Floridian vs. Floridian on Hard Labor Creek

Remembering the Battle of Vernon, Florida

Historic marker on the square in Vernon, Florida.

Editor's Note: The Battle of Vernon was a running skirmish fought in Washington County as Union troops returned to Pensacola from the Battle of Marianna, Florida. The encounter was unique in that it was a true "brother against brother" fight. The Confederates involved were from Capt. W.B. Jones' Scouts (Vernon Home Guard), a militia unit raised in Washington County several months earlier. The main Federals actually engaged were primarily from the 1st Florida Cavalry (U.S.), a Union force that included several men from the same county.

The following is excerpted from Dale Cox's book The Battle of Marianna, Florida:

(Excerpt)

Confederate troops were now swarming into Northwest Florida, but it was too late.  The Federals were already well on their way to Washington County before Milton, Jeter, and Chisolm crossed the bridge back into town on the morning of the 28th. Leaving Marianna, they followed the road southwest through present-day Kynesville to Oak and Hickory (Orange) Hills. The plantation of David Porter Everett at Hickory Hill was heavily damaged. The raiders may have been concerned about pursuit by Confederate cavalry, but not so much so that they stopped carrying out the goals of the raid as they advanced. Legend holds that they rested briefly on the grounds of the academy at Hickory Hill (at today’s Orange Hill Methodist Church) before continuing down the hill in the direction of Holmes Valley and Vernon.

A number of the men and boys who fought at the Battle of
Vernon attended Moss Hill United Methodist Church. The
structure is virtually unchanged since the day of the battle.

A courier had gone out along this same route on the morning of the 27th to summon help from Captain W.B. Jones and his scouts at Vernon, then the county seat of Washington County. Jones assembled his company on the morning of the 28th and conscripted every available man and boy in the area, regardless of age.

Exactly how many men he managed to get into the field may never be known. The unit originally included around 30 men, but evidence from pension files indicates that it was expanded when Florida’s home guard was organized in August. A number of men from Walton County later claimed they had been taken to Vernon by Captain J.B. Hutto for service under Captain Jones. In addition, the men were joined on the morning of the 28th by several Confederate regulars home on leave and by a number of other men, many of them over 60 years old, who later indicated they were conscripted into the service that day due to the emergency.

The main fighting of the Battle of Vernon was at
Hard Labor Creek several miles east of town.

The company probably numbered 50 by the time it was ready to leave Vernon, but the actual number could have been somewhat higher. By mid to late morning, they were heading east for Marianna on the same road by which the Union command was marching west. It was a recipe for disaster, and that is exactly what happened:

…Hearing that the Federal soldiers were coming Captain William Jones went to meet them… we suddenly met the Northern soldiers and they demanded that we surrender, fighting opened and a large man by the name of Pierce was killed near me. I was wounded, and was taken home. Captain Jones was captured, and was taken away. [194]

Coming down the hill to Hard Labor Creek just west of today’s Washington Cemetery, Jones and his men ran head-on into the vanguard of Asboth’s column. The Federals were in no mood to be delayed and promptly ordered the home guard to surrender. Whether they declined or had time to do so in the confusion is not known. According to legend, one of Jones’ men verbally taunted the Union soldiers, profanely voicing his opinion of them. The Federals responded by opening fire on the outnumbered Confederates, capturing most of them and scattering the rest. Stephen Pierce, the man who is said to have taunted the Union soldiers, was supposedly dragged away behind a gallberry bush and executed. [195]

Stephen Pierce, a member of Jones'
company allegedly taunted the Union
soldiers in the minutes before his death.

The truth of the incident is difficult to determine. The encounter was officially mentioned only in the activity record of the 1st Florida U.S. Cavalry, but no details were provided in the reports of either side. Samuel Wood Doble of the 2nd Maine Cavalry did not participate in the fight but gave a vague description of it:

Started this morning at seven. The advance guard met and fought a small number of Rebels and took several prisoners. Shot the Captain of the company. He was going to reinforce the Rebels at Marianna, thinking we should stop a day or two at that place. [196]

Doble remembered passing a Confederate soldier who was, in his words, “just dying.” The Federals made no effort to carry him along but instead left him to his fate. This individual may have been Stephen Pierce, who is known to have been killed in the encounter near Vernon, or he may have been some other home guard member whose name has been lost to time.

