Battle of Nashville & Beyond

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Pensacola Harbor

Fort Pickens – Pensacola, Florida:

After the War of 1812, the United States decided to fortify all of its major ports. French engineer Simon Bernard was appointed to design Fort Pickens. Construction lasted from 1829 to 1834, with 21.5 million bricks being used to build it. Much of the construction was done by slaves. Its construction was supervised by Colonel William H. Chase of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During the American Civil War, he sided with the Confederacy and was appointed to command Florida’s troops.

Sketch of Fort Pickens, Florida, by Lt. Langdon, 1861. 

Fort Pickens was the largest of a group of fortifications designed to defend Pensacola Harbor. It supplemented Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and the Navy Yard. Located at the western tip of Santa Rosa Island, just offshore from the mainland, Fort Pickens guarded the island and the entrance to the harbor.

By the time of the American Civil War, Fort Pickens had not been occupied since shortly after the Mexican–American War. Despite its dilapidated condition, Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, in charge of United States forces at Fort Barrancas, decided the fort was the most defensible post in the area. He decided to abandon Barrancas when, around midnight of January 8, 1861, his guards repelled a group of local civilians who intended to occupy the fort. Some historians claim that these were the first shots fired in the Civil War.

On January 10, 1861, the day Florida declared its secession from the Union, Slemmer destroyed over 20,000 pounds of gunpowder at Fort McRee. He then spiked the guns at Fort Barrancas, and moved his 51 soldiers and 30 sailors to Fort Pickens. On January 15, 1861 and January 18, 1861, Slemmer refused surrender demands from Colonel William Henry Chase of the Florida militia. Ironically, Chase had designed and constructed the fort as captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Slemmer defended the fort against threat of attack until he was reinforced and relieved in April 1861 by Colonel Harvey Brown. Despite repeated Confederate threats, Fort Pickens was one of only three Southern forts to remain in Union hands throughout the war,[2]

Montgomery C. Meigs, an Army engineer, was ordered by President Lincoln and Secretary of War Seward to Fort Pickens. During the war, Meigs would also construct the Washington Aqueduct and the dome on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. – wikipedia

360º Virtual Tour of Fort Pickens

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William Wing Loring

“Old Blizzards”

Hero of 4 wars – Fought under 3 flags:

I have been to St. Augstine, Florida dozens of times, but exploring the Plaza de la Constitución with my son last week, I stumbled across the memorial to Floridian General W.W. Loring. This site on the St. Augustine town square, is also where he is interred.

Some amazing statistics on Floridian Loring:

  • Florida Militia 1st Seminole Indian War
  • Texas War for Independence
  • 2nd Seminole War
  • Florida bar in 1842
  • Florida House of Representatives

    Loring Pasha as a general in the Khedivate of Egypt
  • Regiment of Mounted Rifles, Oregon Territory
  • Mexican-American War
  • Comanches, Apaches, and Kiowas Skirmishes
  • Colonel at the age of 38 in December 1856, the youngest in the army.
  • American Civil War –
    • Army of the Northwest
    • Romney Expedition
    • Vicksburg Campaign
    • Battle of Champion Hill
    • Atlanta Champaign
    • Hood’s Middle Tennessee Champaign – Battle of Franklin
  • Egyptian invasion of Abyssinia – Chief of Staff
  • Egyptian Battle of Gura
  • Author – Confederate Soldier in Egypt (1884)

“He joined about fifty Union and Confederate veterans who had been recommended to the Khedive by William Tecumseh Sherman.” – more on wikipedia

360º Panorama of Loring Memorial

48 King St, St. Augustine, FL 32084

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Battle of Olustee

Civil War Battle of Olustee, Florida

February 20, 1864

5815 Battlefield Trail Road
Olustee, FL 32087
(386) 758-0400

The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20, 1864, late during the American Civil War. It was the only major battle fought in Florida during the war. The battlefield is not far off  Interstate 10 on US 90.

“Union General Truman Seymour had landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt Confederate food-supply. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. Confederates in Charleston sent reinforcements under General Alfred H. Colquitt and the two armies collided near a lake called Ocean Pond in Olustee. The Union forces were repulsed and retreated back to Jacksonville where they stayed for the remainder of the war.” – Wikipedia

 

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Kingsley Plantation

The Oldest Plantation Mansion in Florida

11676 Palmetto Ave, Jacksonville, FL 32226

“Zephaniah Kingsley relocated to Spanish Florida in 1803 and became a successful merchant and planter. His African wife, Anta Madgigine Jai, was from Senegal. Kingsley purchased her as a slave in Havana, Cuba in 1806. He freed Anna (as she became known) and their children in 1811. In 1814 he moved his family to Fort George Island. Anna took advantage of Spanish views on race and society, which enabled her to own her own plantation and slaves. She also was her husband’s business partner.

When Spain lost control of Florida in 1821, legislators in the new United States Territory quickly enacted laws that greatly reduced the civil liberties of free blacks, such as Kingsley’s family members. His campaign to keep a system of society where people were judged by class, and not by color, was largely ignored. By 1832 the harsh laws restricting the rights of all “persons of color” became intolerable. Faced with the reality of his family losing their freedom upon his death, he began looking for a country where they could live without restrictions.

By 1837, Kingsley moved Anna, their two sons, and 50 of his now freed slaves to Haiti, a free black republic. Their two daughters remained in Jacksonville, married to wealthy white men. Zephaniah Kingsley died in 1843 knowing that his family was secure.

The Kingsley story is a window into a period of sweeping change in Florida’s history. The new territorial laws forced free and enslaved people to adapt to reforms in which some gained, but many lost, personal liberties.” – National Park Service

Take a 360º Virtual Tour of the Kingsley Plantation below:


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