Florida: More Troops than Voters
In 1860 Florida boasted a population of 78,686 free citizens and 61,753 slaves, the smallest population by far of any of the soon-to-be Confederate states. In terms of simple statistics, Florida fought and bled more than any other Confederate state in relation to its small population. By 1865 more than 15,000 troops would come out of this meager populace, most of which left the state by mid-1862, contrasted with about 14,000 registered voters in the entire state. One in 11 served; one-third of those did not return. About 5,000 of these soldiers died in action or as a result of disease during the war. Compared with today’s population, it is the equivalent of Florida providing 1.4 million soldiers and losing 465,000!
Florida had only been in the Union for 16 years, after 300 years of being passed back and forth from Spanish to English to American control, when it voted for secession on January 10, 1861. Different sources claim either widespread opposition to or equally widespread enthusiasm for secession, but the simple fact was that Florida was more a liability than an asset to the Confederacy. The relatively few troops it provided did help the critical manpower shortage, but the state legislature could earmark only $100,000 for arms and equipment, soon exhausted in the inflated wartime market and leaving most of the men still unarmed.
Appeals to the Confederate government in Richmond for funds to equip the troops only revealed that there was no money to be had and that Florida would have to somehow equip the soldiers it was requested to provide. Additionally, the very troops requested by the national government would not be accepted for service until somehow properly equipped at the state’s own expense. As late as mid-1862, official calls were asking civilians to provide what “shot guns, double and single barrel rifles, and muskets” that they had available.
As additional liabilities, Florida had more than 6,000 miles of difficult-to-defend shoreline, a scarce and widespread population at least partly sympathetic to the Union, and an interior easily penetrated by the multiple large river outlets. Despite all this, the state could not be ignored by the newly formed Rebel government, as it was a valuable source of cotton, turpentine, and beef, as well as a port and haven for blockade-runners.
The populated areas of 1861 Florida were concentrated in the northern reaches, as were nearly all the ports and railroads. Ironically, the second-largest city was Key West, with a population of 2,832 (including 591 slaves), but it was isolated from the mainland by the lack of connecting roads or railroads.
The railroad network was still in the process of building up across the state when war broke out; as a result, no line connected Pensacola (the largest city) with the eastern portions, nor did any line connect eastern Florida with Georgia or Alabama. Forts originally built by the Spanish or by the U.S. government starting in the 1840s guarded the most critical approaches to Pensacola, Fernandina, St. Augustine, and the Keys. Both sides recognized that besides these major approaches, the capital at Tallahassee, the railroad crossroad town of Baldwin, and the river towns of Jacksonville, New Smyrna, St. Marks, Appalachicola, Cedar Key, and Tampa all were strategic locations to the control of the state.
There never seems to have been a grand strategy for control of Florida by the Union Army, nor was there a concerted effort by the Confederate government to provide for its defense. After Florida seceded, the Union all but surrendered all but three of the coastal forts with little or no resistance. Most of the troops called up in the state left for either the Army of Northern Virginia or Army of Tennessee, leaving a bare 2,000 for home defense throughout most of the war.
The Civil War in Florida can be divided into three phases: first, the seizure or defense of coastal fortifications early on; second, a withdrawal of Confederate forces from the eastern coast followed by a long period of uncontested garrison by Union forces in these abandoned positions; and finally, a short but intense period of combat for control of the northern reaches toward the end of the war, ironically all won by the Confederates.
A Civil War–era map of the Fernandina region of Florida
Fernandina, on (and sometimes referred to as) Amelia Island, is at the very northeastern tip of Florida, just across Cumberland Sound and the St. Marys River from Georgia’s Cumberland Island and adjacent town of St. Marys. Guarding the mouth of the river that separates the two states (for a few miles, at least), the island was a Spanish-held haven for pirates and smugglers before the United States took over in 1821. To guard the waterborne approach and the new port town, construction of a fort began on the northernmost tip in 1847.
Most local publications trumpet that this was the only U.S. location to have been under eight flags in its history: French, Spanish, British, “Patriots,” Green Cross of Florida, Mexican Rebel, U.S., and Confederate. The Patriot flag flew for the shortest time, when the U.S.-backed Patriots of Amelia Island overthrew Spanish control and declared their own territory, only for the day of March 17, 1812. The next day they raised the U.S. flag, but soon afterward the island was returned to Spanish control.
The most unusual flag, almost certainly unique in American history, was the Mexican Rebel flown while the pirate Luis Aury controlled the island from September to December of 1817. The island, where pirates, smugglers, and assorted riffraff roamed freely, had been a black-market haven since the 1808 U.S. embargo on slave importing. Aury was a Frenchman who was allowed to fly the Mexican flag and roam under its protection so long as he sent Mexico a percentage of his plunder. Using a secret act passed by Congress in 1811 as an excuse, the United States sent military forces under Captain J. D. Henley and Major James Bankhead to seize the island with its valuable port from Aury on December 23, 1817. The island was “held in trust” for the Spanish until formally ceded in 1821.
Fort Clinch was named for General Duncan Lamont Clinch of Second Seminole War fame. The land was purchased in 1842 on the north end of Amelia Island, and construction began about 1847 but progressed very slowly; by the onset of war only two of the five planned bastions, two walls, the guardhouse, and a prison building were complete. A few other smaller buildings were in various stages of construction, but no cannon of any caliber had been mounted, and the post was only a military stronghold in the most liberal sense of the word.
Florida militia took over the fort without a struggle in May 1861, as the Union garrison had either already withdrawn or was simply at another fort. Over the next six months, several sand dune batteries were constructed around the island to supplement the unfinished fort, and a total of 33 artillery pieces were brought in and mounted. No real effort was made by the Confederate garrison to continue any of the work on the fort itself.
General Robert E. Lee, newly appointed commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida, had by this time changed his coastal defensive strategy from one of static, fort-based defense to one of mobile infantry and artillery strike forces, preferably arranged near railroad lines so as to be able to move quickly against enemy threats. Lee made two brief inspections of the fortifications at Fernandina in November 1861 and January 1862 and found that despite the best efforts of the Florida troops, the defenses were inadequate at best. He ordered naval officers from Savannah to help mount the cannon and train the gunners and the 24th Mississippi Infantry Regiment to the fort as reinforcements.
Before the fort could be placed into full operation, Union seizure of barrier islands in Georgia and South Carolina showed just how vulnerable the isolated and lightly manned post was to an attack of any significant strength. Lee ordered evacuation of forces on both Cumberland and Amelia Islands in late February 1862. The Mississippi and Florida troops abandoned Fort Clinch by February 29, just as Union gunboats sailed up into Cumberland Sound and began shelling the fortifications. The Confederate troops were able to withdraw only 18 of the artillery pieces before the gunboats showed up; the other 15 were captured and left in place to serve their new masters.
Confederate sympathizers abandoned Fernandina along with the combat troops, leaving only a tiny, windswept, bug-infested island for the Union garrison to enjoy. No shots were fired in combat from the rude fort by either side during the entire war, the action soon shifting away from the coastline up to the north and west. Despite the decisive demonstration at Fort Pulaski a little over a month later that the era of masonry forts was over, the garrison spent the rest of the war and early postwar period working on the walls and emplacements. By 1867 the fort was nearly complete when abandoned once again, this time for more than 30 years.
The nation’s oldest city remained a Confederate-held town for just a little over 1 year of its 430-year history, and endured 3 years of sometimes hostile Union occupation, but supplied both fighting men and a well-protected harbor to the fledgling nation. Originally founded in 1565 by the Spanish, the town has been continuously inhabited ever since by the ebb and flow of one empire after another.
After only 16 years as part of a full-fledged state and “24 years of territorial vassalage,” as one secessionist agitator charged, St. Augustine embraced the idea of secession and the new nation with gusto. Following Lincoln’s election in 1860, when not a single vote for him was recorded in the entire state of Florida, the only debate seemed to be whether to secede immediately or to wait a bit. With their representatives voting solidly along with the vast majority for the ordinance of secession in Tallahassee on January 10, 1861, the town held a mighty independence celebration. On the fall of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, another joyous celebration was held under the new flag of rebellion in the town plaza.
