Florida's real "Underground" Railroad

The well-known Underground Railroad was not, of course, an actual railroad nor was it usually underground. This was the name given to the various routes by which escaped slaves made their way north to freedom during the decades leading up to the Civil War.

In Florida, however, the word "underground" in the term "Underground Railroad" was more than just a figure of speech.

19th century newspaper accounts of the caves in Jackson County indicate they were often used as hiding places for escaped slaves as they began their attempts to make their way north to Freedom. The large cluster of caves at today's Florida Caverns State Park was centered along the Chipola River in the center of one of the state's largest plantation districts.

In 1860, Jackson County was one of the three largest counties in the state and also reported one of Florida's largest slave populations. It was only natural that individuals attempting to escape bondage would make use of the vast network of caves along the Chipola River. Although most such attempts failed, a few succeeded and the caves of Jackson County are remembered today as Florida's real "Underground" Railroad.

You can read more about the history of the caves by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com and looking for the Florida Caverns State Park heading.

Civil War Florida Top Ten (3/29/2008)

Here are this week's top ten best selling nonfiction books on the Civil War in Florida, according to the statistics at www.barnesandnoble.com:

1. The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Cox) - Click here to buy.
2. The Civil War on Pensacola Bay, 1861-1862 (Driscoll)
3. America's Fortress: A History of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida (Reid, Arsenault)
4. Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida (Blakey/Stephens/Lainhart)
5. Florida’s Lighthouses in the Civil War (Hurley)
6. Confederate Florida: The Road to Olustee (Nulty)
7. Florida in the Civil War (Wynne/Taylor)
8. The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida: The Confederate Defense of Tallahassee (Cox) - Click here to buy.
9. Stephen Russell Mallory: A Biography of the Confederate Navy Secretary and United States Senator (Underwood)
10. Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide (Taylor)

Dr. Ethelred Philips, A Florida Unionist

This stone at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Marianna marks the final resting place of Dr. Ethelred Philips (1806-1870).

Dr. Philips was one of a number of prominent Unionists who lived in Marianna at the time of Civil War. He is one of the best remembered, thanks to a steady stream of letters he wrote to relatives in North Carolina.

When Union troops threatened the city on September 27, 1864, many men with known Unionist sympathies joined the Confederate forces preparing to defend Marianna. Philips considered himself too old (he was 58) to fight, but offered up his personal firearms for use by other defenders.

He was on the battlefield before the smoke cleared offering medical treatment for his wounded friends and neighbors of the Marianna Home Guard. Despite his pro-Union sympathies, Dr. Philips was always held in high regard by the citizens of Marianna.

You can read more about the Battle of Marianna by visiting www.battleofmarianna.net.

Grave of Florida's Confederate Governor

This stone marks the grave of Gov. John Milton, the man most often credited with leading Florida during the Civil War. He is buried at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Marianna. He was actually one of three men who served as Governor of Florida during the war.

Although he was elected to office in the fall of 1860, Milton did not actually take office until after the secession of Florida. Gov. Madison S. Perry guided Florida out of the Union and through the early months of the war before Milton assumed the governor's chair in October of 1861. Former Governor Perry then became the colonel of the 7th Florida Infantry.

A third man, Gov. A.K. Allison, served during the final days of Florida's existance as a Confederate state following the death of Gov. Milton in 1865.

Noted as an intense and brilliant man, Milton helped lead his state through four years of turbulent war with very little help from the Confederate government in Richmond. A man of obvious compassion, he often wrote letters to authorities in Richmond complaining about the treatment of Florida's citizens by Confederate officials and intervened at one point to secure the freedom of a number of women and children who had been placed in a "concentration camp" near Tallahassee because they were related to men who had deserted the Southern army. As Milton pointed out, many of them also had sons, brothers and fathers serving in the Confederate army.

Near the end of the war, Gov. Milton watched two of his sons - one of them only 15 years old - march out to defend Tallahassee at the Battle of Natural Bridge. The March 6, 1865, battle preserved Tallahassee's status as the only Southern capital east of the Mississippi not conquered by Union troops during the war.

Like his capital city, Gov. Milton was never conquered. In his final address to the Florida Legislature, he said that "Death would be prefereable to reunion." A few days later, on April 1, 1865, he died from a single gunshot wound to the head at his Sylvania plantation near Marianna.

