The Picnic Shooting at Blue Hole (September 28, 1869)

Blue Hole Spring at Florida Caverns State Park

A shooting near Blue Hole Spring in today's Florida Caverns State Park ignited one of the bloodiest confrontations of the Reconstruction-era. Often called the "picnic shooting," it occurred on September 28, 1869.

Like many such events about which little is known, the Picnic Shooting has grown considerably in the telling. Recent writers have called it a massacre. Others say it was an example of political assassination by a band of "regulators" intent on stamping out justice and fair treatment for black citizens recently freed from slavery.

There are several versions of what happened, but several basic facts are known. Calvin Rogers, an African American and the Reconstruction-era constable of Jackson County, was leading a party of picnic-goers along Carter's Mill Road. The group was on its way to celebrate the Union victory at the Battle of Marianna, a military encounter that allowed more than 600 enslaved men, women, and children to escape to freedom. It was the first and largest mass emancipation of slaves by force of arms in the county's history.

As the party approached the spring, Rogers walked ahead of the group and disappeared around a bend in the road. He suddenly called out that he had been shot at, although no eyewitnesses described hearing gunfire:

...He then called for Wyatt Scurlock, one of his friends, who on his approach to Rogers caught up a child, and he and the child were killed by one shot from some unknown person. Rogers, with the party, returned to Marianna, and with a party of whites and blacks, went in search of the murderer. They could find no clue to the perpetrator of the deed. (Macon Telegraph, 10/15/1869)

Hurricane Michael heavily damaged the area around the 

spring, which remains closed at this time.

The tragic incident could not have come at a worse time for the citizens of Jackson County. The county's federally-appointed sheriff, John W. King, had absconded with a large part of the county's treasury just four days earlier. Rogers was the constable, but he was involved in the shooting which precluded him from conducting an investigation. There was simply no law enforcement in the county to which the people could turn for help.

A coroner's inquest was held in the style of that era and a determination was reached that Scurlock and the child were killed by a shot fired by an unknown person. The posse searched but failed to find any trace of the murderer, with the possible exception of some hoof prints along the road. Both the coroner's jury and the posse included both white and black residents of the community.

The Picnic Shooting was not a massacre, as some modern journalists and writers have claimed, but it was tragic. No one was ever arrested in the case, largely because the governor - who controlled political appointments in the state - could not find a competent sheriff to serve in Jackson County.

Many questions about the incident remain unanswered. Why did Constable Rogers go ahead of the main group? Why did he call for Scurlock by name from an unseen location after claiming that a shot had been fired at him, a shot that no one else in the group heard?  The circumstances were suspicious but any hope of a thorough investigation ended when Marianna exploded with violence over the coming days.

The citizens, once again both black and white, convened a public meeting in the wake of the shooting. A number of Marianna's principal business leaders offered a reward for the apprehension of the person or persons responsible for the crimes. No one ever claimed the reward and Wyatt Scurlock and the child in his arms became statistics of Florida's Reconstruction-era.

The murders sparked demands for retaliation in some circles, based on the assumption that white leaders of the Democratic party had assassinated Scurlock for his role in Republican politics. The suspicions were never proved, but it did not take long for someone to strike back against one of Jackson County's key white leaders. 

Learn more: The Killing of Maggie McClellan: A Reconstruction-era tragedy in Jackson County, Florida

The site of the incident is within the boundaries of today's Florida Caverns State Park. The Blue Hole Spring still flows nearby, but the area around it was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael on October 10, 2018. Cave tours have resumed at the park, but the Blue Hole remains closed until further repairs can be made.

This video will give you a quick look at Blue Hole Spring as it appears today (post-Hurricane Michael):


This video will take you on a fascinating flashlight tour of the main tour cave at Florida Caverns State Park: