sat, although a detachment of fewer than two dozen soldiers did remain on Atsena Otie Key with a single 6-pounder field piece. They were not really there to defend against Union attack, but rather to serve as something of a police force for the protection of the civilian residents of the islands.

They were not aware that two Federal warships, the U.S.S. Hatteras and the U.S.S. Florida, were closing in from Apalachicola and Key West, respectively. They would attack the following day.

I will have more on the Union attack on Cedar Key tomorrow, but until then you can learn more about the beautiful island town by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/cedarkey.

January 11, 1862 - The U.S.S. Florida reaches Key West

2012-01-11T19:50:00.000-06:00

Commander J.R. Goldsborough, U.S.N.

It is unique to note that there were actually three ships (at least) bearing the name Florida active in the Gulf of Mexico during the month of January 1862. The famed Confederate warship, C.S.S. Florida, was in the Mobile area. The Southern blockade runner, Florida, was in New Orleans, but would soon slip out to sea. And the Union warship, U.S.S. Florida, reached Key West on January 11, 1862 (150 years ago today).
The Union vesssel had been sent to the Gulf of Mexico on an urgent mission to capture the blockade runner Gladiator, a vessel that was expected to slip a cargo of arms and munitions into port somewhere along the Gulf Coast. Commander J.R. Goldsborough was ordered to call at Key West to confer with officers there about his mission. He took advantage of the opportunity to dispatch a report to his commanding officer:

     ...I obtained some valuable and useful information that leads me to think the Gladiator may attempt to land or transship her cargo to the Cedar Keys.
     The Florida's draft will not permit me to approach the keys as near as I could desire, and would be pleased if you can spare a vessel of light draft to assist in this important duty.
     The battery on Sea Horse Key, one of the group, has been nearly if not entirely abandoned, and the railroad bridge could, with a small force, be easily destroyed, which would prevent the further trans-shipment of articles on this end of the line. - Commander J.R. Goldsborough, U.S.S. Florida, January 11, 1862.

Goldsboroguh did not know it, but the U.S.S. Hatteras of the Gulf Blockading Squadron already had received orders to carry out the mission of destroying the battery and other facilities at Cedar Key. Both ships steamed for the Florida port over the next few days, with the Hatteras arriving first.

I'll have more on that attack by the Hatteras on Cedar Key in coming days.

January 11, 1862 - The Department of Key West is organized

2012-01-11T19:44:00.000-06:00

Brig. Gen. John M. Brannan, U.S.V.

On this date 150 years ago (January 11, 1862), the U.S. military organized a new department headquartered in Key West that was given control over much of Florida.
The following is from General Orders No. 3. issued from the Headquarters of the Army in Washington, D.C., on January 11, 1862:

I. A new military department, to be known as the Department of Key West, is hereby constituted, with the following bounds: Key West, the Tortugas, and the main-land on the west coast as far as Apalachicola and to Cape Canaveral on the east coast.
Brig. Gen. J.M. Brannan, U.S. volunteers, is assigned to the command. - I. Thomas, Adjutant-General, January 11, 1862.

The orders were issued by command of Major General George B. McClellan, who then served as general-in-chief of the Union army.

An 1841 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, General Brannan had served during the Mexican War (now generally called the Mexican-American War) where he fought in the Battles of Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Churubusco and Mexico City, among others. He was badly wounded at Mexico City, but recovered and went on to serve in Florida during the years between the end of that war and the beginning of the War Between the States.

Brannan's name would figure prominently in Florida over the next several years.

January 1862 - The Second Battle of Pensacola Bay

2012-01-06T21:00:00.003-06:00

Fort Barrancas and Pensacola Bay

Union and Confederate forces squared off one last time for control of Pensacola Bay on January 1, 1862. The 150th anniversary of the battle passed quietly just a few days ago.
The engagement began when Union forces at Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island observed a steamer making its way to the Navy Yard wharf on the Confederate side of the bay. Colonel Harvey Brown of the Fifth U.S. Artillery, the commander at Fort Pickens, had opened fire on Confederate forces on the mainland once before in November. He did not hesitate to do so again:

Cannon at Fort Pickens

...[T]his being the first instance of a boat of any kind coming to the navy-yard or within the range of my guns since the last bombardment, I could only view it as bravado, or as done with the intention of drawing my fire. I therefore ordered her to be fired into, which was done three times while she lay at the wharf and was leaving it. A gun was fired from a neighboring battery of ours, which was returned, it being directly in range of the department steamer, and here, as I supposed the affair would rest....Col. Harvey Brown, January 2, 1862.

The Confederates, commanded by General Richard H. "Fighting Dick" Anderson, however, were not inclined to let the affair rest and opened fire using their guns at Fort Barrancas and other positions:

Cannon at Fort Barrancas

...This fire was returned by order of Brigadier-General Anderson, in temporary command, and a brisk cannonade was kept up on both sides until dark, when the enemy ceased. Ours was continued irregularly and apparently without effect or an object until stopped by my order. No casualty is reported on our side, and we can see no damage to the enemy. A large and valuable store-house, with considerable property in the navy-yard, was burned by the enemy's shells....Gen. Braxton Bragg, January 3, 1862.

Ruins of Fort Pickens

Union casualties in the fight were reported as two men wounded. The Confederates, as noted by General Bragg, suffered no losses. Damage to Fort Pickens was light, consisting mainly of a few holes caused by exploding shells.

General Bragg reported that General Anderson had been intoxicated at the time of the engagement, while Colonel Brown noted that, "I am impressed with the belief that General Bragg was not present, and that a less experienced and more hot-headed officer commanded."

It would be the last major exchange of fire between Union and Confederate forces for control of Pensacola Bay. The soldiers, as Brown noted, "seemed to consider it a New Year's amusement.

To learn more about Fort Pickens, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortpickens1.

To learn more about Fort Barrancas, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fortbarrancas1.

Battle of Natural Bridge available Free on Kindle - Tonight Only

2012-01-05T16:44:00.001-06:00

If you have an Amazon Kindle or use their free Kindle software on your computer, iPad, etc., the expanded edition of my book on the Battle of Natural Bridge is available FREE tonight only as part of a special promotion.

The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida - available in both Kindle and print formats - tells the story of the March 6, 1865 battle that determined the fate of Tallahassee and the Big Bend of Florida.

Fought along the banks of the St. Marks River, the battle was a major Confederate victory and based on its results was the last significant Southern victory of the entire war. Not only did it prevent Union forces from taking Tallahassee and inflicting heavy damage to the city, infrastructure and surrounding farms and plantations, it also halted a planned Federal advance to the city of Thomasville in southern Georgia.

The Battle of Natural Bridge is unique for a number of reasons. It was the last significant engagement in Florida. The Union force consisted of the 2nd USCT, 99th USCT, 2nd Florida Cavalry (U.S.) and a large flotilla of U.S. Navy warships. The Confederate force consisted of the 5th Florida Cavalry, 2nd Florida Cavalry, 1st Florida Infantry Reserves, 1st Florida Militia, crew of the gunboat C.S.S. Spray, and three sections of artillery (two of field artillery and one of siege artillery).

In the main fight at the Natural Bridge of the St. Marks, hundreds of black Union soldiers, many of them former slaves while others were educated free Northerners, carried out seven distinct charges against entrenched Confederate forces and repelled a Southern counter-attack before withdrawing from the field. The fighting was intense and often at close range.

Please click here to download the book for your Kindle device or software: The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida.

The download is free until midnight tonight, then will return to its normal price.

If you would like the full book, which includes references and index, please follow this link: The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida: The Confederate Defense of Tallahassee.

You can also learn more about the battle at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nbindex.

Captain Amos and his Confederate Horse Navy

2011-12-27T20:07:00.000-06:00

Waterfront at Milton, Florida
Capt. Amos's Departure Point

Much has been written, with good cause, about Nathan Bedford Forrest's seizure of a steamboat in Tennessee and his subsequent use of it as a warship manned by his cavalrymen. Few realize, however, that a similar incident happened in Florida!
Captain W.B. Amos was the commander of Company I, Fifteenth Confederate Cavalry. Stationed at Milton in Santa Rosa County, his primary duty was to watch for Union raids out of Pensacola. Amos was good at this duty, but he was an aggressive officer and chafed a bit at the natural restrictions of his duties.

In June of 1864, he set off on adventure that can only be described as one of the only naval raids ever carried out in coastal waters by a Confederate cavalrymen.

The following report was filed with Colonel Henry Maury, Amos's commanding officer at Pollard, Alabama:

Scene of first two schooner captures.

Milton, June 27, 1864

DEAR COLONEL: I left here on Saturday morning with two small boats and 15 men for the mouth of Yellow River. When I arrived there I discovered a small schooner lying about 2 miles below with her sails down. I landed my men and made my way to her, and succeeded in capturing her and crew. In a few minutes I discovered another small sail coming up the bay. I secreted myself and men until she came up, and succeeded in getting her and crew. I then sent my boats and prisoners up to camp, and took the small schooner and balance of my men and sailed down to East Bay, where I was informed that there was a schooner by the name of Osceola anchored out about 4 miles from shore with 5 men and some small-arms. So I concealed my men in the boat and sailed for her, and managed to get on her after dark and succeeded in boarding her. I ordered the crew to surrender. Three made to their guns. I ordered my men to fire on them, which they did, and killed the 3. The remainder (2) surrendered. I divided my men on the two schooners and set sails for camp, and arrived here yesterday morning, and I send up the prisoners today, and it will be late before they get there, as they have to foot it up. One of the men (W. Leonard) can give you all the information that you may desire about the yard, and if you will let me, after the excitement dies off I will burn the mills on the island. I will come up on July 1 or 2 and see you, as there is some other important business that I want to see you about, &c. Will make my report to your acting assistant adjutant-general of the prisoners and where they belong, &c. My respects to Dr. Tillman and Lieutenant Hallett.

W.B. Amos

Captain, Commanding Outpost (i.e. Company I, 15^th Confederate Cavalry)

Christmas at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

2011-12-21T14:35:00.003-06:00

Museum at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park

The Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs is combining the old with the new for a unique Christmas experience.
The park celebrates and preserves Florida's unique folk culture and also plays tribute to Stephen Foster's legacy as one of the greatest American composers. A beloved figure of the antebellum era, he penned such Civil War era favorites as "Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home" and, of course, "Suwannee River." The latter tune is now the State Song of Florida.

Here is the latest information on this year's Christmas event from the state park service:

Carillon Tower

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park is hosting its annual Festival of Lights, displaying more than four million lights throughout the park, continuing through December 31st each evening until 9 p.m. (closed Christmas Night, December 25th).

Visitors can enjoy the holiday sights and sounds as they drive through the park to see unique holiday light displays, including the majestic oak trees adorned with thousands of lights, the antebellum museum dressed in full holiday splendor and a gingerbread village at the Gift Shop and Craft Square. The centerpiece of the park's light display is the Carillon Tower, which illuminates the light sky standing more than 200 feet tallk, dressed from head to toe in lights as holiday music rings from its bells.

The Stephen Foster Museum will be open extended ohours until 8:30 p.m. nightly. Cousin THelma Boltin's Gift Shop will be open everyday until 9 p.m. where complimentary refreshments are served and the Craft Square comes alive with a bonfire and marshmallow roast for everyone. Wolverine Concessions will also feature delivious treats including favorites such as hot chili, hand made potato chips and their world famous fried Oreos!

Liv e holiday music will be performed at the Stephen Foster Museum nightly from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

Visitor admires piano once played by Stephen Foster

Santa will visit the park every evening through December 24th and will make appearances throughout the entire park during the festival.

Visitors can experience the festival via horse drawn wagon and carriage rides. Two large beautiful Percheron Horses will pull a large wagon on a one mile ride around the main park drive each evening. Take a leeisurely 20 minute ride through the park and sing carols while viewing the millions of lights on display!

Park entrance fees for this event will be $2.00 per person. The Festival of Lights is sponsored by the Stephen Foster Citizens Support Organization, the Town of White Springs and its special events committee and made possible by the generous support of numerous local individuals and businesses in the Suwannee Valley Region and has been recognized as a Top 20 Event by the Southeast Tourism Society.