Although it is generally believed that he committed suicide, one of the governor's granddaughters later indicated that he was sitting and cleaning his gun when last seen alive. This raises at least the possibility that the fatal wound was the result of a tragic accident.

We will look at other aspects of Governor Milton's life as we approach Tuesday's 143rd anniversary of his death.

Gunpowder components from Florida's Caves

An old legend in Jackson County holds that the caves of Florida Caverns State Park were once mined by Confederate soldiers. Caves are common sources for saltpeter, a necessary component of gunpowder, and similar caverns throughout the South were mined during the war.

The legends are based on a real Civil War event, but in truth the caves were never mined. In 1862 the Confederate military sent a scientist from Oglethorpe College in Macon, Georgia, to examine the caves. Records indicate that he rented a horse and buggy in Marianna and spent a day exploring the caves now preserved at Florida Caverns State Park. He determined that they were too wet to be mined for saltpeter, so mining operations never began. His explorations, however, were preserved as stories of lost Confederate mines in local legend.

Florida Caverns State Park might not have been a suitable location for manufacturing gunpowder, but it is one of the most strikingly beautiful places in Florida. To learn more, please visit our new Florida Caverns section at www.exploresouthernhistory.com. Just follow the link and you will see the heading on the main page.

John K. McLane - "Indian Fighter" and Confederate Soldier

This is the Gadsden County grave of John K. McLane, a member of the 10th Florida Infantry.

McLane was undoubtedly one of the most interesting soldiers of Florida who served in the Civil War.

In the spring of 1840, when he was 15 years old, McLane was working around the family farm near what is now Greensboro in Gadsden County (then called the Telogia settlement). He was at home with his mother and three sisters and his father had gone away for the day to take care of some business.

McLane later told how he heard the sounds of screams and war cries. The little log cabin and farm had come under attack by a small group of Creek warriors led by a chief named Pascofa. This chief had been engaged in a bloody personal war with local settlers and militia companies since 1837 when he led his followers down from Alabama following a militia attack in which a number of the women and children of his band were ruthlessly murdered.

The incident sparked a bloody feud between Pascofa and the whites that would continue for the next six years and would lead to many murders and outrages on both sides. When Pascofa's warriors attacked the McLane cabin, John K. McLane took up a rifle to try to defend the little farm while his mother and sisters (over his objections) attempted to escape in the direction of a little branch or creek. The woman and the girls were slaughtered (the two youngest ones were beaten to death with a pine knot), but McLane held out alone in an all day battle with the warriors. Firing from loopholes in the log cabin, he was able to drive back each of the attacks and managed to survive attempts to burn him out. The warriors finally drifted back into the swamps of Telogia Creek and disappeared.

McLane would later fight in the Army of Northern Virginia in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, but the event he always remembered as the toughest fight and saddest day of his life was the "McLane Massacre" on Telogia Creek in Gadsden County.

Happy Easter!

I will be taking a break from posting for a few days to observe Good Friday and Easter.

I'll resume with new posts on Monday.

Until then, please have a happy, safe and blessed holiday.

Torreya State Park, Part Five

Concluding our look at Civil War sites at Torreya State Park in Gadsden County, Florida, this photograph shows one of the deep trenches that connected the emplacements of the Confederate artillery battery in the park.

As you can see here, the trenches were deep enough to provide shelter for soldiers moving back and forth between the pair emplacements. The segment of trench visible here leading off to the left of the trench was an observation platform/rifle pit to be occupied when the cannon of the battery were in action.

There were a total of six emplacements at Torreya, grouped in pairs of two. Each two were connected by a trench like this, forming three separate positions.

To read more about Torreya State Park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/torreyastatepark.com.

Woman trying to collect Civil War debt from Tampa

If you haven't read it yet, a woman named Joan Kennedy Biddle has filed a lawsuit against the City of Tampa trying to collect on a promissory note the city issued to her ancestor, a storekeeper there in 1861.

The original amount of the note was $299.58, but she and her attorney figure it should be worth about $22.7 million to them today. The note was to cover the cost of supplies needed by the city in June of 1861, as the Civil War was just getting started. (Note: In my opinion, $22.7 million would buy a lot of supplies!).

There are a few problems with all of this (beyond the fact of trying to collect $22.7 million dollars in taxpayer money on a $299.58 debt).

