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PO BOX 1909
POST FALLS, ID 83877
Civil War Florida Secession Flag
In many respects, Florida remains the forgotten state of the Confederacy. Although the third state to secede, Florida's small population and meager industrial resources made the state of little strategic importance to either side. However Florida's 13000 mile coastline proved invaluable for the production of salt, made by boiling sea water in large kettles or evaporating it in man-made tidal pools. Florida also became an important source of beef cattle for feeding the Confederate troops. The railroad which ran north from central Florida and connected with routes east and west in Atlanta provided a steady supply of food. Even before the firing on Fort Sumter, volunteer companies organized throughout the state. Many of these "minute man" units became the nucleus for companies that later entered Confederate service. During his last months in office Governor Madison Starke Perry, whose single term was to expire in the fall of 1861 and who would later command the 7th Florida Infantry, strove to organize and equip Florida's troops. During this period he made several trips out of state to obtain weapons and accoutrements. Perry was criticized, however, for his decision to allow state militiamen to volunteer into Confederate service as individuals rather than by units. John Milton, who won election in the fall of 1860, became governor the following October. Described by one biographer as "a loyal Confederate," Milton labored to rebuild the state militia and also worked to improve the defenses of the Apalachicola River and of Fort Clinch on Amelia Island. By the summer of 1862 Florida had raised, equipped, and sent out of state the 1st through 8th regiments of infantry, the 1st Florida Calvary Regiment, and various smaller commands. The only forces remaining in the state were a variety of independent companies, several infantry battalions, and the newly-organized 2nd Florida Cavalry Regiment. The largest battle in Florida during the war took place February 20, 1864 at Olustee. The battle followed the fourth and final Union occupation of Jacksonville, which had occurred on February 7. Launched primarily to reinstitute a loyal state government under the terms of President Lincolns Reconstruction Proclamation, the Federal troops also hoped to interdict Confederate supply operations in the state, to open the port of Jacksonville for northern commerce, and to recruit troops for union black regiments. About twelve miles east of Lake City they met a Confederate force of similar size, commanded by Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, situated near the railroad depot of Olustee and a body of water known as Ocean Pond. In the days following the original Union landing, Finegan had consolidated the few troops still in Florida and had obtained additional manpower from Georgia and South Carolina. After sharp fighting lasting four to six hours the Federals retreated. Union losses totaled more that 1,800 killed, wounded, and missing. Confederate losses were roughly half that number. For the Federals, the casualty percentage at Olustee was one of the highest of the entire war.
As Southern militias gathered in Pensacola during the first weeks of the siege of Fort Pickens, Florida, as one of the early seceding states, sent delegates to the constitutional convention that assembled on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, Alabama, to establish the Confederate States of America. The convention produced a provisional constitution and government headed by Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president and Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia as vice president. On March 11 the convention made the constitution permanent and the provisional government, which relocated to Richmond after Virginia seceded, dissolved within a year. Davis and Stephens, who were reelected to their offices in November 1861, were inaugurated as the chief executives of the permanent Confederate government on February 22, 1862. Florida participated in all of these political developments. On February 26, 1861, the secession convention in Tallahassee approved the passage of the provisional Confederate constitution and ratified the final version on April 13. The convention also endorsed the ticket of Davis and Stephens as the Confederacy’s chief executive officers and revised Florida's constitution to recognize Florida's membership in the Confederate States. By the end of 1861, some 5,000 Floridians had joined the military forces of the Confederate States. The last significant battle of the war in Florida came in March 1865, when a Union force landed on the Gulf and threatened Tallahassee. After landing near St. Marks on March 4, 1865, Brigadier General John Newton and some 600 Union troops marched to the town of Newport with the intention of crossing the St. Marks River and attacking the port of St. Marks and its Confederate-held fort from the rear. Confederate forces in the area destroyed the bridge at Newport which prevented a Union crossing of the St. Marks at that point. The next day, General Newton and his force marched to Natural Bridge, where they hoped to cross the river and proceed to St. Marks. On the morning of March 6, Newton tried to move across the St. Marks at Natural Bridge, but a Confederate force positioned on the opposite bank blocked his crossing. The Confederates, commanded by Brigadier General William Miller, consisted of a motley collection of regulars, militia, and a company of cadets from the West Florida Seminary—one of two state military academies in Florida (the East Florida Seminary was in Gainesville)—in Tallahassee, which was about twelve miles north of Natural Bridge. Miller’s Confederates prevented several Union attempts to flank their position. Unable to dislodge the Confederates, Newton withdrew from Natural Bridge and retreated to the coast, where the Federal flotilla evacuated his force.
Baldwin, Florida was of great importance to the Federal Government near the end of the war Between the States. The legislature in 1862 passed a law allowing the circut court of Duval County to be held here for the reason that the county seat was in the hands of the Union forces. Supplies and equipment belonging to the confederacy were stored and shipped in Baldwin until August 15, 1864. At that time all of the town was burned to the ground by the Union soldiers. Only one month before, the troops had entered the city to destroy communication and transportation. Virtually the fallen South lay prostrated at the victors feet. Baldwin bore its share of sorrow and misfortune. During the period from 1865 to 1875 the area began to rebuild and finally all of the war damage was repaired. In 1885, there were two churches,(Baptist & Methodist) several stores, a telegraph, an express and a post office. At that time Baldwin had a population of 250 residents. After many years of pulling itself, by its own bootstraps, a new and better Baldwin had arisen from the ashes of old. The town was incorporated by the act of Legislature and approved by Governor Park Trammel, May 22, 1913. The boundry lines of the town covered 11 sq miles. This act provided for a Mayor, 5 Councilmen, a Clerk who could also be treasurer and a Marshall who was also the tax collector.
Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida: Operations near St. Marks, Florida March 6, 1865. Maj. Gen. John Newton [US]; Maj. Gen. Sam Jones [CS]:2nd U.S. Colored Infantry and 99th U.S. Colored Infantry [US]; Kilcrease Artillery; Dunham’s Battery; Abell’s Battery; 5th Florida Cavalry; 1st Florida Militia; Barwick’s Company Reserves; Hodges Company Reserves; Company A, Milton Light Artillery; Companies A, B, and F, Reserves and reinforcements from Georgia amounting to approx. 1,000 men [CS]. Maj. Gen. John Newton had undertaken a joint force expedition to engage and destroy Confederate troops that had attacked at Cedar Keys and Fort Myers and were allegedly encamped somewhere around St. Marks. The Navy had trouble getting its ships up the St. Marks River. The Army force, however, had advanced and, after finding one bridge destroyed, started before dawn on March 6 to attempt to cross the river at Natural Bridge. The troops initially pushed Rebel forces back but not away from the bridge. Confederate forces, protected by breastworks, guarded all of the approaches and the bridge itself. The action at Natural Bridge lasted most of the day, but, unable to take the bridge, the Union troops retreated to the protection of the fleet. CWSAC Reference #: FL006. Although Confederate Florida proclaimed Natural Bridge a great victory, celebration in Tallahassee was short-lived. Three weeks after the battle, on April 1, 1865, Governor John Milton took his own life at his plantation home in Jackson County. While he left no explanation for his suicide, Milton was physically and mentally exhausted after leading his state during three and a half years of war. The prospect of Confederate defeat and Union occupation of Florida was too much for him. A week after Milton’s death, on April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant following the Union general’s capture of Richmond. The end of the Confederate experiment was now at hand. For Florida, the end came on May 10, 1865, when Union Brigadier General Edward M. McCook arrived in Tallahassee to accept Confederate Major General Samuel Jones’ surrender of all Confederate forces in Florida. In a formal ceremony held in Tallahassee on May 20, McCook ordered the United States flag to be raised over the Capitol. Florida’s civil war was over.