Tips for Visiting the 2011 Festival of Lights (PDF - 0.11KB)

Directions:
Located on U.S. 41 in White Springs. From I-75 to S.R. 136 (Milepost Exit 439 - Old Exit 84), travel east on S.R. 136 for 3 miles. Turn left on U.S. 41. Park entrance is on the left. From I-10 to U.S. 41 North (Milepost Exit 301 - Old Exit 43), travel 9 miles to White Springs. Park entrance is on the left.

Physical Address
11016 Lillian Saunders Drive
White Springs, Florida 32096

Please click here to learn more about the park: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/stephenfoster.

Wartime Sketch of St. Marks Lighthouse and Fort Williams

2011-12-05T13:01:00.001-06:00

1862 Sketch of Fort Williams and St. Marks Lighthouse

This fascinating sketch appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on February 11, 1862. It shows the St. Marks Lighthouse, Fort Williams, the Confederate gunboat C.S.S. Spray (in the background) and the Union warship U.S.S. Mohawk.
The lighthouse today is a popular landmark for visitors to the St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge, but no trace remains of Fort Williams.

Named for Colonel J.J. Williams, a well-known planter from Leon County, the fort was built in 1861 to protect the mouth of the St. Marks River from attack by Union warships. It mounted several pieces of heavy artillery and was built of earth with a timber backing. As the sketch shows, it stood on Lighthouse Point just west of the lighthouse itself, which was used as an observation post for Confederate sentries.

St. Marks Lighthouse

It did not take long for the Confederates to realize that the St. Marks Lighthouse was a horrible position for a fort designed to defend the port of St. Marks. Fort Williams was isolated and could not be easily supported in the event it was attacked. The only way for reinforcements to reach the fort was via a single road that led from the mainland through the marshes out to the lighthouse. Any troops approaching the fort would find themselves visible and subject to Union artillery fire for a long distance.

In addition, the fort's cannon did not command a long enough reach of the channel leading into the St. Marks River to be of much service should the U.S. Navy decide to move up the river.

Ruins of Spanish Fort at St. Marks

With these considerations in view, the Confederates evacuated the fort in 1862 and moved its guns and garrison to the old Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache, which stood on the point of land created by the confluence of the Wakulla and St. Marks Rivers. Although the old fort was in ruins, a strong Marine Hospital stood on the site which was converted for use as a barracks by the soldiers. The design of the fort was altered and the old stone walls were used to back heavy earthworks as Southern soldiers built batteries that would sweep for miles across the marsh to target any advancing warship.

Fort Williams was dismantled and the Union navy later burned what was left of it. No trace of the fort remains today. The lighthouse, however, survived the war and remains quite beautiful today.

To learn more about the St. Marks Lighthouse and its history, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/stmarkslight.
To learn more about the old Spanish fort of San Marcos de Apalache, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/sanmarcos1.

Old Bellamy Road - 19th Century Roadway in Florida

2011-11-29T13:38:00.001-06:00

Section of the Old Bellamy Road

When the United States took possession of Florida from Spain in 1821, the only roads in most of the territory were old pathways once used by Spanish missionaries and the narrow trails worn down over the centuries by the footsteps of Indians.
Tallahasse did not then exist and the Spanish had treated the territory as two separate colonies, East Florida and West Florida. The capital of East Florida was, of course, St. Augustine. The capital of West Florida was Pensacola. The only trail connecting the two was a long, dangerous, winding path.

With the decision to establish a new capital, Tallahassee, roughly equi-distant between the two cities also came a strong realization that a good road was needed to connect the three communities. Since Florida was a U.S. Territory, the approval and funding of this new road fell to the U.S. Congress. An appropriation was made and work began during the winter of 1824-1825.

In the section of Florida west of the Apalachicola River, work on this new Federal road was carried out by the U.S. Army. East of the river, however, it was decided to accept bids from private contractors. The winning bid was received from John Bellamy, who began work on the segment of road from the Ochlockonee River west of Tallahassee to the St. Johns River near St. Augustine. He could do the work, he promised, for $13,500.

Surviving trace of the Old Bellamy Road.

Bellamy completed his road in just one year, but it was far removed from the super highways of today. A winding dirt path, Bellamy's laborers (many of them slaves) simply cut down trees low enough for wagons to pass over, leaving the stumps in the ground. Trees that were too big to cut were bypassed.

Since he had supervised its construction, the section of the road between the St. Johns and the Ochlockonee was unofficially named in Bellamy's honor. Surviving sections of it are known as the Old Bellamy Road to this day.

The road provided an important route between St. Augustine and Tallahassee for early settlers. By the time of the Civil War it had been bypassed by newer roads in many areas, but sections in East Florida remained in use. As a result the road was used by Confederate troops, including those of Florida's famous "Swamp Fox," Captain J.J. Dickison.

One of the best places to see an original section of the Bellamy Road is River Rise Preserve State Park in High Springs. Adjacent to O'Leno State Park, the preserve offers numerous hiking and equestrian trails. One of these follows a section of the Old Bellamy Road.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bellamyroad.

O'Leno State Park - High Springs, Florida

2011-11-17T13:18:00.001-06:00

Historical Marker at O'Leno State Park

O'Leno State Park is located along the Santa Fe River near High Springs and is a great place to explore the remains of a Civil War era Florida ghost town.
The Town of Leno, originally called Keno, was established just above the "sink" and natural bridge of the Santa Fe during the 1840s. Stone dams in the river powered two mills and eventually up to six cotton gins. This source of power gave the little town its existence and helped survive through the years of the Civil War.

Old Mill Dam at O'Leno State Park

Keno, as gamblers know, is a bingo-like lottery game. It was under this name that the community was known during the Civil War years, but the name was changed a decade or so later after the postal service refused to approve a post office for a town with a name associated with gambling! The name was subsequently changed to Leno. After the village was bypassed by the railroad and faded away, it became known as Old Leno. The name was eventually contracted to O'Leno, the name of today's state park.