With secession fever rising in 1860, the town raised a militia unit for defense known variously as the Florida Independent Blues or St. Augustine Blues. They were soon joined by another infantry unit, the Milton Guards, and by the Marion Artillery in January 1861. The only U.S. fortification in the area, Fort Marion (formerly and today known as the Castello de San Marcos), was manned by a “garrison” of a single U.S. Army ordnance sergeant, who gave up the post several days before the secession vote with only verbal resistance and a demand for a receipt.
Despite the seeming invincibility of the old Spanish-built fort, competent military engineers realized early in the war that the town was vulnerable and would be difficult to adequately defend. General Robert E. Lee, during one of his Fernandina inspection trips, commented that “the small force posted at Saint Augustine serves only as an invitation to attack” and ordered that only the essential harbors of Charleston, Savannah, and Brunswick were to be fortified and defended. By February 1862, with the situation deteriorating in Tennessee, most of the town’s defenders marched off to duty with the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
For all intents and purposes, Florida was left to her own devices without regular army troops for defense through most of the rest of the war. Newly elected Florida governor John Milton lamented that he “almost despaired of protection from the Confederate Government.” In St. Augustine, a Union naval blockade in place since December 1861 had reduced the town almost to the point of governmental collapse. The prewar tourist industry had come to a complete halt, business could only be conducted at the most elemental level, and very few citizens were able to pay their taxes.
Sally port of Fort Marion
Almost as a blessing, a Union assault force arrived off the coast of St. Augustine, and on March 12, 1862, Commander C. R. P. Rogers arrived at the seawall to request the town’s surrender. He was greeted there by friendly politicians and local Unionists; the offer was quickly accepted, and in short order the Stars and Stripes once again flew over Fort Marion.
With such an easy transition, the occupying Union garrison at first assumed the town was full of Northern sympathizers. Rogers received a rude awakening on his first walk around town, where he was greeted with loud comments of disapproval from some of the town’s ladies. Another group of women chopped down the town plaza flagpole so that he would not be able to hoist the U.S. flag upon it.
Although there never was any concerted effort to regain the city, after the discovery of several Confederate Army deserters in town and the assassination of several Unionists nearby, all Southern sympathizers still living in St. Augustine were ordered expelled. Many had already left to live with friends or family in the Confederate-held interior, and most of the male population had entered military service.
The first forced expulsion began in September 1862, consisting of all those who had refused to take an oath of allegiance and agree to report on “subversive” activities. In typical military bureaucratic style, an order countermanding the removal arrived just as a shipload of women and children was on its way out of the harbor. Most of the women had been forced to give up their homes and possessions before boarding the ship and thus had no place left to stay. A few remained, but most went into the interior with the blessing of both townspeople and Union authorities, happy to reduce the number of mouths to feed.
A more orderly evacuation commenced in January 1863, apparently consisting primarily of those ladies who particularly irked the Union officials. The official decree was for those with “husbands and sons in the rebel army,” but that could be applied to just about anyone left in town. Mrs. Victoria Williams was rather out-spoken in her assessment of the situation and those in charge of it, to the extreme discomfort of their guards. By the time their ship reached Fernandina, she and her family were put off and given over with thanks to the Confederate authorities just outside the island town. Other families were put off in small groups at a number of other Southern ports.
Throughout the rest of the war, other individuals and small groups would be expulsed from town, mostly into the Confederate-held interior. Presumably many returned after hostilities ceased, but there is no consistent record of this.
The only real military opposition to the continued Union occupation was by a small Confederate cavalry force commanded by Captain J. J. Dickison. Mostly confining his activities to patrolling the west bank of the St. Johns River to warn of any Union offensive, Dickison occasionally raided the outskirts of town, inflicting a few casualties and capturing some unlucky Union soldiers. Even with this threat, the Union soldiers and authorities became complacent in their relatively comfortable post, to the point that Colonel William H. Noble (who had replaced Rogers) was himself captured in December 1864, while riding with his aide to Jacksonville. Even with this serious loss, Union authorities failed to change their security procedures, and two more groups of soldiers were taken prisoner within the next month.
Before the war, St. Augustine had been both a tourist destination (as it is very much today) and a wintertime health resort for sickly Yankees. In the fall of 1863, it resumed one of these roles when the Union Army decided to make the town into a convalescent camp and hospital.
Slowly but steadily, the town’s population grew with the arrival of more Unionists and soldiers and with growing numbers of disenchanted Confederate Army deserters. By the end of the war, the town was nearly back to its prewar norm, with the federal courts reopened, the churches nearly filled to capacity, and trade with Northern cities restored. Even news of the Confederate Army commander in chief General Robert E. Lee’s surrender in Virginia failed to change life to any great degree.
As in so many other Southern cities, the great emotion of the Confederate loss gradually changed into a wistful nostalgia for the Lost Cause. In 1872 the United Daughters of the Confederacy, locally headed by Anna Dummett, erected a tall stone obelisk in the central plaza as mute testimony to the 44 local men killed in the war. This monument still stands in the Plaza de la Constitution at the end of King Street, directly across from the Bridge of Lions downtown, guarded by 8-inch “Rodman” Columbiad artillery pieces and a nearby 10-inch seacoast mortar, part of the wartime Fort Marion defenses.
The largest battle in Florida began as nothing more than yet another occupation of Jacksonville, the fourth in half as many years. In overall command was Brigadier General Truman A. Seymour, charged with securing the small port town for the Union once again and then moving westward into the interior area between the St. Johns and Suwanee Rivers with four goals in mind: first, to cut the railroads and stop the northward flow of food and supplies to the Confederate Army of Tennessee, several hundred miles north in Georgia; second, to capture the valuable store of cotton, turpentine, and lumber for the Union Army’s own use; third, to “free” and recruit blacks for the increasing numbers of “colored” regiments; and lastly, and possibly least important, Seymour was to “inaugurate measures for the speedy restoration of Florida to her allegiance.”
With some advance preparation by the Union garrison already at Fernandina, and with some difficulty passing through the sandbar-choked entrance to the St. Johns River, troop transports guarded by gunboats started upriver at daybreak on February 7, 1864. Seymour had under his command a force of about 7,000 men organized into 10 infantry regiments, 1 cavalry battalion, and 3 artillery batteries. One of the infantry regiments present was the all-black 54th Massachusetts (of Battery Wagner fame, as featured in the movie Glory).
The movement of Union troops toward the northeast Florida coast had not gone unnoticed by the Confederates, who quickly began scouting for a suitable place to mount a proper defense. In command of the Department of East Florida was Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, with a mere 1,200 men at his disposal, all widely scattered in small groups across the interior portions of the state from Fernandina to Tampa. Alerted to the danger, General P. G. T. Beauregard, Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida (who had replaced Lee), immediately sent word to Finegan that help was on the way, to hold the Union forces at bay as best he could, and to “prevent capture of slaves.”
Meanwhile, the Union flotilla proceeded up the St. Johns River, pausing only long enough to engage and pursue a small number of Confederate pickets just below Commodore’s Point, less than 2 miles from the wharves of Jacksonville itself. (Commodore’s Point contains no marker or sign that we were able to locate, but lies at the northern base of the Isaiah D. Hart Bridge on US 1 Alternate, the Commodore Point Expressway. The area is now largely industrial.)
With little resistance, the flotilla of Union transports tied up to the Jacksonville docks at about 3:40 p.m. on February 7, and the troops began off-loading immediately. There was very little to secure in town, as three previous Union invasions and departures over the past two years had reduced most of the houses and shops to unreconstructed rubble. Nearly 3,000 people had lived in town in 1860; when Seymour arrived on the Maple Leaf, there were fewer than 200 remaining, almost all women and children, who assured the invaders that they were “Union.”
By nightfall Seymour’s troops had full command of Jacksonville, digging in for the night in an existing defensive position on the west side of the city, and he passed on orders for them to prepare to move rapidly toward the inland rail junction at Baldwin at dawn. For some unknown reason, this dawn assault did not take place; instead, after an uneventful night the men moved out in three columns at about 3 p.m. on February 8, their objective being the South Prong of the St. Marys River about 35 miles due west.
The deliberate movement was the result of changed orders. Instead of a quick attempt to seize and cut the railroads, Seymour apparently desired a somewhat deeper and more thorough disruption of the Confederate-held territory, tearing up what rails they could, destroying stockpiles of supplies, and reconnoitering the Confederate positions and emplacements. The troops were still only supposed to march about 35 miles inland, but there was no order or suggestion to avoid contact with any Confederate forces.