First, Tampa was disbanded as a city in 1869 because the citizens were too broke during the Reconstruction era to pay taxes. Soooo, the promissory note was issued by a governmental entity that no longer exists. The modern city was founded in 1889 using a new charter. The only thing it has in common with the 1861 town is location.

Second, the city was conquered by Union troops during the war, an act of war that overturned its Secessionist government.

And finally, the South wasn't successful in its secession effort. When the Union prevailed, the Confederacy ceased to exist. People who had loaned money to Confederate local governments were out of luck. In a few cases the U.S. Congress stepped in to reimburse communities for losses experienced during the war (primarily for churches and other public buildings destroyed by Union troops), but no public debts of the Confederacy were valid after 1865.

Torreya State Park, Part Four

We are continuing today with our short series on Torreya State Park in Gadsden County, Florida. For the last few days we have been looking at the Confederate artillery emplacements in the park.

Ths mound of earth in this photograph is what remains of the gunpowder magazine at the Confederate fortification. It is somewhat difficult to see here, but it is the mound that rises just to the left of the tree on the right side of the photo. The palmetto in the center of the photograph are growing on top of the magazine.

The magazine was positioned to the left rear of Gun Emplacement #1. There undoubtedly were smaller service magazines to the rear of the other pairs of emplacements (#3 & #4 and #5 & #6).

The primary magazine was located at this point, however, because it was the most protected site at the battery. The ridge that was cut down by the Confederates to build the battery was highest at this point and the higher bluff where the Gregory House sits today provided considerable shelter to the magazine from Union gunboats firing from downstream.

Tomorrow we will wrap up our series on Torreya State Park with a look at the connecting trenches and how they fit into the over all design of the battery. Until then, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/torreyastatepark.

Torreya State Park, Part Three

Continuing our short series on Civil War sites at Torreya State Park in Gadsden County, Florida, this photograph was taken from inside Gun Emplacement #1.

It provides a good idea of how the Confederates dug down into the top of the bluff to create their cannon positions. Gun Emplacement #1 is the southernmost of the positions and is connected to Emplacement #2 by a connecting trench. The cannon here were mounted on raised en barbette firing platforms.

Manned in 1863-1864 by Companies B and D of Bonaud's Battalion (28th Georgia Battalion, Heavy Artillery), the battery at Torreya consisted of six pieces of artillery. None of the guns (two 32-pounders, one 24-pounder and three 18-pounders) were rifled, but their elevated position would have allowed them to direct plunging fire on any Union vessels from short range.

The battery was never attacked, but its men were temporarily sent east in February of 1864 and fought at the Battle of Olustee, Florida.

Our series on Torreya State Park will continue. Until the next post, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/torreyastatepark.

Civil War Florida Top Ten (3/15/2008)

Here are the Top Ten nonfiction books on the Civil War in Florida, based on today's sales statistics at www.barnesandnoble.com:

1. Florida's Lighthouses in the Civil War (Hurley)
2. The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Cox) - Click here to order.
3. J. Patton Anderson, Confederate General: A Biography (Raab)
4. Grander in Her Daughters: Florida's Women During the Civil War (Revels)
5. Florida in the Civil War (Wynne & Taylor)
6. Civil War Florida: The Road to Olustee (Nulty)
7. The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida (Cox) - Click here to order.
8. The Civil War on Pensacola Bay, 1861-1862 (Driscoll)
9. Stephen Russell Mallory: A Biography... (Underwood)
10. Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide (Taylor)

All of these books are available for order at www.barnesandnoble.com. Enjoy your reading!

Torreya State Park, Part Two

This is part two of a short series on Torreya State Park in Gadsden County, Florida. To read part one, just scroll down the page until you see it.

In the early summer of 1863, Confederate troops constructed a fortification on Neal or Battery Bluff in the park. This bluff is located on the reverse slope of Rock Bluff, where the Gregory House stands today.

This placement of the earthworks was unique among the Civil War fortifications along the Apalachicola River because it turned the entire crest of the main bluff into a massive defense for the artillery emplacements. Union vessels coming up the river would have to fire over the top of the bluff and hope to hit the Confederate guns on the reverse slope, an unlikely proposition at best.

The fortifications at Battery Bluff consisted of six artillery emplacements. This photograph was taken from outside Emplacement #1, looking across the rampart (where the sign stands) into the emplacement beyond. The mounds of earth on each side of the sign are the defensive earthworks of the emplacement.