Pierce’s body was carried to the top of the hill on the east side of the creek and buried at what is now Washington Cemetery. The 1860 Census Records for Washington County show that at the time of the battle, he was a 46-year-old farmer who supported a wife, Jane, and at least six children. He owned no slaves, and his total worth was only $100. Pierce had enlisted in the “Washington County Invincibles” on September 13, 1861. The unit became Company H of the 4th Florida Infantry. Pierce served with his company in the Army of Tennessee, fighting at Shiloh and Stones River. He received a medical discharge in 1863 and returned home to his farm. He enlisted under Captain Jones in August of 1864 when Governor Milton ordered the formation of the Florida home guard. [197]

So far as is known, Pierce was the only man killed in the “Battle” of Vernon. Another man, John J. Wright, was wounded. In an account written many years later for a pension application, he reported receiving two wounds, “I have lost the use of my right arm, never could use it as good after I was shot in the shoulder. I was also hit in the left leg that soon got well and has not bothered me but little.” [198]

Nathaniel Miller, a Seminole Wars veteran, was among the
prisoners captured at the Battle of Vernon. He died at the
Union prison in Elmira, New York.

Outnumbered and completely overwhelmed by the sudden burst of gunfire, the men of Jones’ company broke and ran. The surviving accounts indicate the Federals were hot on their heels:

…On our way to Marianna we met a company of Federals, near Hard Labor Creek, and Jones company was captured and taken to Ship Island Prison. I made my escape on horseback and outran them. I was pursued all the way back to Vernon and shot at many times but escaped without injury. [199]

In either the initial melee or the running fight back to Vernon, Captain Jones and ten of his men were captured. Among these were four Confederate regulars on leave from their regiments: Andrew and James Gable of the 6th Florida Infantry and H.R. and B.A. Walker of the 1st Florida Infantry. Also captured were Enoch Johns, Shadrick Johns, John Nelson, Cary Taylor, Freeman Irwin, and Nathaniel Miller. Irwin had represented Washington County at Florida’s secession convention in 1861 and Taylor was a former Washington County sheriff. 

The story of these prisoners is particularly tragic. Taken away by the raiders, they wound up in the disease-ridden prison camp at Elmira, New York. Cary Taylor and Enoch Johns died there of smallpox less than two months later on December 27, 1864. Shadrick Johns and John Nelson tried to secure their freedom by offering to swear an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Government, stating that they had been, “conscripted, ordered out by the Governor to resist a raiding party, and had been captured the same day.” Although the men were seriously ill and over 50 years old, their request was denied, and they remained at Elmira until the end of the war. Andrew Gable, one of the regulars captured in Washington County, lost his life to pneumonia on January 1, 1865, Freeman Irwin died from sickness on February 7th and Nathaniel Miller followed on March 13th. [200]

(End of Excerpt)

Editor's Note: Copies of Dale Cox's book - The Battle of Marianna, Florida - are available from the Washington County Historical Society Museum in Chipley, Florida, or in print and Kindle e-book format at Amazon. Just click here for ordering information.

Learn more about the Battle of Marianna in this free mini-documentary from Two Egg TV:

References

[194] Statement of John J. Wright, June 4, 1922, Confederate Pension Application File, Florida State Archives.
[195] E.W. Carswell, Washington: Florida's Twelfth County, 1991.
[196] Samuel Wood Doble, A Civil War Diary.
[197] Ibid.; Washington County Census of 1860; Service Record of Stephen G. Pierce, National Archives.
[198] Wright statement.
[199] Statement of M.L. Lassiter, January 1, 1931, Confederate Pension Application File of JOhn J. Wright, Florida State Archives.
[200] Individual Service Records, National Archives.

#77 Armstrong Purdee's Ride (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Purdee rode with a Union soldier
Photo courtesy of Ashley Pollette

Armstrong Purdee's Ride is one of the most fascinating episodes of the Battle of Marianna and is #77 on my list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Please click here to see the complete list as it is unveiled.

Armstrong Purdee was born into slavery on the plantation of John R. Waddell on March 16, 1856. He would rise from slavery to become Jackson County's first African American attorney, but first he lived one of the greatest adventures ever experienced by any child living in the county.

The first known written record of him is the slave schedule of the 1860 U.S. Census. He appears there as one of two unnamed 4 year old male children living among the 39 African American slaves on the Waddell Plantation, the name of which is preserved today by Waddell's Mill Pond and Waddell Mill Creek between Marianna and Campbellton.