The three Union columns consisted of Colonel W. B. Barton’s brigade (47th, 48th, and 115th New York Infantry Regiments) marching straight up the Lake City–Jacksonville road (roughly following the route of present-day US 90, paralleling I-10); Colonel Guy V. Henry’s Mounted Brigade (40th Massachusetts Mounted Infantry, the Independent Battalion of Massachusetts Cavalry, Langdon’s Light Artillery Battery, Elder’s Horse Artillery Battery, and Batteries B and C of the Third Rhode Island Artillery) on a parallel road to the left; and Colonel J. R. Hawley’s Brigade (7th Connecticut and 7th New Hampshire Infantry Regiments, and the 8th U.S. Colored Troops) on another road to the right. These three roads converged about 3 miles from Jacksonville, and Seymour expected Confederate opposition before that point.
Instead of making contact, the men marched on through the growing darkness before stopping for the night at the road junction. Henry’s mounted troops continued before finally encountering an abandoned picket outpost about 5 miles down the road. Easing through the woods, the Union men quietly came upon a small manned outpost and seized it with a rapid assault. Quickly remounting and riding on for another 10 minutes, they soon came upon a major Confederate outpost known as Camp Finegan. (The exact location of Camp Finegan cannot be definitely placed, but it should be approximately in the area known as West Jacksonville, near the intersection of Lane Avenue and Beaver Street [US 90], about 1 mile east of the I-10 and I-295 intersection. The CSX Railroad track through this area runs over the roadbed of the Civil War–era tracks.)
Observing about 200 heavily armed Confederate defenders waiting in the camp (Lieutenant Colonel Abner McCormick’s 2nd Florida Cavalry), Henry elected to bypass the camp and travel another 4 miles west to attack a reported artillery camp at Twelve Mile Station. Finding the camp manned but unguarded and the Confederates in the process of cooking and eating, Henry ordered a sudden, loud assault. Most of the artillerymen took off for the surrounding woods at the first notes of the Union bugles. The Confederates lost 18 men and 45 horses and mules, but the hardest blow was the loss of five critically needed artillery pieces.
Meanwhile, the Union infantry columns abandoned their plans for encamping at the road junction and began moving west through the thick, dark woods. Encountering Camp Finegan, they began to surround the camp before assaulting. Although they quietly captured all the Confederate pickets, something warned the men inside, and the Confederates deserted the camp before the Union attack could be mounted. After briefly searching the surrounding woods the next morning for deserters, the Union infantrymen moved out toward Baldwin, 15 miles to the west.
Henry’s men left Twelve Mile Station at 4 a.m. on February 9, riding the 10 miles in to Baldwin and tearing up the rail tracks as they went. Baldwin itself was taken without resistance by 7 a.m., and in just this short time most of Seymour’s objectives had been met. Major General Quincy Adams Gillmore, in overall command of the Union operation and now in Jacksonville, ordered more regiments forward for support and directed Seymour to continue inland. Henry ordered his men to move out once again on the morning of February 10.
Riding west of Baldwin and capturing occasional stocks of food and supplies along the way, no resistance was met until the bridge over the South Prong of the St. Marys River at a place known as Barber’s Ford. There, the bridge had been burned and the 2nd Florida Cavalry waited in ambush. The lead Union pickets were gunned down as they approached the burned-out bridge, but the Confederates melted away with the loss of only four men as the Union Independent Battalion charged their position. Union losses were set at 17 dead and wounded. (The bridge over the South Prong of the St. Marys River was destroyed before the skirmish, and no period structure remains there today. No sign of Barber’s Ford could be located, but the skirmish took place between Macclenny and Glen St. Mary on US 90; the CSX Railroad bridge just south of the road over the river is the historic site.)
Seymour received additional orders from Gillmore that same day directing him to push his forces as far west as the Suwanee River and advising that additional infantry support was headed his way. At the same time, Finegan, in Lake City, was hurriedly concentrating all his forces to meet the Union invasion force.
Moving out from Barber’s Ford about 1 p.m. on February 11, Henry’s mounted force soon entered Sanderson, only to find three large warehouses full of supplies set afire only 15 minutes beforehand by the last departing Confederate train. After a short rest, the mounted troops continued westward through the night, arriving 3 miles east of Lake City by mid-morning.
Slowly advancing through a thick morning fog, Henry’s troops suddenly encountered Confederate infantry already drawn up in line of battle. Due to the thickness of the fog and the noise discipline exercised by both sides, neither saw each other until they were fewer than 100 yards apart, and both sides then immediately opened fire. The 1st Georgia Regulars, under the command of Lieutenant John Porter Fort, withstood the initial Union assault led by the 40th Massachusetts and the Independent Battalion and soon forced the Union line into retreat. With food and ammunition running short, and the main body of infantry support more than 30 miles to their rear, Henry decided to retreat all the way back to Sanderson before halting.
The sometimes dubbed “Battle of Lake City” took place just east of the main commercial district of Lake City, approximately where Price Creek Road intersects US 90, just to the west of the airport. The Confederate line was reported to be a mile in length, running north and south across US 90 and the adjacent CSX Railroad track.
For 10 days after ordering his forces to retreat back to the relative safety of Sanderson and Barber’s Ford, Seymour marked time by slowly reinforcing his garrison and limiting his offensive actions to a single raid on Gainesville and another to the Georgia-Florida border area. Finegan wasted no time building up his small force, sending every available unit from western and southern Florida into his line east of Lake City, and appealing to Confederate authorities for more infantry and artillery.
By the afternoon of February 19, Seymour had consolidated a force of eight infantry regiments, one mounted infantry regiment, three batteries of artillery, and a cavalry battalion, numbering just over 5,400 men and 16 artillery pieces. Swinging once again into the offensive, he ordered his men west along the Jacksonville–Lake City road, with the intention of confronting the Confederate forces at Lake City, driving through them, and destroying the railroad bridge over the Suwanee River.
Finegan remained at his headquarters in Lake City, placing command of the Confederate force on Colonel Alfred H. Colquitt. He had moved his main body of troops a few miles east of Lake City to a tiny settlement named Olustee Station. By nightfall on the 19th, Finegan had collected some eight full infantry regiments, parts of two other infantry battalions, four artillery batteries, and two cavalry regiments, numbering about 5,200 men. Committed to holding a line of defense at Olustee Station, he ordered his men to construct a line of hasty emplacements and prepared to meet the expected Union assault.
Colquitt soon chose a good ground to make a stand; with a large lake to his left and a dense swamp just to the right, the railroad tracks and adjoining road ran through a narrow patch of high ground that would be much easier to defend than the usual flat, wide-open terrain of northern Florida. Ironically, although both sides were nearly evenly matched, both commanders believed they were facing a superior force, and neither ordered their cavalry force forward to scout the opposing army.
Learning about the Confederate position at Olustee during the night of February 19, Seymour hastily gave orders for his force to march out and confront it in the morning. Leaving Sanderson and Barber’s Ford about 7 a.m. in road march formation, once again the mounted forces under Henry rapidly pulled ahead of the main body of infantry. There was apparently little or no concern about encountering a major Confederate force anytime soon, as neither flankers nor skirmishers had been deployed, no order to load and prepare the artillery for action had been given, and most of the infantrymen had not yet loaded their guns or otherwise prepared for imminent action. The Union cavalry casually rode down the road at a trot, expecting to simply scatter whatever enemy force they chanced upon, as they had been doing for weeks.
Encountering a small group of Confederate pickets, Henry’s men returned their fire until they broke for the rear. Feeling a bit more prudent, Henry decided to wait a bit until the infantry could catch up with him. About 2 p.m. the vanguard of the Union infantry arrived, led by the 7th Connecticut Infantry, and were immediately ordered up front to probe for the main Confederate line. With the Confederate force still coming into line and Union infantry rapidly marching up the road, contact was not long in coming.
As the 7th Connecticut advanced slowly forward deployed as skirmishers, they came under increasingly heavy but still sporadic fire from Confederate skirmishers falling back. Seymour ordered a “reconnaissance by fire” from one of the cannon just arriving on the field, and the response was swift. As the line of Union infantry broke out of the pinewoods into the railroad track clearing, they discovered a line of heavy entrenchments manned by no fewer than four full infantry regiments (the 6th, 8th, 19th, and 64th Georgia Infantry). Soon under fire from three directions, Seymour ordered the Connecticut men to fall back a few yards to a cleared area next to a small pond.