The battery consisted of three pairs of emplacements. Each pair was connected by a deep infantry trench and fortified observation platform/rifle pit. The emplacements reflected the latest military engineering of the time and were actually dug down into the top of the bluff (as opposed to being built up with earth on top of it). This provided better protection for the guns. The earth removed from the excavations was used to form ramparts around each emplacement.

We will look closer at the Torreya State Park artillery emplacements in the next part of our series. Until then, you can read more about the park and see additional photographs by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com and looking for the Torreya State Park section.

Atlanta Storms

Our prayers go out to everyone caught in the Atlanta storms and apparent tornado tonight. It sounds at this point like most of the injuries are minor and hopefully it will stay that way. Much damage was done, though, and many people in downtown Atlanta have been forced from their hotels and homes.Please remember them in your prayers.

If you wish to help, donations in situations like this can always be made through the American Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/.

Natural Bridge named one of 10 Most Endangered Battlefields

Florida's historic Natural Bridge Battlefield, scene of the last significant Confederate victory of the Civil War, has been named to the Civil War Preservation Trust's new list of the 10 Most Endangered Battlefields.

You can click here to read their full report.

We can all hope that the designation will provide necessary encouragement for state and/or federal authorities to move quickly to save key portions of the battlefield while there is still time.

Natural Bridge Battlefield State Historic Park preserves the central area of the battlefield, but much of the scene of the fighting remains on private property.

To read more about the Battle of Natural Bridge, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nbindex or consider my book, The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida, now available through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com or for order through most bookstores.

We also recently completed a series on the battle here at Civil War Florida. Just scroll down the page or consult the archive list for the posts.

Aerial View of the Battle of Marianna site

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.

A Question from Winter Park

I received a question today from the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation and hope that someone can chime in with an answer.

The foundation recently dedicated a new Veterans Park near the VA Center in Winter Park. Adjacent to their park, they have found an obelisk that once contained a brass plaque (the plaque is missing, but the obelisk is still there). They've been told it was once a Civil War marker, but have been unable to find anyone with any knowledge about it.

Does anyone know anything about this marker/site? If so, please drop us a comment back last night so I can help them out.

Thanks!

Torreya State Park, Part One

Over the next few days I'll post a short series on some of the sites of Civil War interest at Torreya State Park.

Torreya is one of Florida's most beloved and scenic state parks. It preserves some of the few remaining Florida Torreya Trees in the world along with a number of other rare plants and animals. The park also has a rich Civil War history.

One of the focal points of the park is the historic Gregory House (seen here). The house was built in 1849 by Jason Gregory and originally stood across the Apalachicola River from the park at Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County. During the antebellum era, the home was the centerpiece of one of the region's largest cotton plantations.

During the Civil War, the house was often visited by Confederate army and navy officers assigned to defend the Apalachicola River. The gunboat C.S.S. Chattahoochee passed the home on occasion and some of the wounded from her 1863 explosion were carried there in the aftermath of the accident until they could be taken on up river to hospital facilities.

When Torreya State Park was established during the 1930s, the home was donated to the park by the Neal Lumber Company. Carefully dismantled, it was floated across the river and reassembled atop Rock Bluff in an effort so meticulous that it took three years to complete. Even the original wooden pegs were preserved and used to reassemble the house.

The home today is furnished in the same way it would have been when the Gregory family lived there during the days leading up to and during the Civil War. The home is open for guided tours at 10 a.m. daily, Monday through Friday, and at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends and state holidays. A small fee is charged.

Torreya State Park is located 15 miles south of Chattahoochee and 11 miles north of Bristol. Our series on Torreya will continue.

Grave of Capt. William T. Gregory - Gadsden County, Florida

This monument at the old Sycamore Cemetery in Gadsden County, Florida, marks the final resting place of Captain William T. Gregory of Company H, 5th Florida Infantry.

Captain Gregory was born in Florida in 1825 and was a member of the prominent Gregory family that owned large plantations in Gadsden, Liberty and Calhoun Counties. He was commissioned as an officer in the 5th Florida Infantry on March 10, 1862.

The 5th Florida was sent north to serve in the Army of Northern Virginia and Captain Gregory was wounded in the bloody Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland on September 17, 1862.

After spending nearly one month in a military hospital, he was given a medical furlough to return home. He died at his residence on December 15, 1862.