Waddell's Mill Pond is all that remains of Waddell Plantation

On the morning of September 27, 1864, the day of the Battle of Marianna, Armstrong was an eight-year-old child living on the Waddell Plantation when news came that Union troops were advancing from Campbellton on the Old Campbellton Road (today's Union Road). Purdee later told the story himself, remembering that the Union column halted near the Waddell gate for 40-50 minutes while scouts were sent out:

During the time that they halted, a Yankee white soldier said to me, "Boy, does you want to go?" I said to him, "Yes, sir." He moved one of his feet out of the stirrup and said "Put your feet in there," which I did. At the same time he reached for my hand and pulled me up on the horse, and placed me behind him and placed my hands about him, and said "Hold on; do not fall off." (Armstrong Purdee, June 1, 1931)

Union Road at Webbville
The troops followed this road on their way to the Battle of Marianna.

When the Union column moved out, 8-year-old Armstrong Purdee went with it, riding away on the back of a Northern soldier's horse. The route charted by Union Brigadier General Alexander Asboth took the soldiers down today's Union Road from the Waddell Plantation past the farm of Joseph W. Russ and across Russ Mill Creek to Webbville. 

Once a prosperous town that had vied with Marianna in a bitter battle for the title of county seat, Webbville by 1864 had faded away. The name was preserved in Webbville Plantation, the farm of W.D. Barnes, which stood on the site of the former town. Barnes was the lieutenant colonel of the 1st Florida Reserves in 1864-1865, but was on duty in eastern Florida when the Marianna raid took place.

Gen. Asboth leads mounted troops
War-time sketch. His dog always accompanied him.

Purdee remembered passing Webbville, which stood just north of today's intersection of Union Road and State Highway 73, as the long Union column continued its ride to Marianna. From there the troops swung below today's Highway 73 along now abandoned sections of the Old Campbellton Road to strike the plantation of Marianna Mayor Thomas White at the Whitesville community.

Thus far the ride must have seemed like a picnic or holiday for Armstrong Purdee, but that changed when the head of the Union column reached Hopkins' Branch about three miles northwest of Marianna. There, in position behind the swampy stream, the Federals found Confederate Colonel Alexander Montgomery waiting for them with three companies of mounted Southern troops. 

Purdee later recalled hearing and seeing the first shots of the Battle of Marianna as fighting broke out at Hopkins' Branch:

Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth

When reaching the Hopkins Branch about three miles from the city of Marianna, soldiers were again sent out on each side of the road. Firing of the little short guns were made at Hopkins Branch...The Yankee that I was riding behind left the road and said to me: "Hold fast; do not fall!" They did not go around anything; they jumped their horses over fallen trees or logs, or anything."

Purdee's description is a vivid memory of a cavalry charge. The "little short guns" he remembered seeing were the Burnside breech-loading carbines carried by the troopers of the 2nd Maine Cavalry. Modern weapons for the day, they allowed the Union soldiers to reload and fire at a much faster rate than the Confederate defenders.

As the Confederates fell back to Marianna, continuing to fight as they went, the Union troops followed. As they reached Ely Corner (today's intersection of Lafayette and Russ Streets), Purdee remembered that the Northern soldiers once again collided with the outnumbered Confederate cavalrymen.

Russ House at Ely Corner
Built decades after the battle, the home is Jackson County's Visitor Center.

As Major Nathan Cutler's battalion of the 2nd Maine Cavalry approached the intersection via today's West Lafayette Street, they rounded the curve where the historic Russ House stands today and charged headlong into a volley of fire from the Confederate horsemen. The charge was driven back and Purdee remembered seeing two wounded Union soldiers on the ground by the small stream that then trickled behind today's Russ House (which was not built until years after the battle). "One was shot in the right breast," he wrote, "my attention being attracted by his groans and calling for water."

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

Major Eben Hutler's battalion, also from the 2nd Maine, then charged and drove the Confederates up the street only to be ambushed in turn by the Marianna Home Guard and a number of volunteers that had taken up hidden positions behind the trees, shrubs and fences that lined the street. Heavy fighting exploded, with a portion of the men being pushed back into the cemetery at St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

Armstrong Purdee witnessed the brutal and frenzied fighting at St. Luke's from the back of the unnamed Union soldier's horse. His most vivid memory was of the burning of the church:

Another view of St. Luke's Episcopal Church

All of the soldiers were off their horses. Orders were given to fire the church. Three men, two with long poles, and one with what seemed to me to be a can, threw something up on the church and the other two having something on the end of their poles, seemed to rub it as high as the poles would reach, after which something like twisted paper was lighted and placed to whatever was put on the church and it blazed up. Men were shot down as they came out of the building.