Within a few minutes, five other Union infantry regiments rushed up into line of battle (the 7th New Hampshire; 8th U.S. Colored Troops; and the 47th, 48th, and 115th New York), while the four Georgia regiments moved out of their entrenchments and deployed into a three-quarter-mile line of battle directly facing the field.
Under intense fire from the Confederate line, one by one the Union infantry retreated farther to the rear, with one notable exception. Well-drilled for dress parade but totally untrained for combat, the 8th Colored Troops were rushed into line of battle with still-unloaded rifles and then deployed and attempted to load and make ready while under intense and accurate fire from the Georgia line. At first the troops wavered and hesitated, threatening to break and run, but soon they loaded up and began to return a steady, if inaccurate, fire. Refusing to be pushed back, the troops ended up losing more than 300 of the 550-man command in the withering Confederate fire.
As the fighting intensified, more units rushed in on both sides. Three more Georgia regiments (the 1st, 23rd, and 32nd Georgia Infantry) deepened and extended the Confederate line while the 6th Florida Infantry Battalion dressed the right of the line, slightly overlapping the Union line and enabling them to pour a galling fire on the now-exposed flank of the Florida men. As the men came into line, Colquitt ordered a general advance on the weakened Union position. As the attack mounted, two more Union infantry regiments (the 54th Massachusetts and the 1st North Carolina Colored) rushed into the growing battle at the double-quick.
As the two lines of battle slammed together, a near-impenetrable volume of fire erupted from the Georgians. Between bullets and mixed grape and canister shot from the handful of Confederate cannon newly arriving on the field, the 115th New York lost 296 officers and men dead, wounded, or missing in action. To their far left, the newly baptized-by-fire 8th Colored Troops had three successive regimental flag bearers shot down, while the fourth lost an arm in the intense fire but held on to the flagstaff and carried it off the field.
Despite the arrival of the two fresh black regiments, the Union line could hold only a few more minutes. By 2:30 p.m. their line was in full retreat, with the 54th Massachusetts and 1st North Carolina Colored Troops slowly pulling back, still dressed in ranks, and keeping up a steady fire to protect their fleeing comrades. The Confederate line surged ahead, fully intending to stay close on the heels of Seymour’s broken command. By 3 p.m. their own charge ended, not by Union resistance but by lack of ammunition for rifles and cannon.
Resupplying from the filled ammunition pouches of the Union dead and some supplies newly moved up by rail, the Confederate line managed to shortly resume pursuit, completely chasing the Union units off the field by dusk. By Sunday night the shattered remnants of all the Union regiments were in or near Jacksonville, having burned both supplies and bridges behind them, while the Confederates seemed contented just to ransack the abandoned Union equipment rather than engage in any serious pursuit.
A map of Pensacola Bay showing topography of the coast, Fort Pickens, the U.S. Navy Yard, and other fortifications
Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer was in charge of a small garrison of Union troops in Fort Barrancas when news of Florida’s secession came in. Quickly consolidating weapons and ammunition in Fort Barrancas, Slemmer ordered his men into the fort, gun batteries to be prepared for action, and drawbridges to be raised. The young Union officer had foreseen that combat was imminent, and he was not going to surrender without a good fight. Just before midnight on January 8, 1861, Union sentries spotted movement outside the fort. Issuing a challenge that went unanswered, the guard force opened fire without drawing blood. These were the first real shots fired in anger of the Civil War; about five hours later the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor began.
Realizing that his small force had no real chance of withstanding a strong land-based attack from the rapidly growing Confederate forces in the area, Slemmer spiked his guns, destroyed powder stores in another nearby small fort, and evacuated his force to Fort Pickens. The next day, seven companies of infantry from Florida and Alabama took over the newly abandoned posts and immediately demanded Slemmer’s surrender.
Color coding indicates the positions of the two sides around Fort Pickens.
The southernmost and largest of the Pensacola Bay fortifications, Fort Pickens was named for American Revolution brigadier general Andrew Pickens of South Carolina. The large masonry fort was originally designed in 1829 as part of an interlocking band of forts around Pensacola Bay. Fort Pickens sat within 200 yards of the ship channel as it existed then and was intended to serve as defense against attacks coming only from seaward.
Completed late in 1834, the fort was a massively complex project, requiring 21.5 million locally made bricks, 26,000 barrels of lime from Maine, large quantities of granite from New York, lead for waterproofing from Illinois, and copper drains from Switzerland. Most of the construction was done by slaves sent from New Orleans, all under the direction of William Henry Chase, area supervisor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The five-sided fort was designed to resist attack from any angle, including close-in infantry attack. Each corner had a bastion with cannon positions arrayed to enable fire right alongside the walls, the walls themselves rose some 40 feet above the surrounding dry moat, and positions were originally included for 200 24- to 32-pound cannon, 20 mortars, and 28 carronade on two levels. This number changed through the years, peaking at a recommendation for 221 guns in 1855, including 42 8-inch and 4 10-inch Columbiads. As a sort of “last-ditch” defense, each bastion had three “mine” chambers filled with explosives, which could be selectively set off to wipe out an occupying force if one should gain control of the structure.
Chase took a liking to the pleasant climate of Pensacola and moved back there after retiring from the army, shortly before the outbreak of hostilities. Following Florida’s secession, Chase was given a commission as a colonel in the Florida army, and his first mission, ironically, was the capture or destruction of the fort he had built.
Having moved his men safely from Fort Barrancas and spiking the guns he could not remove, Slemmer refused a total of three demands for his surrender, believing that the massive fort could safely harbor his small command until reinforcements could be landed. Although reinforcements soon arrived in Pensacola Bay via the U.S. steam sloop of war Brooklyn, high-level politics between outgoing U.S. president James Buchanan and Florida senator Stephen R. Mallory forged an agreement that as long as Fort Pickens was not reinforced, it would not be attacked.
Slemmer had reason to be concerned about the delay in reinforcements. Although the fort had been designed for up to 1,200 soldiers manning well over 200 cannon, he had only 88 soldiers and sailors and 40 cannon in place. While the truce was under way, his men managed to mount another 14 cannon, but the majority of casements remained empty. To add to his headaches, although the fort did have defensive positions all around its perimeter, it had originally been designed to resist a naval push into the bay from the southwest, while simultaneously defending against a land-based push from the east. With the Confederates holding Fort Barrancas to the north and the small Fort McRee to the west, the lighter-built north and west walls, containing two of the three powder magazines, would be most vulnerable.
Eight days after newly elected U.S. president Abraham Lincoln took office, he ordered the Brooklyn to go ahead and land her troops to reinforce Fort Pickens. During the night of April 11, these troops entered the fort without opposition or answer from the surrounding Confederate positions. More troops arrived on April 16 and again landed without opposition on the seaward side of the fort.
After the formal organization of the Confederacy in February 1861, tensions ran very high in Pensacola, although, astonishingly, Slemmer was still permitted to buy food in town and use the local post office without fear of arrest or harassment. A handful of relatively minor raids and skirmishes prevented the Confederates from fully utilizing the deepwater harbor and eventually led to a determination to violently take over Fort Pickens.
On the morning of October 9, 1861, a landing force of just over 1,000 men under command of General Dick Anderson arrived on Santa Rosa Island about 4 miles east of the fort (roughly where the main commercial area today begins) and split into three groups to strike the fort from three sides. Within two hours, the assault force had overrun a small Union picket post but was soon forced to retreat under heavy fire from infantry and artillery. Without getting any closer than a mile from the fort itself, the Confederates sailed back off the island leaving behind 87 dead, wounded, or captured.
This was the only serious attempt to capture Fort Pickens during the war, but it did not go completely unanswered. A few weeks later, on November 22 and 23, 1861, joined by the Union gunboats Niagara and Richmond with their 24- and 32-pound guns, Slemmer ordered a massive bombardment of the Confederate positions. Five thousand outgoing shells badly damaged and silenced Fort McRee, destroyed most of the small village of Warrington and the Pensacola Navy Yard, and did some relatively minor damage to Fort Barrancas. The Confederates managed to return fire, lobbing some 1,000 shells at Fort Pickens and the gunboats, without serious effect on either.
A second bombardment on January 1 and 2, 1862, succeeded in exploding Fort McRee’s powder magazine, rendering the post useless, and raked what was left of the Navy Yard with shot and shell. Fort Barrancas’s defenders managed to return an intermittent fire toward Fort Pickens, again without effect.
While Slemmer and his command had absolute control over the entrance to the harbor and the immediate shoreline, their now-reinforced garrison was far too weak to assault the Confederate positions overland. A Union invasion of west and central Tennessee a few weeks later proved the deciding factor, however, with the subsequent withdrawal of more than 8,000 Confederate troops from Pensacola to fight with the Army of Tennessee. A small garrison remained behind, but when U.S. Navy commander David Farragut’s fleet anchored just outside Mobile Bay on May 7, 1862, about 40 miles to the west, the remaining Confederates pulled out to help Mobile’s defense, burning most of the military installations and supplies left behind.
Pensacola was formally surrendered by mayor Dr. John Brosnaham to Lieutenant Richard Jackson on the morning of May 10, 1862. For the remainder of the war the port city remained in Union control and was used primarily as a staging base for small raids into southern Alabama and western Florida.
Weather experts say that hurricane seasons peak and ebb in relative strengths and numbers of major hurricanes, and that the East and Gulf Coasts can expect high levels of both in years to come. It is strongly suggested that you call just before your trip to make sure that the roads are passable and that your hotel is open, and it pays to monitor weather conditions during the hurricane season (roughly June through Nov, peaking in late Aug and Sept).
Fernandina is an easy drive from I-95—get off on exit 373 (SR A1A) just south of the Georgia state line and travel east about 10 miles. Both the historic district and Fort Clinch are just off SR A1A a few miles farther. Turn left on Centre Street to go to the district and left into the fort; park just before SR A1A reaches the beaches. Be sure to watch carefully for the turn, as the signs are parallel to the road and nearly hidden in the thick vegetation.
After the Civil War, this forlorn outpost was relegated to “caretaker” status, meaning that while no troops garrisoned it, and no upkeep or maintenance was done, the army intended to still claim it as insurance against a future crisis. That emergency did not come until the early spring of 1898, when the post was activated for service in the Spanish-American War. Abandoned again in September of that same year, the still-unfinished fort lay dormant for another 43 years until activated one last time for use as a watch station in World War II. Today Fort Clinch still stands as the centerpiece of 1,121-acre Fort Clinch State Park, a narrow peninsula with more than 2 miles of shoreline on the Atlantic Ocean and Cumberland Sound.
Fort Clinch State Park
2601 Atlantic Ave.
Fernandina Beach, FL
(904) 277-7274
www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinch
The still-unfinished fort is in a remarkable state of preservation, considering that wind, tide, and storms have been battering its earthen walls for more than 150 years. A small, tidy museum with a small number of well-presented artifacts begins your tour, and be sure to purchase your admission tickets in the gift shop before heading outside; rangers do occasionally check for receipts, as it is relatively easy to just walk in from the beach side. Make sure to ask for the pamphlet. “History of Fort Clinch,” which gives a good capsule history and map of the fortifications.
The brick museum, constructed in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, is open every day. There is also a new visitor center/gift shop that sells souvenirs and books on the Civil War and Florida’s natural and cultural history; an unusual collection of educational videotapes; and a large assortment of patterns for historic dress.
A short path leads from the museum to the main gate of the fort, just through a tall earthwork glacis and across a narrow drawbridge. Inside are several brick buildings containing replica period furnishings, and occasional outlines of foundation stones reveal what portions were never completed. Atop the earthwork rampart are several large replica artillery pieces, 10-inch Rodman Columbiads, which were capable of firing a 128-pound shot well over 5,500 yards at full charge.
These replicas cannot be fired, as the gun tubes are actually made of concrete, not iron. Also on top are mounts for several 15-inch Rodmans, for which there is no record of ever actually being mounted before the post was abandoned. Just outside the glacis next to the entrance path is an actual 15-inch Rodman, the only period piece at the fort.
Forts of this type had a multilayered array of artillery, with the large Columbiads upstairs typical of those used for long-range defense. Smaller pieces would have been mounted in the downstairs curtain wall for close-in defense, and different shot charges would be on hand to handle tasks from setting ships afire to wrecking sails and rigging to stopping close-in charging infantry.
The first full weekend of every month features an extensive living-history program of a typical day in the lives of a Union garrison. First Weekend Union Garrisons take place on Sat and Sun. Don’t talk to these folks about anything post– Civil War, as they are quite realistically “in character” and will simply stare at you. A full-garrison encampment of Union troops is held one weekend in May, and a full-Confederate encampment is held the last full weekend in Oct.
All of these encampments show quite effectively how the typical soldier lived and worked. Artillery crews are usually on hand at these times and demonstrate the firing of a replica 3-inch ordnance rifle. Candlelight tours of the post are scheduled periodically, usually the first Sat evening of the month, with the exception of Dec; check with the visitor center for dates and details.
The surrounding state park is very interesting and enjoyable in its own right, featuring shelling, hiking trails, beaches, very nice bicycle paths, and picnicking and camping sites. Nature trails wind through a coastal hammock, where a wide variety of wildlife from egrets to alligators thrives. Call ahead for prices, hours, and closures.
AIFBY Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center
961687 Gateway Blvd., Suite 101 G
(at SR A1A and Amelia Island Railway)
Amelia Island, FL
(904) 261-3248
www.aifby.com
For a complete list of local businesses, contact the friendly people at the Amelia Island-Fernandina Beach-Yulee Chamber of Commerce, housed in the old railroad station at the end of the “main drag” near the shrimp-boat docks.
Two Web sites give a good overview of businesses and attractions: Amelia Now at www.amelianow.com and Amelia Island Destinations at www.ameliaisland.com.
Amelia Island Museum of History
233 S. Third St.
Fernandina Beach, FL
(904) 261-7378
www.ameliamuseum.org
“Florida’s Only Oral History Museum” is an exceptional experience. The museum covers the history of the local area from the time of Timucuan Indians through the French, Spanish, English, and American periods, climaxing with Amelia Island’s “golden age” in the late 19th century. Walking and docentled tours are scheduled regularly each day. A guided Eight Flags Tour of various sites is scheduled each day too. A popular Ghost Walking Tour meets at St. Peter’s Episopal Church, 801 Atlantic Ave., every Fri. Ghost Walks last for one hour. Tickets may be purchased online. Special tours for groups of four or more are available as well. The museum offers a well-stocked research facility containing local publications and documents on the second floor.
Fort Caroline National Monument
12713 Fort Caroline Rd.
Jacksonville, FL
(904) 641-7155
www.nps.gov/foca
The largest city in the United States (in area if not in population) has its own Civil War history, unfortunately nearly completely obscured by urban sprawl. Taken and occupied a total of four times during the war by Union troops, both sides recognized that Jacksonville represented both a valuable protected port and a gateway into the northeastern interior of the state.
Fort Caroline is a rare reminder of the past here, consisting of a two-thirds-scale reconstruction of a fort built by French Huguenots in 1562, approximately at this site. Somewhere along the river bluffs nearby stood a reinforced Confederate artillery battery under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles F. Hopkins; the exact location could not be precisely located by any source we consulted.
On September 30, 1862, 1,500 troops under the command of Brigadier General John M. Brannon departed Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, with orders to challenge this battery and other Confederate defenses and to free the approach to Jacksonville on the St. Johns River. On October 1, now joined by six naval gunboats led by Commander Charles Steedman, Brannon’s men began disembarking at Mayport Mills, about 5 miles to the rear of the Confederate emplacement. As the Union infantry approached overland and the gunboats sailed downriver to catch him in a two-pronged assault, Hopkins abandoned his position as untenable. This battery never came under fire or fired its guns in combat.
Fort Caroline itself is an interesting park, with a large area of pristine wilderness along the river, shell mounds left by the original inhabitants, a small but nice visitor center with videos and publications on area wildlife, and guided tours of the fort and nature preserve on Saturday. Admission is free. Pets are allowed in outdoor areas as long as they are on a 6-foot leash. The park service recommends calling or visiting the Web site before visiting as closures from flooding or construction can occur at any time.