The Union Soldiers of Jackson County, Florida

Although it is a fact that often seems to be forgotten, Florida was a very divided state on the eve of the Civil War.

The shadow of Andrew Jackson still moved across the landscape of Florida at the time and many residents of the state held the same commitment to the Union as their late hero. One modern historian has presented compelling evidence that the majority of Floridians might have opposed secession, but were effectively silenced by the turbulence of the times.

Either way, once the issue was decided, most of Florida's men served in the Confederate armies. A significant minority of Floridians, however, retained or returned to their allegiance to the old Union. Hundreds of men volunteered for service in the 1st and 2nd Florida U.S. Cavalries, the Union navy and other Federal units.

Some of these never came home, but others did. Over time they blended back into their communities and went on with life, despite much bitterness in the region from their neighbors who had served the Confederacy.

One such individual was Sgt. S.J. Byrd. A Confederate soldier early in the war, he deserted from Company K, 11th Florida Infantry on September 1, 1863, from a camp on the Choctawhatchee River in Washington County. He made his way to Pensacola and, on December 6, 1863, enlisted in Company A, 1st Florida U.S. Cavalry. He was promoted to corporal on April 4, 1864 and served with his company - on the Union side - during the Battle of Marianna. Promoted again, he remained with his unit until it was disbanded at Tallahassee on November 17, 1865.

He went back to live in Jackson County, where he died in 1899. He is one of several Union soldiers buried at Cowpen Pond Cemetery near the community of Dellwood.

Monument to Col. W.D. Chipley - Chipley, Florida

This monument in downtown Chipley was erected by that Northwest Florida community to commemorate the role played by Col. W.D. Chipley in the founding and early growth of the city.

Col. Chipley is perhaps best remembered in Florida as a businessman and railroad promoter who finally achieved the dream of connecting Pensacola with the Atlantic Ocean by rail. His railroad brought to life numerous communities - including Chipley, Bonifay, Defuniak Springs, Crestview, etc. - and may well have been the greatest single economic boost that North Florida ever received.

Less well known in Florida, however, was the fact that Col. Chipley was an accomplished and controversial Civil War officer. Although he was born in Georgia, he was living in Kentucky in 1861 where he was teaching at Transylvania University. He cast his lot with the South and became an officer in the famed "Orphan Brigade" from Kentucky (so named because Union troops quickly occupied Kentucky and the Confederate soldiers from the commonwealth became, literally, soldiers without a state).

Fighting with the 9th Kentucky Infantry, Chipley was wounded at Shiloh and Chickamauga before being captured at the Battle of Peachtree Creek (Atlanta) in 1864. He spent the rest of the war at a Union prison camp in Illinois.

After the war, Col. Chipley was one of the few former Confederate officers put on trial by the U.S. Government. He was accused of having ordered his men to murder captured Union prisoners during the war. He was defended by former Confederate vice president Alexande Stephens and was acquitted in a jury trial.

In later years, a letter was discovered among his wife's possessions that revealed the U.S. Government had tried to drop its case against Chipley (after making public accusations against him) due to lack of evidence. The colonel, however, refused to allow the charges to be dropped and demanded the trial to clear his name.

The monument is located in downtown Chipley, Florida adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce information center. For more information on Chipley and Washington County, please visit www.exploresouthernhsitory.com/washingtoncounty. This section of the site is a work in progress, so check back often!

Dr. M.A. Butler, forgotten hero of Greenwood, Florida

This toppled headstone in the old Baptist Cemetery in Greenwood, Florida, marks the resting place of Dr. M.A. Butler.

A medical doctor, Butler was at home in Greenwood when he heard the alarm being spread that the nearby city of Marianna was facing attack from an approaching force of Union cavalry.

Greenwood was the home of an academy and its male students had been organized into a corps of cadets. These boys, many of whom were only 14 or 15 years old, drilling regularly in cavalry tactics and dubbed themselves the "Greenwood Club Cavalry." When the alarm reached Greenwood that Marianna was in danger, the unit's commander and teacher, Captain Henry J. Robinson, formed his boys and prepared to ride out to join the fight.

Unwilling to watch the children of their community go off to fight alone, a number of the older men of the community mounted their horses and rode along with them. Dr. Butler was one of these individuals.