Suspensioin Bridge at O'Leno State Park

The park offers an excellent open air pavilion with artifacts from and displays about Keno (or Leno). There are grindstones from the old mills, photographs and informational panels. The picnic area with its unique C.C.C. built structures is now located on the town site.

The Santa Fe River also ripples over the remains of the two stone mill dams.

In addition, O'Leno State Park is a place of extraordinary beauty and is known for its beloved swinging or suspension bridge. Built by the C.C.C. during the Great Depression to carry hikers across the river, the old bridge is still in excellent condition.

To learn more about O'Leno State Park and its history and unqiue geology, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/oleno.

The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Phase Three)

2011-10-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

With the Confederate cavalry scattered or pushed across the Chipola River, the Battle of Marianna moved into its most pivitol phase as the full strength of the Union force was turned on the home guards and volunteers along West Lafayette Street.

In close range and often hand to hand fighting, the Confederates positioned behind trees, shrubs, fences and buildings along the south side of the street were the first to give way. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Southern men and boys tried to withdraw down the slope to and beyond Stage Creek. Even though several experienced regular officers and soldiers were present, most of the Confederates were local citizens with little if any miltary training. Their line crumbled as the retreat began.

Littleton Myrick, killed in battle.

The Federals pursued them with considerable intensity. Captain H.O. Bassett, the former sheriff of Jackson County who was home on leave from Company E, 6th Florida Infantry, was cornered near the creek and fell from so many bayonet wounds that his body was later recognized only by his gray Confederate officer's pants. The fact that he suffered bayonet wounds indicates that he and the men around him were battling the Union soldiers from the U.S. Colored Troops detachment that was part of Asboth's force.

Seeing their comrades across the street give way, the men along the north side of Lafayette knew they were in serious trouble. Deciding to pull his men back deeper into town, Captain Jesse Norwood of the Marianna Home Guard ordered a withdrawal. The men fell back from their positions along the road into the fenced yard that surrounded St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Norwood evidently planned to pull his men on beyond that point into the buildings that surrounded the downtown area, but the main body of Asboth's flanking party had come in behind them now and they were trapped in and around the church.

St. Luke's Churchyard, scene of heavy action.

A militia unit like the Marianna Home Guard normally would have crumbled under such circumstances, but Norwood's men did not. Their ranks included numerous men and officers who had served in the regular Confederate army. Some were still on the rolls but home on leave or furlough, while others had been disabled earlier in the war due to battlefield wounds or illness. As a result, the company had a wide and solid backbone of seasoned soldiers.

Final Home Guard Position

Now trapped in the churchyard but determined to keep fighting, the Confederates took up position behind the stout board fence that surrounded the guard and kept up a constant fire with their attackers. General Asboth had been severely wounded in the ambush near the barricade, so Colonel Ladislas L. Zulavsky now had command of the fight. Seeing that his cavalrymen were unable to dislodge Norwood's men from their position behind the churchyard fence, he ordered the now dismounted men from the 82nd and 86th U.S. Colored Troops to form ranks in the street.
The order was given and the African American soldiers surged forward in a bayonet charge that went up and over the wooden fence. The home guards were driven back into the cemetery behind the church, but continued such a hot fire that the bayonet charge eventually stalled out. The Union troops now closed in on Norwood's men from three sides (the church forming the fourth). The fighting, however, continued. In fact, it continued so fiercely that some of the Union officers began to wonder if they would be able to dislodge the Confederates from their new position.

I'll post on the final phase of the battle in the next post. If you would like to read about the fight in more detail, please consider my book: The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is also available as an instant download for both Amazon Kindle and iBooks.

You can also read more at www.battleofmarianna.com.

The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Phase Two, Continued)

2011-10-01T11:09:00.000-05:00

Major Nathan Cutler

By most accounts, the main Union column rounded the curve at Ely Corner at high noon on September 27, 1864. Major Nathan Cutler's battalion of the 2nd Maine Cavalry was in the lead.
The Federals, not expecting resistance from Confederate cavalry that they thought was in full retreat, came on in a column of fours... and ran head on into the Southern horsemen who were formed in line of battle across the road at Ely Corner. All debate now over, Colonel Montgomery ordered his men to fire and a volley erupted from the Confederate line.

Russ House at Ely Corner

The Union soldiers were stunned and, while Major Cutler ordered an immediate charge, it failed to materialize and the column fell back on itself and retreated around the curve. 8-year-old Armstrong Purdee, who witnessed the scene from the back of a Union soldier's horse, later recalled that two of Cutler's men were badly wounded. They were carried back to Russ Branch, a small stream that flowed behind today's Russ House (Chamber of Commerce), and water was poured on their wounds by the surgeons.

Outraged by the unexpected retreat of his men, General Asboth spurred his horse forward and cried, "For Shame! For Shame!" at them. He then ordered a second battalion from the 2nd Maine to charge and led them himself.

Montgomery's men, meanwhile, were still struggling to reload their musketoons when the second Federal charge surged around the curve. Unable to resist, Montgomery and his horsemen withdrew up Lafayette Street. Eyewitnesses later noted that the Federals were hot on their heels as they retreated.

Holden House, Barricade Vicinity

The Confederates reached the barricade and, knowing the ways to bypass it, went around and through it to continue their withdrawal up the street. It served its intedned purposes, however, by delaying the Federals who had to slow their charge in order to pass it. Once the head of their column was past the wagons and debris, however, the home guards and volunteers suddenly entered the fight.

Musket, shotgun and pistol fire erupted from both sides of the street, mowing down the head of Asboth's column. The Southern citizen-soldiers had been so well concealed behind trees, bushes, fences and buildings that the Federals never saw them until it was too late.

The first volley was stunningly effective. General Asboth went down with wounds to his jaw and arm. Some of the Confederates tried to capture him, but were held off by men from the 1st Florida Cavalry (U.S.) who fought with sabres to defend the general and get him to safety. In the 2nd Maine Cavalry, it was reported that every man and officer at the head of the column went down killed or wounded.

Lafayette Street in Downtown Marianna

Unfortunately for the Confederates, it was not enough. While the volley from ambush by the home guards and volunteers had stunned the Union charge, it did not stop it. The main body of the battalion continued up the street after the Southern cavalry, while the rest of the column pushed up to deal with the men and boys that had fired from ambush.