Kingsley Plantation
11676 Palmetto Ave.
Jacksonsville, FL
(904) 251-3537
www.nps.gov/timu/historyculture/kp.htm
Just south of Amelia Island, on Fort King George Island north of the Mayport ferry dock, stands one of the oldest antebellum structures in the state. The plantation house is currently closed for structural work, but visitors can explore the grounds, which include the kitchen house, barn, slave quarters, waterfront, and part of one of the original gardens.
Zephaniah Kingsley purchased and began construction of the large plantation in 1814, which still exists today in nearly unchanged form. While not specifically related to the war, the exhibits and ranger-guided tours give an unblinking view of what life was really like on Southern plantations; it rarely resembled Tara of Gone with the Wind fame.
Slave quarters are tiny and resemble jail cells more than residences—mute testimony to the plantation owner’s treatment of those who toiled in his cotton, sugarcane, and cornfields. Twenty-three of these cabins remain.
Kingsley Plantation is owned and operated by the National Park Service. A tour includes the kitchen house, barn, and the ruins of 25 of the original slave cabins. A bookstore is located at the visitor center. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. NOTE: Some historic buildings may be closed occasionally for ongoing structural work, but the park and grounds will remain open daily. Call ahead for more information.
Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach is a decidedly unusual mixture of upscale vacation destinations with overtones of shrimping, timber, and paper-mill industries. Two very high-end resorts grace the south end of the island: the Ritz-Carlton Resort and the Amelia Island Plantation. Several very nice bed-and-breakfast inns dot the old town, and there is ample boutique shopping available for long-suffering “Civil War widows.”
| Amelia Hotel at the Beach | $$$ |
1997 S. Fletcher Ave.
Amelia Island, FL
(904) 206-5200
This family-owned, ocean-view hotel is great for family or business travelers. The rates are reasonable for the location and all rooms have a mini-fridge and microwave and complimentary HBO and Wi-Fi access. Rooms are luxurious and spacious. The hotel is close to the historic downtown.
| Ritz-Carlton Resort–Amelia Island | $$$$ |
4750 Amelia Island Pkwy.
Amelia Island, FL
(904) 277-1100
(800) 241-3333
This Ritz-Carlton has everything you could possibly want in a resort, and then some. Each of the 444 rooms and suites has its own private balcony; twice each day the rooms are cleaned and primped; there is 24-hour room service, 1½ miles of exclusive beachfront, and the overall quality of impeccable service that is a Ritz-Carlton trait.
Four restaurants on the premises serve nearly anything you desire, from afternoon tea to cocktails and cigars to macrobiotic cuisine to multicourse gourmet meals. To work off all this, there are nine tennis courts, an 18-hole golf course, a well-appointed fitness center with steam and sauna, an indoor lap pool and whirlpool, an outdoor pool and whirlpool, and our personal favorites, plush terry robes and really comfortable chairs.
| Brett’s Waterway Cafe | $$–$$$ |
Fernandina Harbor Marina
1 S. Front St.
Fernandina Beach
Amelia Island, FL
(904) 261-2660
This dockside restaurant is surprisingly upscale, given the sometimes grubby shrimp-boat dock alongside. Just across the railroad tracks from the visitor center at the very end of Centre Street, Brett’s offers a good selection of fresh Florida seafood, steaks, chicken, and an interesting assortment of specials.
The food here is very good, the prices (for this area) are quite reasonable, and the waitstaff is attentive and friendly, but the overall atmosphere is dampened a bit by some frosty greetings we witnessed and received. Be forewarned: They are quite serious about “casual resort wear” being expected of patrons. Reservations are accepted for parties of six or more.
St. Augustine is in northeastern Florida, about 35 miles south of Jacksonville and 10 miles east of I-95. The easiest route into the historic part of town is via FL 16 off I-95 (exit 318); go east about 11 miles to where FL 16 ends at San Marco Avenue (not US 1), turn right, and the old city gate is about a mile down the road. For a more scenic route, take SR A1A down from Amelia Island; it is a long trip but well worth it for the view and salt air. Be careful not to miss the sharp turn into the parking lot at the Mayport Ferry, where SR A1A goes over the water, or you’ll end up in one of the most confusing urban interstate highway tangles we have ever seen.
St. Augustine has regained its prewar reputation as a premier tourist attraction with a vengeance; on warm summer afternoons it can be hard to get through the throngs on St. George Street and San Marco Avenue. This is an incredibly pleasant place and one of our favorite destinations, even if its very real and important Civil War history is downplayed in favor of the rather longer Spanish era. Most sights and attractions are within walking distance of one another in the downtown area, which is bisected by the pedestrian-only St. George Street.
The historic zone roughly outlines the Civil War– era city limits, running from the old city gate on Orange Street, across from the old Spanish fort, east to the Matanzas Bay seawall, south to St. Francis Street, and west to the San Sebastian River. Most modern shops and conveniences are just to the west of this area, running north and south along US 1. Just south and east on SR A1A over the Bridge of Lions (named for the two white marble lion statues guarding the prominent 1926 Mediterranean Revival–style drawbridge over Matanzas Bay) are Anastasia Island and St. Augustine Beach, one of the cleanest, nicest, and least-crowded beach towns in all Florida.
Contact the St. Augustine Visitor Information Center before you travel and ask them to send you their large packet of information on local attractions, restaurants, motels, shops, and events (904-825-1000). As soon as you arrive in town, go by the center at 10 Castillo Dr., across the street from the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum and just up the street from the Castillo de San Marcos. This is one of the best-put-together visitor centers we’ve seen, with a nicely designed building, small museum, film on the history of the city, gift shop, and literally thousands of booklets, brochures, and maps free for the asking. Behind the center is a large parking lot that is relatively easy to get into and out of.
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
1 S. Castillo Dr., SR A1A and US 1
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 829-6506
www.nps.gov/casa
Old Fort Marion, relabeled with its Spanish-era name in 1942, is the oldest masonry fort in the United States and the only 17th-century fort still standing in the United States. Replacing nine previous wooden forts dating back to 1565, construction of the large structure began in 1672 and took 27 years to complete. The Castillo is primarily made of an unusual material called coquina, a type of masonry block consisting of a compressed mixture of oyster shells and lime.
There are remnants of nearly every era of the fort’s history still visible, and a large number of actual Spanish-era cannon are mounted on the upstairs gun deck. In front of the seawall, next to the ravelin (main entrance) are a number of Florida Territory–era (circa 1842) cannon laid on the ground. Original powder magazines and storerooms under the gun deck have been converted to small museums detailing nearly every aspect of the more-than-300-year-old fort.
Operated by the National Park Service, the fort is open for “wandering,” four ranger presentations per day, frequent cannon-firing demonstrations, and self-guided tours every hour starting at 10 a.m. A video is shown every hour in the visitor center. It is 25 minutes long and features cannon-and musket-firing sequences as well as an outline of the Castillo’s complex history.
Fort Matanzas National Monument
8635 SR A1A South
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 471-0116
www.nps.gov/foma
Although this 250-year-old structure lacks any Civil War connection, it is still well worth a visit. Fourteen miles south of St. Augustine on SR A1A, the small coquina structure was built to protect the southern approaches of the city at Matanzas Inlet. An unusual feature of the small park is that you must ride across the Matanzas River on a (free) ferry to tour the fort itself. The ferry to the fort leaves the visitor center dock, weather and water conditions permitting, every hour at half past the hour, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The ferry is first come, first served.
Never used in full-scale combat, the fort is tower-shaped, with a second-floor gun deck containing two original artillery pieces, restored barracks room, and a third-story officers quarters.
A small visitor center contains a handful of artifacts, some good maps and brochures, a short film on the fort’s history, and exceptionally friendly rangers. The park is administered by the National Park Service. Admission is free.
Gonzales-Alvarez House
(also called the Oldest House)
14 St. Francis St.
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 824-2872
www.oldesthouse.com
This structure claims, with some justification, to be the oldest house in America, dating from the early 17th century and continuously occupied ever since. The house was a noted tourist attraction even in Civil War times, and there are several documents from the era that complain of Union soldiers damaging the house by picking off pieces of wood and coquina—a masonry block made of oyster shells and lime—as souvenirs. The complex includes Florida’s oldest house, two museums, a changing exhibition gallery, an ornamental garden, and a store. Ticket purchases are good for entry to all facilities.