The Greenwood boys and their watchful escorts fought at the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 1864, and two of the men who rode along with the cadets were killed in the fighting. One of these was Dr. M.A. Butler. Only 23 years old at the time of his death, he fell among a group of Confederates who were trying to make a stand in the yard surrounding St. Luke's Episcopal Church. His body was brought back to Greenwood and buried here in the Baptist Cemetery.

General James McIntosh - A Florida native

This photograph is of Brigadier General James McQueen McIntosh. Born at Fort Brooke (Tampa) in 1828, McIntosh was a seasoned officer in the regular army when war broke out in 1861.

McIntosh attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in the Class of 1849.

He spent most of his military career on the western frontier and was at Fort Smith, Arkansas when that post was seized by state troops in 1861. He resigned his commission in May of 1861 and joined the Confederate Army. He served first as a captain of cavalry and fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in the fall of 1861. A competent and brave officer, he served as colonel of the 1st Arkansas Rifles before receiving a commission as a regular brigadier general in the Provisional Army of the Conferate States.

He was shot down and killed during the initial Confederate attacks at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Arkansas on March 7, 1862.

If you are interested in learning more about McIntosh's role at the Battle of Pea Ridge and his death in combat there, please check out our sister blog Civil War Arkansas. We have a series underway on the Battle of Pea Ridge.

Civil War Florida Top Ten (3/8/08)

Here are this week's Top Ten bestselling nonfiction books on the Civil War in Florida, according to the statistics today at www.barnesandnoble.com.

1. The Battle of Marianna, Florida (Cox) Click here to buy.
2. J. Patton Anderson: A Biography (Raab)
3. Florida's Lighthouses in the Civil War (Hurley)
4. Florida in the Civil War (Wynne & Taylor)
5. Confederate Florida: The Road to Olustee (Nulty)
6. The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida (Cox) Click here to buy.
7. The Civil War on Pensacola Bay, 1861-1862 (Driscoll)
8. Stephen Russell Mallory: A Biography... (Underwood)
9. Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide (Taylor)
10. A Woman Doctor's Civil War: Esther Hawk Hill's Diary (Schwartz)

All of these books are available at www.barnesandnoble.com. Thank you as always to everyone who has helped to make the Battle of Marianna and Battle of Natural Bridge successful.

The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida - Conclusion

With this posting we conclude our two week long series on the Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida. We've devoted extended attention to Natural Bridge because he battle preserved Tallahassee's status as the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi River and was the last significant Confederate victory of the Civil War.

There are many sites today that can be visited to explore the history of this historic campaign. Here is a list of some of the most interesting:

1. Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park - Located on Natural Bridge Road east of Woodville, Florida, the park preserves a key portion of the battlefield. There is not a museum on the grounds, but visitors can walk the battlefield and stroll along the scenic St. Marks Rivers. Monuments to the Confederate defenders and dead of both sides can be viewed, along with historic markers and interpretive signs. Time-worn segments of the Confederate earthworks can also be seen, along the with the Natural Bridge itself.
2. Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad - This historic railroad bed was used by Confederates during the campaign to move troops to and from Tallahassee and St. Marks by train. It is now a state park facility and has been converted to a "rails to trails" project. A paved asphalt path follows the route of the old railroad all the way from Tallahassee to St. Marks and is popular with walkers and bikers. It can be accessed in both Tallahassee and St. Marks and at various points in between. There is a historic marker at the Tallahassee trailhead.
3. San Marcos de Apalache - This state park and museum is located in St. Marks and contains the earthworks of Fort Ward as well as the ruins of earlier Spanish forts. The museum includes information on the Civil War and Natural Bridge Campaign and the old fort provides outstanding views of the confluence of the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers and the vast marshes beyond.
4. Newport - There is a small, but nice, park area on the east bank of the St. Marks River at Newport. Although there is no battle interpretation, it is a nice spot for a picnic and the dock at the boat ramp provides a good view of the St. Marks River.
5. East River Bridge - The site of East River Bridge and the route of the Union troops from the St. Marks Lighthouse to the skirmish site there is now within the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge offers a visitor center and park personnel can answer questions about the war. The area around East River has changed dramatically over the years due to the creation of large pools decades ago.
6. Port Leon - This old town site south of Fort Ward on the main channel was the intended landing point for Naval forces during the Natural Bridge Campaign, but they failed to make it far enough up the channel to complete the landing before learning that the army troops were already in retreat. Very, Very little remains of Port Leon and there are no surviving structures of the town, but the site is preserved by the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and can be visited by a strenuous hike. You can obtain details and hiking maps at the Refuge Visitor Center.
7. St. Marks Lighthouse - One of the most spectacular sites on the Gulf Coast, the historic St. Marks Lighthouse is now preserved and serves as a focal point of the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. The tower itself is not open to the public for climbing, but the grounds are popular with visitors and there is an observation platform that allows for a great view of the Lighthouse, the marshes and the Gulf of Mexico. The grounds are open daily during normal refuge hours and the drive out to the lighthouse provides an outstanding opportunity to experience not just the history of the area, but also the stunning natural setting preserved by the refuge.
8. The Old Capitol- Located in the heart of the modern city of Tallahassee, Florida's Historic Old Capitol has been restored and is now a museum interpreting the state's political history. The Capitol served as Confederate military headquarters at the time of the Battle of Natural Bridge.
9. Old Fort Park - Located a few blocks southeast of the Old Capitol is Old Fort Park, where the surviving earthworks of Fort Houstoun can be seen. The old fort was a rectangular earthen redoubt constructed during the winter of 1864-1865 as part of the defenses of Tallahassee. It was held during the Battle of Natural Bridge by Confederate militia in case the Union troops should break through at Natural Bridge and advance on Tallahassee, but the victory there prevented the fortifications from ever coming under attack.