Pushed with his horsemen up the street by the Federals, Colonel Montgomery reached the center of town to find that his worst fears had been realized - the Union flanking party had come in behind him and was now in position around courthouse square. The Confederates charged into these men and hand to hand combat broke out all around the square. The colonel was thrown from his horse and captured near the southeast corner of the square. Lieutenant M.A. Butler of the Greenwood Club Cavalry was shot down and killed as he turned north on Jefferson in an effort to escape. Eyewitnesses saw him fire back at his pursuers but miss just before they blasted him from the saddle.

Downtown Marianna in the late 1800s

Most of the Confederates broke through the flanking party, while others were captured or scattered in all directions. A teenaged eyewitness described watching the cavalrymen fighting as they went down the red clay hill on Jackson Street (then the main road to the Chipola River bridge). As the fight neared the bridge, Captain Chisolm and his Woodville Scouts, a militia cavalry company from Alabama, turned back on the Federals and counter-attacked. This gave the rest of the mounted men time to get across the bridge. Chisolm and his men then slowly withdrew across to the east bank, taking up the already loosened flooring as they went.

The two forces spread out along the banks of the Chipola, continuing a sharp skirmish but not otherwise advancing.

Meanwhile, out along West Lafayette Street, the home guards and volunteers were engaged in a battle that several veteran officers and soldiers would remember as the fiercest of the war, for its size. I will write more on that in the next post.

Until then, you can learn more in my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida, which is available by clicking the Books section at the upper right of this page. It is also available as an instant download for both Amazon Kindle and iBooks devices. You can also read more at www.battleofmarianna.com.

The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Phase Two)

2011-09-28T15:16:00.000-05:00

War-time sketh of Asboth (2nd from left)

The return of the Confederate cavalry to Marianna (please see Battle of Marianna: Phase One) initiated a general movement of the troops, home guards and volunteers there to the western edge of town.
Some ranking officer, probably Colonel Montgomery, ordered the men and boys to take up positions that it was hoped would allow the Southern forces to draw the oncoming Union soldiers into a trap. If the plan worked, it might allow the outnumbered and outgunned Confederates to defeat the Federals.

The plan called for the mounted men to form in line of battle on the very western edge of town. Their position, then called Ely Corner, was an open area adjacent to the Ely estate and is recognized today as the intersection of Lafayette and Russ Streets, where the beautiful Russ House now houses the Chamber of Commerce. The house was not built for several decades after the war and here it stands today was a wooded area in 1864.

As it approached Ely Corner, the narrow Campbellton road rounded a sharp bend just before reaching the edge of town. If things went as planned, the Federals would come blindly around this curve and directly into the guns of the Confederate cavalry. If the Southern horsemen were forced back, which their officers fully expected they would be, they were to retreat up Lafayette Street into town.

About half-way up the street between Ely Corner and Wynn Street, the Confederates placed a barricade of wagons and other debris across the road. While local legend holds that the men of the Marianna Home Guard took up positions behind this barricade, it reality it was not manned at all but instead was intended to delay a Union cavalry charge up the street. The Southern horsemen knew how to get through and around it, the Federals they expected to pursue them did not.

Ely Corner

Along both sides of the street between St. Luke's Episopal Church and this barricade, the home guards and volunteers took up positions behind fences, trees, shrubs and buildings. The objective was for the Confederate Cavalry, when forced back from Ely Corner, to lead the pursuing Union troops directly into an ambush. The home guards would open fire from both sides of the road and then the Confederate cavalry would turn back against the head of the Federal column. If all went well, the Federals would be stunned and trapped, taking fire at short range from three directions at once.

While home guards or militia were generally not held in high regard as a fighting force by regular soldiers, the men at Marianna was augmented by a large number of regular soldiers and officers who were home from the main fronts of the war on either medical furlough or leave. This solid core of seasoned, professional soldiers gave the home guards a backbone of experience.

Ely-Criglar House at Ely Corner

In addition, the men and boys of Marianna had been cheered by their wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and other kin as they marched from the courthouse out to West Lafayette Street. They had no doubt as to why they were fighting and who they were defending.

Colonel Montgomery had waited out west of town when his cavalry returned to Marianna in order to scout the Federal approach. What he saw alarmed him. When the Federals reached the vicinity of today's intersection of Kelson and West Lafayette, they halted. After talking to his guides, General Asboth sent a portion of his force to the left, around the old logging trail or bypass that followed the rotue of what is now Kelson Avenue. He then led the main body of his column straight up the main road.

Colonel Montgomery (at left)

Realizing that his outnumbered men were about to be attacked both on the flank and front, he rode at full speed up the road to Ely Corner even as they Federal main body picked up speed behind him. When he arrived to find his horsemen formed in line of battle as planned, the colonel ordered an immediate withdrawal to the Chipola River. Obviously hoping that he still had time to extricate his men from what was now turning into a Federal trap, he hoped to pull back across the bridge and make a stand there.

In the words of one eyewitness, though, there was "demurring" about abandoning Marianna without a fight. Before Colonel Montgomery could explain the situation, the head of the Federal column rounded the curve at Ely Corner.

I will continue to post on the Battle of Marianna over the next several days. If you are interested in reading more, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It can be ordered by clicking the "Books" section at the upper right of this page and is also available as an instant download for Amazon Kindle and at iBooks. You can also read more online at www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 27, 1864: The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Phase One)

2011-09-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

Battle of Marianna Monument

The morning of September 27, 1864, dawned clear, blue and cool. The lingering tropical system that had drenched the Florida Panhandle with rain for more than twelve days had pushed on during the night and the citizens of Marianna awakened to their first hint of fall.
It was court day in Marianna. Plantiffs and defendants joined with lawyers and judges at the Jackson County Courthouse, most dressed in their finest in anticipation of having their day in court. Elsewhere around town, people began to open their businesses and childreen and teens started for the community's wooden schoolhouse. Despite the misery that three years of war had brought on the people of the county, it was an idyllic morning for most.