Natural Bridge Monument
Jacksonville Confederate Park & The Scottish Rite Memorial
CSA Navy CSS Florida
CSA 1861 Judgement against Gov John Milton and Horace Eli
Arcadia 1901 Reunion
Confederate Army Veterans- Boys of '61
1925 Gainesville CSA Member Reunion
Front row: 4th from left: Gen Lawrence Whitefield Jackson, 2nd from left Allen Goolsby
Confederate veterans in 1888 formed the United Confederate Veterans of Florida, and Alachua County had an active chapter until too few were left to keep it alive. The County had, at one time, about 135 men who served for the Confederacy. CSA Veterans line up on the steps of the Gainesville County Courthouse, they met, wearing their old uniforms wrinkled from storage and their medals rich with memories. They stood for this photograph, taken by Gainesville's Vansickel Studio: "The Civil War had been ended sixty years when these 19 men gathered in Gainesville, convention was November 4th, 1925."
125th Annual National Reunion of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
2020 Reunion Held in Florida Ancestor Memorial (Recognition in the 2020 Reunion Program) $10.00 each Your name and your ancestor’s name and unit will be printed in the National Memorial section of the 2020 SCV Reunion Program
Your Name: _______________________________________________________________
1. Ancestor’s Name: _______________________________ Rank: _____________
Ancestor’s Unit: ____________________________________________________
$10.00 each
2. Ancestor’s Name: _______________________________ Rank: _____________
Ancestor’s Unit: ____________________________________________________
Ancestors Registration Quantity _______ x $10.00 = $ _______________
Make Check payable to: Kirby-Smith Camp #1209 2020 Reunion
Mail to: Calvin Hart, 4884 Victoria Chase Ct Jacksonville, FL 32257
Florida Keys
Confederate Monument - St. Augustine. Draped for Gen. Lee Creator: Barker, George, 1844-1894, photo: c1891
Confederate Monument - St. Augustine
Jacksonville This is the Monument to Confederate Women. The Monument is in Confederate Park.
Newnansville Cemetery
CSA Monument Orlando
Fort Myers
Bradfordville Robert E. Lee monument
Florida's Flag 1861
CSA Florida Button
The Letter 1864
Oh how I miss the daffodil And even smoky fields of cane, The roses and the sugar mill I pray one day to see again. But during battles I restrain From thoughts of glen and willowed glade. I close my ears to sad refrain… There’s fewer men in our brigade.
In summer heat and winter chill,
It makes you crazy, tests the brain,
When strong men faint and most are ill,
When legs are sawn to be humane,
It’s hard to tell, worse to explain.
Thru shot and shell and cannonade
We fill the ranks with each campaign,
There’s fewer men in our brigade.
Oh Mother, I have had my fill
Of sleeping in the driving rain,
Of sloshing up and down each hill,
Of seeing death and hearing pain,
The battle’s fought on each terrain.
There’s talk of going to invade
The northern states, what will we gain?
There’s fewer men in our brigade.
We spend each morning out on drill,
There’s not much here to entertain,
They’ve taught us how to fight and kill,
Each battle now a hurricane.
I fight myself to help contain,
To conquer fear, be unafraid,
Not think of men that have been slain.
There’s fewer men in our brigade.
Tonight it’s cold and very still,
It’s sentry duty I distain
And hate the night and will until
I’m walking homeward down our lane.
It serves no purpose to complain,
Sometimes the yankee men will trade
But mostly I try to abstain,
There’s fewer men in our brigade,
I shall return if it’s God’s will.
My faith is just a mustard grain,
That I should ever feel the thrill
Of riding South on Southern train,
With all my love, I do remain…..
His letter dropped in moonlight shade,
A letter home, but was in vain.
There’s fewer men in our brigade.
LL For all the Florida boys who never came home.
CSA Gen Martin L Smith
ChazzCreations
PO BOX 1909
POST FALLS, ID 83877