This concludes our extended series. I hope you have enjoyed it. You can see additional photographs and read more at www.exploresouthernhistory.com. Just follow the link and then click the Battlefields heading and you will find the link to take you to the Natural Bridge pages. Also please consider my book, The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida, now available through www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com or for order through most local bookstores.

Natural Bridge (27) - Post Battle Executions

Our next post will conclude our special series on the Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida. To read the entire series, please scroll down the page.

As Confederate troops swarmed south in the wake of Newton's column, they captured a number of Union stragglers and wounded soldiers. One entire detachment was captured with its lieutenant after they were left behind guarding a river crossing by the main body. Another group was captured at Newport on the morning of the 7th. Strickland and one of his men from the bridge burning party sent up the Aucilla River were captured by Confederates after they tried to set the bridge on fire, but were spotted.

Most of these prisoners, white and black, were treated according to the standard rules of war. General Jones made sure that they were given medical attention and not subjected to manual labor, etc., regardless of their race.

Four of the prisoners turned out to be Confederate deserters and the rules for them were different. Peter Pelt and Corporal Asa Fowler from Company E, 2nd Florida U.S. Cavalry, were captured at Newport on the morning of March 7th. Both were recognized as deserters who had joined the Union ranks. Rails were placed upright in the ground, they were tied to them and then shot by firing squad on the same day. W.W. Strickland and John R. Brannon were captured at Aucilla Bridge. They were spared for ten days and tried before a court martial, but were shot by firing squad on March 17, 1865.

The other prisoners were taken to Tallahassee, where the wounded received treatment. Ultimately they were ordered to Camp Sumter stockade at Andersonville, Georgia, where they spent the rest of the war. All of these men, white and black, survived the war and eventually were released. A number of Union soldiers were reported as missing in action immediately following the battle, but they all eventually turned up. Most made their way to the Union post at Cedar Key and rejoined their regiments.

There have been rumors since 1865 that some of the captured African American Union soldiers were murdered on the battlefield by Confederate soldiers. Questions about this were raised by Union officers after the battle and they have been part of the folklore surrounding the battle for 143 years. A careful examination of Union lists of captured and missing in action soldiers reveals, however, that all Union soldiers from the campaign can be accounted for. The only ones killed after the battle were the four white soldiers from the 2nd Florida U.S. Cavalry that proved to be Confederate deserters. The black soldiers captured during and after the Battle of Natural Bridge were treated well by order of General Jones as long as they were in the hands of troops after his command. Some were subjected to manual labor after they were sent to Andersonville, but this was at the order of prison authorities and not the Confederate officers in Florida.

Our series will conclude later tonight with a look at the Natural Bridge battlefield and points of interest from the campaign as they appear today. Until then, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nbindex. Also please consider my book, The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida, now available from www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com and by order through most bookstores.

Natural Bridge (26) - March 7, 1865

Our three posts today will conclude our series on the Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida. To read the all of the posts on this topic, please scroll down the page and check the archives.