That changed suddenly when the alarm bell at the courthouse began sounding. As the men and boys ran to find out what was wrong, other bells joined in until every citizen of Marianna knew that something serious was taking place. The new struck the community like a thunderbolt. Colonel Montgomery had sent in a rider to alert the people that a large force of Union soldiers was advancing from Campbellton and would likely reach Marianna by midday.

As the men of the Marianna Home Guard ran for their weapons and assembled at the courthouse to await the orders of their captain, local attorney Jesse J. Norwood, the women and slaves loaded wagons and carts with valuables to save from the oncoming raiders. Most of the noncombatants fled the city, crossing the Chipola River and spreading out to the homes of friends in the country. Others, it is said, hid in the caves both beneath the city and at the Natural Bridge Cave in what is now Florida Caverns State Park.

Additional riders went out from Marianna to summon in Captain Henry J. Robinson's Greenwood Club Cavalry, Captain George Robinson's Jackson County Home Guards, Captain Luke Lott's Calhoun County Home Guards and Captain W.B. Jones' Vernon Home Guard. Only the Greenwood unit would make it in time, although a few of Captain George Robinson's men were already in town and took part in the fight.

Old Campbellton Road

Meanwhile, to the northwest of town, Colonel Montgomery and his mounted men fell back ahead of General Asboth's advance. The force with the colonel by this time included Captain Alexander Godwin's Campbellton Cavalry, Captain Wilson W. Poe's Battalion from the 1st Florida Infantry Reserves (Mounted) and Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts from the Alabama State Militia (Mounted).

As Asboth pushed down the Campbellton road past the Waddell, Russ and Webbville (Barnes) plantations, Montgomery realized that he was coming on too fast and that his own reinforcements would not have time to reach Marianna before the Federals themselves arrived in the city. Determined to slow down the Union column if possible, he formed his men into a line of battle on the east side of Hopkins' Branch, a swampy stream about three miles northwest of town.

While the branch is seasonal, it was then flowing well because of the nearly two weeks of rain that had fallen on the area. This meant the swamp would likely be too wet for Asboth's soldiers and would funnel them onto the main road at the point it crossed the branch.

Chipola River near Marianna

As the Federals approached the crossing, Montgomery's men opened fire. The Union soldiers returned the gunshots and the opening encounter of the Battle of Marianna took place. The Confederate colonel's hope that the swamp might present a natural barrier of sorts to the enemy horses was dashed when Asboth swung his own men into a line of battle and charged directly through the muddy water at the Southern soldiers. Armstrong Purdee, an 8-year-old liberated from slavery at the Waddell Plantation, was riding on the back of one of the Union soldier's horses when the man told him to hold fast and not fall. He later recalled how the men were firing their carbines as they charged over fallen trees and logs.

Unable to hold back the larger Union force, Montgomery began a slow retreat for Marianna, fighting as he went. A member of the 1st Florida U.S. Cavalry later recalled that his company had approached the city from the northwest, fighting a sharp skirmish with Confederate cavalry.

The fighting finally broke off on the outskirts of town as the Confederates ended contact with the Federals and headed into Marianna while Asboth paused his column briefly to consider tactics and form his men. The main fighting of the Battle of Marianna was about to begin.

I will post more on the Battle of Marianna over coming days, so check back regularly. You can read more in my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida, which can be ordered by clicking the Books section at the upper right of this page. It is also available as an instant download for Amazon Kindle and at iBooks.

Read an online overview of the battle at www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 26, 1864: The Raid closes in on its target

2011-09-26T22:38:00.000-05:00

Faded Image of Col. A.B. Montgomery, C.S.A. (at left)

The late afternoon of September 26th found the Union column of Brigadier General Alexander Asboth pitching camp in and around the town of Campbellton in northwestern Jackson County.
At about the same time, Confederate Colonel A.B. Montgomery in Marianna received his first reliable intelligence of the approach of the Federal troops. The news that they were only eighteen miles away in Campbellton must have been a considerable surprise.

Montgomery had known since the 23rd that a raid was underway in Walton County. A few of Captain Chisolm's men rode cross-country from Eucheeanna to alert the post at Marianna of the attack on the Walton County village. This news was confimed on the 25th, when Arthur Lewis (described in Battle of Marianna legend as the "boy courier" even though he was a private in the 5th Florida Cavalry) arrived in town with a similar report of Federal movements in Walton County.

Neither Chisolm's men nor Lewis brought any intelligence that the Union troops were attempting to cross the Choctawhatchee River, nor did the Vernon Home Guard under Captain W.B. Jones or Captain Jeter's company from the 5th Florida Cavalry report any movement by enemy forces up the main road from Douglas's Ferry to Marianna. Similarly, the Holmes County Home Guard made no report of any problems from the river crossing at Cerrogordo. As late as midday on September 26, 1864, just 24 hours before the Battle of Marianna, Colonel Montgomery did not know that Asboth was across the Choctawhatchee and pushing hard for Campbellton.

Campbellton Baptist Church, Built in 1858.

That changed on the afternoon of the 26th when a courier sent to headquarters by Captain Godwin of the Campbellton Cavalry reported that a large column of the enemy was in northwestern Jackson County. Ordering that the intelligence be kept quiet in town to avoid unduly alarming the citizens of Marianna until he could get a better idea of the situation, the colonel rode out from Marianna with two companies of mounted troops. He reached the outskirts of Campbellton by dark and was informed that the Federals were bedding down for the night.

From Captain Godwin and his men, Colonel Montgomery likely learned that the long Union column had crossed at Cerrogordo and advanced through Holmes County to Campbellton. What had become of the Holmes County Home Guard he did not know and apparently never would learn.

Historic Cemetery at Campbellton Baptist Church

He also had no idea where the Federals were going. While on the surface Marianna might appear to be the obvious target, this was not as clear as it might seem. Campbellton was a vital road junction from which it would be possible for Asboth to move in a number of directions, ranging from a turn north into Alabama to a ride east to Neal's Landing on the Chattahoochee River and on across into Georgia. Another road led southeast to Marianna and yet a fourth struck south to Orange Hill and from there down Econfina Creek to St. Andrew Bay.