Government House Museum
48 King St.
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 825-5079
www.staugustinegovernment.com
A museum covering almost exclusively the early Spanish and British history of the area, this house was used as the U.S. Provost Guard House during the Union occupation, and the exterior is nearly unchanged in appearance from that time.
St. Augustine is also well blessed with an abundance of decent chain and privately owned motels and bed-and-breakfast establishments. Most of the chain motels are clustered around the Old Town section on both San Marcos Avenue and US 1 just west of the main part of town; a few others are located on St. Augustine Beach. Please note that nearly every establishment charges extremely high rates during “special events,” which are not confined to those taking place in St. Augustine itself. Daytona Beach, 60 miles to the south, hosts a series of racing and motorcycle events for several weeks in February and early March each year; unless you are attending these events, we strongly suggest you pick another time to visit this area. We can recommend the following independent establishment.
| Inns of Elegance | $$$ |
St. Augustine, FL
Choose from this collection of five romantic bed-and-breakfast inns that are located in the heart of the historic district of St. Augustine. They all have a certain standard to follow and each has a history unto itself. Choose from St. Francis Inn, Bayfront Wescott House, Inn on Charlotte Street, Bayfront Marin House, or the supposedly haunted Casablanca Inn.
| Beachcomber Restaurant | $–$$ |
2 “A” St.
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 471-3744
This is hands-down our favorite place for breakfast. Perched on a small dune literally on the beach, Beachcomber features a large open deck that hangs out over the sand, where you have salt water, sun, and surfers along with your bacon and eggs. There is a large U-shaped bar as well as tables for those who don’t care for alfresco dining. Diners are advised to watch the weather as the indoor seating is very limited. Open now for more than 50 years, Beachcomber offers the standard American breakfast menu and features fresh seafood, fried shrimp, oysters, burgers, and bar-type finger food the rest of the day. A nice selection of domestic and imported beers and wines helps make their deck a popular “locals” attraction in the evenings.
Beachcomber is hidden away in a largely residential beachfront neighborhood and a bit difficult to find. Travel down SR A1A and carefully watch the cross-street signs, which go down in number from north to south. “A” Street is just past First Street, behind the A Street Surf Shop and Sharkey’s Shrimp Shack.
| Bistro de Leon | $$–$$$ |
12 Cathedral Place
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 810-2100
The three-course lunch is the best way to enjoy the fare from restaurateur Jean-Stephane Poinard, a fifth-generation chef. This cozy cafe makes diners think they are sitting in a cozy French town such as Lyon. Everything is homemade, including the bread, the pastries, and the ice cream.
| Kingfish Grill | $$ |
252 Yacht Club Dr.
St. Augustine, FL
(904) 824-2111
Located on the docks of Camachee Cove Marina, this waterfront dining restaurant takes you on a global culinary adventure for lunch or dinner. They offer everything from fine seafood to casual cuisine.
Olustee has returned to its prewar status as a sleepy roadside settlement, though the local major industry is staffing two large nearby state prisons instead of farming cotton. The battlefield itself is in a state of remarkably good preservation, kept up primarily for the annual reenactment that takes place every February, and a Civil War Expo is planned each year in late summer. A mile-long trail has interpretive signs describing the events of the battle. To the rear of the center is a large, striking monument to the Confederate victory at Olustee, flanked by two cannon and two historic markers. There is a small museum, a walking trail, and a picnic area. Admission to the park and all facilities is free.
Natural Bridge Battlefield State Historic Park
7502 Natural Bridge Rd.
Tallahassee, FL
(850) 922-6007
www.floridastateparks.org/naturalbridge
Both the place of the second-largest battle in Florida and the site of the “last gasp” of the Confederacy, Natural Bridge today is a tiny park 15 miles southeast of Tallahassee, about 120 miles west of Olustee.
In early 1865 Tallahassee was the last unoccupied state capital in the Western Theater and a tempting target for overly confident Major General John Newton of the Union Army. From his poorly made topographic maps of the area, Newton convinced himself that it would be a relatively easy task to sail from his base at Key West to the mouth of the St. Marks River, march quickly overland, and take the capital by surprise.
Joined in his quest by navy commander William Gibson, their flotilla sailed up from the Keys, landing in Apalachee Bay on March 3, 1865. That same day 300 sailors and marines stormed ashore and captured the East River Bridge 4 miles up the St. Marks River and prepared to advance their gunboats upriver toward the Confederate-held capital. Meanwhile, Newton’s infantry had landed and was rapidly advancing overland toward Tallahassee.
As Newton attempted to sail upriver the next morning, all his boats ran aground in the shallow, sand-choked water. He was observed by townspeople nearby, and a message was sent to the capital warning of the assault force. A hastily assembled force under Lieutenant Colonel George Scott headed toward the only place to cross the St. Marks River without getting wet, at Natural Bridge, a natural phenomenon where the river runs underground for a short distance.
Scott’s force could most charitably be called eccentric. The fewer than 700 men represented recuperating wounded veterans, local militia, home guards, and civilian volunteers from the surrounding counties. From Quincy came a group of some elderly men called the Gadsden Grays, mostly made up of veterans of the Seminole Wars. Rounding out the command were 24 teenagers from West Florida Seminary, ages 14 to 18, each going off to battle with a note of permission from his mother.
Unaware of Gibson’s problems downstream and still expecting his gunboats for support, Newton moved rapidly overland toward the river crossing. The 700 men of the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored Infantry Regiments closed in on the area just before dawn, apparently unaware of any hostile force ahead. Scott’s force had arrived just a few hours before, hastily throwing up earth and log breastworks in a crescent shape on the west bank of the natural bridge.
As dawn peeked through the piney woods on March 6, the Union advance guard made contact. A well-aimed volley of fire from the Confederate works both opened the battle and threw the Union infantry back temporarily. All through the rest of the day, the Union tried to crack the Confederate line with a series of both major assaults across the narrow bridge and flanking movements through the surrounding swamplands. All attempts to dislodge the irregular defenders failed, and by nightfall Newton ordered a hurried retreat back to the still-grounded gunboats several miles to the south.
Today, there is only a tiny park with one set of three memorials and two sets of reproduced log breastworks to mark the site of the small but significant battle. An interpretive marker explains the setting of the battle.
To access the site, take I-10 west from Olustee/Lake City to exit 203, turn right on SR 61 and then almost immediately right again onto US 319/Capital Circle Road, and go south about 10 miles to SR 363/Woodville Highway. Travel south about 15 miles to Woodville, and turn left just past the elementary school onto Natural Bridge Road (also called CR 2192). The park is about 6 miles down this very lightly traveled country road. Park hours are 8 a.m. to sunset. Admission goes in an honor box.
Olustee Battlefield State Historic Site
P.O. Box 40
Olustee, FL
(386) 758-0400
www.floridastateparks.org/olusteebattlefield
The Olustee Battlefield is about 45 miles west of Jacksonville and 15 miles east of Lake City in a partially cleared area just north of the railroad tracks. Easy access is via US 90 that runs between Lake City and I-10 just east (and north) of the battlefield. The tiny village of Olustee is about 2 miles west of the battlefield. The occasionally used alternative name for this conflict, Ocean Pond, refers to a fair-size round pond just west of the battlefield.
There are no amenities at Olustee itself, but just about anything you need can be obtained 15 miles west in Lake City. This is a major stopping-off point for the large numbers of tourists headed for Disney World (150 miles to the southeast), so nearly every chain restaurant and motel has a presence here. However, the sheer numbers of tourists passing through tend to fill up the available rooms and seats rapidly, so we would advise you to plan your travel through here during nonpeak seasons (Jan through Apr, except during spring break season, or the fall until just before Christmas). The majority of motels and restaurants can be found on the western side of town, straddling the intersection with I-75.
Pensacola lies at the extreme western end of the Florida panhandle, accessible by I-10 from either Tallahassee or Mobile, Alabama. Most of the sites of interest are situated directly adjacent to Pensacola Bay, which lies at the south and east side of town. The easiest, if not the most direct route, is via I-10 South at exit 12. The major attractions are fairly well marked; to go to Fort Pickens, stay on I-10 until the end (where it becomes US 98 and later SR 399), and follow the signs to Pensacola Beach, finally turning right on Fort Pickens Road. Although there is really only one east-west road on the narrow beach area, the turn is in the middle of a built-up beach town area and is easily missed (it is just beyond the Tourist Information office).
The other significant sites are within Pensacola Naval Air Station. Take SR 295 West off I-110, and travel about 7 miles until you reach the main gate. This route is called Fairfield Drive, Warrington Road, and Navy Boulevard at various times along its length.
Fort Barrancas and Fort Pickens were used for a variety of purposes until the end of World War II. But their only real claim to fame in these later years was that Geronimo and 14 other Apaches were confined at Fort Pickens from October 1886 to May 1888, when they were moved to another post in Alabama. These Native Americans sparked the first tourist boom in the area. Hundreds of sightseers crossed the bay by boat to see the famous Apache chief, and the garrison was briefly reinforced to protect the public from these “dangerous” prisoners.
At the end of the 19th century, during the Spanish-American War era, Fort Pickens was reinforced with modern gun emplacements both inside and alongside the old brick walls. Abandoned again just after the turn of the 20th century, these emplacements saw their last military service as observation and coastal defense stations during WWII.
Fort McRee guarded the western end of the entrance to Pensacola Bay, on the eastern tip of Perdido Key. It was of a very unusual design, resembling a long, slightly bent aircraft wing with rounded ends, possibly the only one of this design ever built. Walls 35 feet high, 150 feet wide, and 450 feet long faced the ship channel, with mounts for 128 cannon in two tiers. The entire fort was surrounded by a dry moat 60 feet wide with a 3-foot glacis just outside it. The fort was originally planned to hold up to 500 soldiers. Construction began in 1840 and took three years to complete, using some 15 million bricks in the process. Unfortunately, no trace of this post remains. Having been battered by wind and wave for many years, the old walls finally crumbled away in the hurricane of 1906.
Today Fort McRee is completely gone, lacking even a historic marker to indicate where it stood, but Forts Pickens and Barrancas were restored and opened for touring by the National Park Service. Fort Pickens, however, sustained a lot of damage from hurricanes Ivan, Dennis, and Katrina. Hours vary by season. Self-guided tours are available during the week and ranger-guided tours on the weekend. Just inside the main fort entrance is the visitor center. In the clump of green-and-white buildings near the fishing pier, you’ll find the Fort Pickens Museum (same hours as the fort) and the Fort Pickens Auditorium, which shows a movie or provides some kind of program on the fort, island, weather, local history, marine life, or the like at scheduled times during the year. There is an entry fee to the fort, which is valid for only seven days. The old fort is easy to locate: Go west on the only east-west road on Pensacola Beach, Fort Pickens Road, about 8 miles west of its intersection with SR 399/Pensacola Beach Road.
Fort Pickens (www.nps.gov/guis/planyourvisit/fort-pickens.htm; 850-934-2600), part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, lies at the far end of a rather sizable National Park Service natural preservation area, about a 4-mile drive from the commercial zone of Pensacola Beach. This area was used for defensive fortifications from 1829 until the mid-1940s and still houses a number of fortification emplacements, batteries, and command and control bunkers dating from different war eras during these years. Fort Pickens itself is a low-ranging, two-story masonry fort oriented northeast-southwest; a number of WWII–era buildings used by the Park Service are arrayed on the Pensacola Bay side. Call (850) 934-2600 for hours and guided tour times. Outside the visitor center, a ranger does a program on artillery.
The 65 acres surrounding the forts contain oak and pine forests, a picnic area, and a nature trail. Fort Barrancas is on the grounds of Pensacola Naval Air Station and is free to the public. The fort was constructed between 1829 and 1859, along with three other masonry forts surrounding Pensacola Bay. This large masonry and earthwork post stands on the site occupied by two previous forts, built by the English and Spanish beginning in 1763. The name is a reflection of this heritage, recalling the original post title of San Carlos de Barrancas. Six million bricks are in the surprisingly small structure, built primarily by slave labor contracted from New Orleans. The 300- by 330-foot structure contained mounts for 8 large howitzers and 33 smaller artillery pieces, but on the eve of hostilities in 1861 it actually contained 13 8-inch Columbiads, 2 10-inch mortars, and 24 smaller cannon. Hours vary by season. Fort tours last for 45 minutes. Visitors interested in the tour should meet at the fort at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. A 12-minute video about Fort Barrancas is shown daily.
Tribute to a Major General
′Tis old Stonewall the Rebel that leans on his sword,
And while we are mounting prays low to the Lord:
“Now each cavalier that loves honor and right,
Let him follow the feather of Stuart tonight.”
CHORUS: Come tighten your girth and slacken your rein;
Come buckle your blanket and holster again;
Try the click of your trigger and balance your blade,
For he must ride sure that goes riding a raid.
Now gallop, now gallop to swim or to ford!
Old Stonewall, still watching, prays low to the Lord:
“Good-bye, dear old Rebel! The river’s not wide,
And Maryland’s lights in her window to guide.” (CHORUS)
There’s a man in the White House with blood on his mouth!
If there’s knaves in the North, there are braves in the South.
We are three thousand horses, and not one afraid;
We are three thousand sabres and not a dull blade. (CHORUS)
Then gallop, then gallop by ravines and rock!
Who would bar us the way take his toll in hard knocks;
For with these points of steel, on the line of the Penn
We have made some fine strokes—and we’ll make ’em again. (CHORUS)
—A tribute song to Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart of the Confederate Army, sung to the tune of the old Scottish air, “Bonnie Dundee.”
Civil War Soldiers Museum
108 S. Palafox Place
Pensacola, FL
(850) 469-1900
www.cwmuseum.org
This gem of a museum is a perfect example of why you should not judge a museum by its entrance. What looks like a fairly unassuming storefront in the Pensacola historic district opens up to reveal a wonderfully presented, 4,200-square-foot facility with professional-quality displays and mountings. Based around the extensive collection of local gastroenterologist Dr. Norman W. Haines Jr., the collection (naturally) has a distinct leaning toward the rarely seen medical aspects of the war.
The museum chronicles every facet of the war to one degree or another, with a special emphasis on letters, diaries, quotes, and photographs to bring a human element to the four years of suffering. The whole period of struggle is documented by paintings, photos, and artifacts from John Brown and Frederick Douglass to the last Civil War veteran. The Pensacola Room records the significant people and events of the immediate area and includes a 23-minute video presentation, Pensacola and the Civil War.
One side of the two-room display is devoted entirely to medical equipment and procedures—primitive surgical equipment, early attempts at field anesthesia (including a minié ball with teeth marks!), amputations, and many photographs of the results.
Although relatively small, this fine museum is well worth a few hours’ visit and includes a small bookstore, which (thankfully!) avoids the usual tacky “Rebel” souvenirs in favor of quite a nice selection of more than 700 related titles. We admit we have a weakness for locally produced history books and pamphlets, and this bookstore had a very nice selection. We cannot emphasize enough how highly we recommend this small museum; it is in itself worth a trip to Pensacola.
Pensacola Convention and Visitor Information Center
1401 E. Gregory St.
Pensacola, FL
(850) 434-1234
(800) 874-1234
www.visitpensacola.com
This very nicely laid-out and managed visitor center at the base of Pensacola Bay Bridge (on the mainland side) should be your first stop. The staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful, and there are literally thousands of maps, flyers, newspapers, and brochures on area attractions, amenities, and services.
| Holiday Inn Express Pensacola Beach | $$$–$$$$ |
333 Fort Pickens Rd.
Pensacola, FL
(850) 932-3536
(888) 465-4329
Formerly the Dunes, this Gulf-front hotel offers a free hot breakfast daily, clean rooms, a health/fitness center and an outdoor pool, and free high-speed Internet access.
The Pensacola area is always popular with visitors, but mainly during the summer months when school is out. If you plan on visiting the area during that time, make reservations well in advance. Don’t just limit yourself to Pensacola proper. Fort Walton and Santa Rosa Island, as well as Destin, are all within driving distance and offer numerous lodging and dining choices. For more information see www.visitpensacola.com.
| McGuire’s Irish Pub | $$–$$$ |
600 E. Gregory St.
Pensacola, FL
(850) 433-6789
This award-winning restaurant, established in 1977, serves steak, seafood, burgers, and Irish food. They serve generous portions in a fun atmosphere. Ales, porters, and stouts are brewed on the premises in their traditional oak and copper brewery. Enjoy live Irish entertainment while you eat. McGuire’s is open seven days a week. Lunch and dinner are served and a kids menu is available.