This aerial view was taken today of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Marianna and shows the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the Battle of Marianna, Florida.
St. Luke's was the location to which Confederate forces fell back to make their final stand during the battle. When the battle was fought on September 27, 1864, the church yard was surrounded by a strong board fence. The original church stood on the same site as the modern structure and was actually similar to it in appearance (although the 1864 church was of frame construction and the present one is of masonry).
Union troops launched a bayonet charge against the Confederates from the area in the lower left corner of the photograph and pushed them into the burial ground behind the church. After a severe fight, most of the Southerners surrendered. A few continued firing on the Union troops from the windows of the church, however, and soldiers were sent forward to burn the church.
Eyewitness accounts indicate it was fired in the tower area near the front door. The bodies of four Confederates were later found in the burned structure.
You can read more on the Battle of Marianna at www.battleofmarianna.net and please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida, available from www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com or for order through most bookstores.
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