Until he could figure out what the Federals were up to, the Confederate colonel's options were limited. He did send a courier to alert Captains Milton and Jeter (Companies A and E, 5th Florida Cavalry) and convey orders for them to prepare to break camp the next morning as soon as possible and move for Marianna. He hoped they would be reach the town in time to reinforce him should he find it necessary to fall back to that point.

To better observe the Federal movements and scout the size of their force, Colonel Montgomery remained outside Campbellton on the night of the 26th. His available force at that point consisted of Captain Godwin and his Campbellton men, the main body of Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts (Alabama State Militia) and Captain W.W. Poe's Battalion from the 1st Florida Infantry Reserves (Mounted). Asboth's 700 man force outnumbered him by more than 2 to 1.

I will post several times tomorrow on the Battle of Marianna, so be sure to check in throughout the day for updates. You can learn more in my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida, which can be ordered by clicking the Books section at the upper right. It is also available as an instant download for Amazon Kindle and at iBooks.

Learn more about the raid and battle 24 hours a day at www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 25-26, 1864: The Raid in Holmes and Jackson Counties

2011-09-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Monument at site of Cerrogordo

The morning of September 25, 1864, found Brigadier General Alexander Asboth and his 700 Union soldiers camped in the little town of Cerrogordo on the Choctawhatchee River. Rain from a tropical system continued to fall, just as it had been doing for at least the previous ten days.
Located atop what was then called Hewett's (or Hewitt's) Bluff, Cerrogordo was a small village that consisted of a courthouse, jail, store, a few homes and around 25 inhabitants. The county seat of Holmes County, it was the location of a ferry and was surrounded by woods and occasional farms. The river was then navigable for small paddlewheel steamboats and in the years before the war, such vessels routinely stopped at the town to take on passengers or cargo. The blockade, of course, had ended this traffic for the duration of the war.

Site of Cerrogordo on the Choctawhatchee River

The ferry flat was put to use ferrying the men and horses across the rising Choctawhatchee. Fighting the rain and growing current of the river, the soldiers spent a long exhausting day just getting from one side of the river to the other. It would have been the ideal point for even a much smaller Confederate force to stop the Federals in their track, but no resistance took place. Captain Sam Grantham's Holmes County Home Guards did patrol the area, but they do not appear to have become aware of Asboth's presence until it was too late, as the unit was never called out.

Looking across the Choctawhatchee where Asboth Crossed

Having completed the crossing from Cerrogordo to the east bank by nightfall, the soldiers slept in the mud and rain before rising early on the morning of September 26th to continue their advance. The route of the raid now pushed across Holmes County along a road that then led from Cerrogordo to the Marianna ford on Holmes Creek (near today's Tri-County Airport) and into Jackson County. Homes along the way were raided as the soldiers continued to confiscate food, supplies, weapons and livestock.

As the Union column pushed through eastern Holmes County, word reached Captain A.R. Godwin of the Campbellton Cavalry, a Jackson County home guard unit, that something "was up" west of Holmes Creek. Calling his men out, he formed them at the Campbellton town square and rode southwest across the creek into Holmes County to see what was going on. According to one participant, they soon came up with the head of the Federal column and quickly realized that a major raid was underway.

Godwin skirmished with the vanguard of Asboth's oncoming column, his men approaching, shooting and then retreating on horseback in a futile effort to somehow delay the powerful raiding force. At least three men fighting with the Campbellton Cavalry were captured in these skirmishes, but there is no record of other casualties.

In my next post, later today, I will look at Asboth's arrival in Campbellton and the sounding of the alarm in Jackson County. You can read more or follow along in my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available by clicking the Books ad at the upper right of this page and can also be downloaded for both Amazon Kindle and any device using iBooks.

More information is also available at www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 23-24, 1864: The Raid in Walton and Holmes Counties

2011-09-25T01:29:00.000-05:00

Road through Euchee Valley

The brief fight on September 23rd (see The Skirmish at Eucheeanna) was just the beginning of the misery for the people of Walton and Holmes Counties.
No sooner had the smoke cleared that did the Union soldiers begin rounding up the men and boys of the Euchee Valley area. Most were too young or too old for regular military service and were in their homes when the Federals arrived in Eucheeanna. Not taking any chances that they might resist his command's foraging efforts, General Asboth had them placed in confinement at the community's jail. They were held there until he left Eucheeanna on the morning of the 24th.

Grave of Giles Bowers. Asboth commandeered his Home.

The general himself then set up his field headquarters at the home of Giles Bowers. Troops from the 1st Florida Cavalry (U.S.) were sent to escort the prisoners, 16 liberate slaves and unserviceable horses down to Four Mile Landing and the Lizzie Davis. Another detachment was sent to destroy the boat at Douglas's Ferry, along with all of the other small craft in the vicinity.

Destroying Douglas's Ferry might seem like a strange decision, as it was the primary means of crossing the Choctawhatchee River on the main road from Eucheeanna to Marianna. Asboth, however, planned to approach the latter place from an unexpected direction and destroying the ferry not only concealed his intent, but also prevented its use by any Confederate force that might try to come in behind him.

A small detachment was sent out in Confederate uniforms under Lt. Col. Andrew Spurling of the 2nd Maine Cavalry in an attempt to capture the Southern cavalrymen that had escaped from Eucheeanna during the skirmish. Their tracks were found leading up the road to Geneva, Alabama, so Spurling and his men set off in that direction. Please click here to learn more about their activities.

The rest of the men set up camp in Eucheeanna and immediately began to move out in small squads to forage for food, seize wagons and livestock and liberate slaves. They undertook these activities with enthusiasm and the misery inflicted on the families - white and black - of Walton County was severe. Corncribs and smokehouses were cleaned out. Slaves were forced to hook up wagons and carriages and go along, although in many cases they did not wish to leave (a number escaped by hiding in the woods until the soldiers left). Homes were ransacked and at least two women were sexually assaulted.

Ponce de Leon Springs in Holmes County

The foraging and looting continued into the night of the 23rd and the soldiers camped in and around Eucheeanna until the morning of the 24th. Asboth then ordered the local civilians released from the jail and moved his column north up the road to Holmes County. The soldiers broke up the log inn at Ponce de Leon Spring and in that vicinity a soldier from the U.S. Colored Troops detachment was mortally wounded in an accidental shooting.

From Ponce de Leon the column continued north to Cerrogordo, then the county seat of Holmes County, which was reached on the afternoon of the 24th. I'll have more on events there in the next post.

To learn more about the West Florida Raid, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It can be purchased by clicking the Books section on the upper right of this page and is also available for Amazon Kindle and at iBooks. To read an overview of the raid, please visit www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 23, 1864 - The Skirmish at Eucheeanna

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Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church

The Federal troops of Asboth's column moved through the night from the vicinity of Lake Defuniak (see The Advance into Walton County) in order to attack the small Confederate camp at Eucheeanna on the morning of September 23, 1864.

Then the county seat of Walton County, Eucheeanna took its name from the Euchee Valley. Noted for its fertile soil and early Scotch settlement, the valley in turn was named for the Euchee or Yuchi Indians that once made it their home. At the time of Asboth's West Florida Raid, it was a center for farming and the main village of Eucheeanna was also the site of the county courthouse and jail, stores, homes, churches and a cemetery that was already four decades old by the time of the raid. The Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church was the oldest of that denomination in Florida.

Eucheeanna Area Today

Located along what had developed as the primary road linking Pensacola with Marianna, Eucheeanna was a logical target for the raiders. From the community, a quick movement east would lead to Douglas's Ferry on the Choctawhatchee River and from there Marianna could be reached via a good and direct road.

Asboth's primary target that morning, though, was a camp of Confederate cavalry in the village. These troops, made up of detachments from Captain W.B. Amos' Company I, 15th Confederate Cavalry and Captain Robert Chisolm's "Woodville Scouts," a militia cavalry company from Henry County, Alabama, were in Eucheeanna enforcing the "conscription" or draft. Commissary negotiations appear also to have been underway in the village between Confederate officers and the ranchers of the area.

Euchee Valley Cemetery

The Federal troops approached Eucheeanna through the falling rain during the predawn hours, completely undetected by the Southern cavalrymen. As the soldiers neared the village, Asboth spread the 2nd Maine Cavalry into a line of battle and ordered Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Spurling to take his men and charge the Confederate camp. The attack was successful, not there was any doubt as to whether the Federals could overwhelm a few dozen Southern cavalrymen, but it was not planned particularly well.

Instead of trying to surround the Confederate camp or approach stealthily, Spurling and his men went in shouting and shooting. This, of course, ended the element of surprise and, while they were able to capture a handful of the Southern soldiers, quite a few had time to get to their horses and escape. This was bad news for Asboth, who was hoping to bag the whole lot so they could not alarm the countryside ahead of his approach.

The skirmish was over in minutes. So far as is known, no one was killed, although Spurling and his men managed to capture 9 prisoners of war, 6 political prisoners, 46 horses, 8 mules, 26 stand of arms and a quantity of bar lead bearing the mark of Merchants' Shot-Works in Baltimore, Maryland (an interesting discovery, as Maryland was technically a Union state).

The following Confederates were taken as prisoners of war at Eucheeanna:

Lt. Francis M. Gordon (15th Confederate Cavalry)
John Pitts (15th Confederate Cavalry)
William Clayton (15th Confederate Cavalry)
J.C. Thomas (Chisolm's Company)
J.W. Brett (Chisolm's Company)
C.H. Parker (Chisolm's Company)
Daniel Neel (Gillis' Company, Walton Home Guard)
Daniel McDonald (1st Florida Reserves)
James W. Skipper (Crosby's Company)

The last three individuals seem to have been in the Confederate camp for some reason, but there is no indication that other men from their units were there.

The Federal troops spread out through the Euchee Valley area, subjecting the residents there to a day and night of terror that has not been forgotten to this day. More on that in my next post.

To learn more about Asboth's raid, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida (available by clicking the Books area at the upper right of this page). It is also available as an instant download for both Amazon Kindle and iBooks. You can also learn more about the raid at www.battleofmarianna.com.

September 22, 1864: The Advance into Walton County

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Lake Defuniak in Walton County, Florida

Brigadier General Alexander Asboth's main column turned inland from Four Mile Landing (Freeport) on the morning of September 22nd, aiming for the populated areas of Walton County.

His smaller foraging column hit the cattle ranches along the Shoal River in what is now eastern Okaloosa and western Walton Counties that same morning. The area was then all part of Walton County, as Okaloosa was not created until 1915, but was sparcely populated. Its primary industry was cattle ranching and a number of large ranches then operated along the Shoal River and its tributaries, supplying beef to the Confederate armies.

Part of Asboth's plan was to raid these ranches to secure beef not only for his own movement, but to supply the forces at Pensacola. He accomplished this goal on the 22nd when part of his force moved through the ranches rounding up cattle. Several Southerh soldiers, among them William J. Cawthon and Lafayette Cawthon of the 15th Confederate Cavalry, were found at home on leave and were taken as prisoners of war. The Cawthon brothers were sons of William Cawthon (Sr.), one of the largest landowners in Northwest Florida and South Alabama.

Daniel Campbell of Walton County

There is no evidence of Confederate resistance during the day and by late afternoon Asboth's men reformed a single column and moved into the vicinity of what is now known as Lake Defuniak. A stunning natural body of water, the lake forms the heart of Defuniak Springs, a town that was not founded until after the Civil War.

Without Confederate opposition to battle, the Union soldiers helped themselves to fresh beef from the herds of the Campbell family, which grazed in the natural grasslands that then surrounded Lake Defuniak.

Asboth was now within a few miles of the county seat at Eucheeanna. The Confederates there, likely because of the heavy rain that continued to fall, had no idea that he was coming and consequently made no effort to prepare for attack. This would lead to disaster when the first gunfire of the raid was exchanged the next morning.

I will discussed the Skirmish at Eucheeanna in the next post as I continue a look at Asboth's 1864 West Florida Raid. If you would like to read more or follow along, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available by clicking the books section at the upper right of this page. The book can also be purchased as an instant download for Amazon Kindle and can also be found at iBooks.

To see an overview of the raid, please visit www.battleofmarianna.com.