The morning of March 7, 1865, found the Union troops safely back across East River. A detachment of sailors had come up to the East River Bridge when they learned the army was retreating and held the position to make sure the soldiers weren't cut off. Once Newton's men were across, the sailors burned the bridge to prevent its use by Confederates, and then rowed back to their ships.

The Navy's attempt to silence the batteries at Fort Ward and land 1,000 men at Port Leon to support the army movement had also ended in failure. The ships ran aground and experienced great difficulty in navigating the lower St. Marks River as they began their attempt to steam upstream and attack the fort. They were still one mile below the old Port Leon site when word arrived that the army was in retreat. The ships began to retreat as well.

General Newton and his surviving officers met with the Navy officers and concluded that further attacks were useless and the process of moving the soldiers back to their transports soon got underway.

The Confederates, meanwhile, were severely strung out from trying to pursue the retreating Union force. Some Southern troops had come back down to Newport to repair the bridge. Others came down the east bank of the St. Marks on the trail of the Union force, while still others remained on the battlefield at Natural Bridge.

At the scene of the fight, the process of burying the dead and caring for the wounded continued. The Confederate dead and wounded were removed from the field as soon as possible. Most of the Union wounded had been carried away by their own army, although the Confederates did find one wounded man among the numerous dead Federal soldiers on the battlefield. A group of severely wounded Union soldiers was also found after the battle at a house along the route of the Union retreat.

Legend holds that the Union dead were thrown into a water-filled sink on the battlefield (seen here) by the Confederate troops. Local residents, however, later removed at least a few floating bodies from the sink and buried them. Other Union soldiers were reported buried by their own men on the east side of the river.

When our series continues later today, we'll look into the fates of Union soldiers captured by the Confederates, allegations of post-battle murders and the executions of four men by Confederate firing squads. Until then, you can read more on the Battle of Natural Bridge by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nbindex.

Natural Bridge (25) - The Battle of Natural Bridge, Phase Three

Today is the 143rd anniversary of the Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida. This is part of our continuing series on the battle.

As they withdrew from their failed attack, the Union troops were able to look up the Natural Bridge Road and see roughly the same view that you see here. The Confederate line was positioned on the slight rise in the distance and the area from which the photograph was taken was covered in heavy tree cover.

The soldiers could hear the sounds of "rebel yells" approaching and knew that reinforcements were arriving to strengthen the Confederate lines. Realizing that he stood no chance of breaking through, General Newton decided to begin a withdrawal from the battlefield. To achieve this, he had his men construct three lines of breastworks, each a greater distance back from the Natural Bridge than the one before it. He hoped to use these positions to cover his retreat and inflict severe casualties on the Southern forces if they attempted to attack.

It was a well conceived plan. The yelling soldiers the Union troops had heard approaching were dismounted men from the 2nd Florida Cavalry (C.S). Around 350 strong, they had arrived by train and then marched overland to the battlefield, hearing the sounds of the fighting as they approached. Confident now of victory, General Jones ordered a probe into the thick woods around the Natural Bridge, followed by an advance of the 2nd Florida Cavalry.

The probe revealed that the Federals were indeed falling back. The bodies of Union soldiers littered the ground and blood left by wounded men could be seen in spots all across the landscape. Gaining enthusiasm, the Confederates pushed forward. After a brief exchange of fire, the Union troops broke and ran from their first line of defenses. Believing they had routed the enemy, the Confederates charged forward.

It was, however, a trap. As soon as they reached their second line, the Federals turned and fired. Joined by additional troops and artillery hidden behind the second line, they inflicted numerous casualties on the head of the charging Confederate line, stunting the attack. The Southern troops also ran low on ammunition at this stage of the battle and had to halt their advance to wait for more.

Taking advantage of the lull, General Newton pulled his men from the battlefield and began his retreat back to the Gulf. His men felled trees behind them to obstruct the roads and slow Confederate pursuit. The Battle of Natural Bridge was now over.

Although both sides claimed victory in the days and weeks following the battle, the facts are clear. The Union troops withdrew from the battlefield and retreated to the Gulf, their campaign ending in failure. The Confederate defenders at Natural Bridge had prevailed. Newton was not able to achieve his objectives of crossing the St. Marks River, capturing St. Marks or marching on to Tallahassee