Woodbury "Woody" Nickels
Shot and beaten to death at St. Luke's Episcopal Church

One of the men that Purdee saw "shot down" was 15-year-old Woody Nickels, who was shot through the leg as he tried to escape the burning church. Severely wounded, he crawled to the nearby monument of Major Jesse Robinson which can still be seen in front of the church today. There he wrapped his arms around the monument, so close to the intense fire that he was being cooked alive. A Union soldier rushed forward and killed him by crushing his skull with a musket butt.

Armstrong Purdee never forgot the scene at St. Luke's. Years later, as Jackson County's first African American attorney, he helped some of the local men who were there that day file for their state Confederate pensions.

Purdee rode away with the Union column the next day. He rode behind the soldier that had taken him along from the Waddell Plantation all the way to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island and was among the more than 600 newly freed African Americans who arrived there hungry and cold. Sergeant A.J. Bedford of the 25th U.S. Colored Troops saw them arrive:

Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida

...As soon as they came to the Fort, we, the 25th boys, gave them our tents, and they put them up in our old camping place, and at night, all the companies, B, H, E, and C, made them three kettles of coffee apiece, twelve in all, by authority of our noble Major Risinger, of the Fort. (Sgt. A.J. Bedford, 25th U.S.C.T., November 7, 1864)

Armstrong remained at Pensacola until the war ended eight months later. His father then came to Pensacola from Jackson County to carry him back home. The two left Pensacola aboard ship and went to Apalachicola from where they made the long walk back to Jackson County.

Battle of Marianna Monument

Purdee later attracted the attention of former Confederate Major William Henry Milton, the son of Governor John Milton. A local attorney, he took the young freedman (as the former slaves were then called) under his wing and taught him the practice of law. Not long after the end of Reconstruction, Armstrong Purdee passed the bar exam and was admitted to the practice of law as the first African American ever to achieve such distinction in Jackson County.

His life stands as a remarkable story of accomplishment, but it is the tale of his long ride in 1864 that continues to fascinate all who read it.

In an interesting side note, Purdee's daughter Mrs. Sarah Spires recently marked her 100th birthday! Please click here to read coverage of the celebration from the Jackson County Times.

If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Marianna and Armstrong Purdee's ride, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available at Chipola River Book & Tea in downtown Marianna or you can order through Amazon here:

Book:  The Battle of Marianna, Florida: Expanded Edition

Kindle:  The Battle of Marianna, Florida

A major event commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna is scheduled for September 26-27, 2014. Read more about the battle at www.battleofmarianna.com and check the schedule of planned events at http://visitjacksoncountyfla.com/heritage/battle-of-marianna-150th-celebration/.

The Battle of Marianna, Florida - 149th Anniversary

Battle of Marianna Monument

Today marks the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna.

Fought on September 27, 1864, it was the climax of the deepest invasion of Florida by Union troops during the four years of the War Between the States. On their way to and from Marianna, the soldiers in blue covered more miles than Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's men did on their infamous March to the Sea.

Fighting had erupted as the Federal column of Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth pushed into Jackson County the previous afternoon (see Skirmish near Campbellton). Despite resistance by the outnumbered men of Captain Alexander Godwin's Campbellton Cavalry, the Union troops reached Campbellton on the evening of the 26th and camped there for the night.

Early they next morning they continued their advance on Marianna, following the Old Campbellton Road, a portion of which followed today's Union Road. Along the way the did as much damage as possible to small farms as well as the large Waddell, Russ, Barnes and White plantations.

Col. Alexander Montgomery (left)
Photo taken late in his life at Rome, Georgia

As the troops advanced, they were watched by three companies of mounted Confederates. Col. Alexander Montgomery had arrived from Marianna late on the 26th to reinforce the Campbellton men with Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (mounted) and Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts (mounted) of the Alabama State Militia.

When it became evident that the Union column was heading for Marianna instead of the crossing of the Chipola River at Bellamy Bridge, Montgomery sent couriers to Marianna and Greenwood to order out the citizen soldiers of the home guards. Other riders headed for Washington and Calhoun Counties to alert other companies and call them to Marianna. The telegraph operator in Marianna sent pleas to Quincy and Tallahassee for help, but despite the flurry of activity only the Greenwood company would reach town in time for the battle.

Battle marker on Courthouse Square

The Marianna Home Guard, headed by Captain Jesse J. Norwood, gathered at the courthouse. It was court day in Marianna and the sheriff, judge, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants and even prisoners from the county jail took up arms to help in the defense of the town. They were joined by the boys from the Marianna Academy and every other man or boy in town capable of bearing arms.

The Greenwood Club Cavalry, a company made up of the school boys from the academy in Greenwood, arrived at mid-morning under the command of their teacher, Captain Henry Robinson. Many of the older men of Greenwood had joined them as they rode for Marianna.

Gen. Alexander Asboth

At about the same time, Col. Montgomery and the three companies of Confederates watching Asboth's approach turned on him at Hopkins' Branch, a swampy stream three miles northwest of downtown Marianna. A sharp skirmish broke out, with the Union troops forming into a line of battle and charging through the woods and swamps at the resisting Confederates. Montgomery was forced to fall back, but Union soldiers wrote that his men continued to fight as they went.

When the retreating Confederate horsemen reached the edge of Marianna, they took a logging road (today's Kelson Avenue) around the northern edge of town and then followed Caledonia Street into the city. Montgomery and a couple of his officers remained west of town to watch and see what the Federals would do.

As the three companies arrived in town, they joined all of the gathered home guards and volunteers in a general advance through the center of town along Lafayette Street to the west side of Marianna. A barricade of wagons and debris was placed across the street in the area of today's Pizza Hut to slow any charge down the street by Union soldiers. The mounted men formed in a line at the intersection of Lafayette and Russ Streets, while the men with no horses took up positions in houses and buildings and behind fences, trees and shrubs on each side of Lafayette Street from the barricade back to the area of St. Luke's Episcopal Church.

Grave of Arthur Lewis, killed in the battle.

From his position west of town, Col. Montgomery watched as the Union troops divided into two columns. One thundered along the old logging road (Caledonia Street) in pursuit of the retreating Confederate cavalry, while the other headed straight for town along what is now Lafayette Street. Realizing that he was going to be flanked and attacked from front and rear at the same time, the colonel galloped up to his mounted men at the intersection of Lafayette and Russ Streets and ordered them to retreat.

Not realizing the danger, the men objected. Montgomery was trying to explain the situation when Major Nathan Cutler's battalion from the 2nd Maine Cavalry came around the curve on Lafayette Street and red headlong into the mounted Confederates spread across the street in front of today's Russ House. The Confederates opened fire and drove them back.

Ely Mansion in Marianna

Infuriated at his men for retreating, Gen. Asboth yelled "For shame!" at them and ordered Major Eben Hutchinson's battalion from the 2nd Maine to follow him forward. The Confederates had not had time to reload and fell back up the street with the Federals in hot pursuit. During this stage of the fighting, the front of the beautiful old Ely Mansion was showered with bullets and a cannon shot passed through its attic.

The Confederates passed the barricade with the Union troops hot on their heels. Just as the head of the Federal column rode over the line of wagons, however, the Marianna Home Guard and other volunteers ambushed them from both sides of Lafayette Street. Asboth fell wounded from two bullets and nearly 30 men from the 2nd Maine Cavalry fell killed or wounded. It was the bloodiest day of the war for the regiment.

Grave of a Union officer killed in the battle.

The flanking party sent around what is now Caledonia Street had entered town behind the Confederates, however, and the situation rapidly deteriorated. Colonel Montgomery and the mounted men tried to cut their way through. The colonel was thrown by his horse and captured on the southeast corner of Courthouse Square, but most of his horsemen made it to the Chipola River Bridge (then at the end of Jackson Street) where they tore up the floorboards and made a stand, fighting with Union soldiers as they tried to approach the bridge.

The Marianna Home Guard and some of the volunteers, meanwhile were penned up at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. The church then was surrounded by a board fence, which they used as a makeshift fort as Union troops closed in on them from all directions. Severe fighting followed which included a bayonet charge over the fence by black Union soldiers from detachments of the 82nd and 86th U.S. Colored Troops.

St. Luke's Cemetery, scene of heavy fighting.

St. Luke's and two adjacent homes were burned to the ground, along with the doctor's office and drugstore of Dr. R.A. Sanders. The men of the Marianna Home Guard fought until they ran low on ammunition and were overwhelmed. Four men died in the burning church rather than surrender.

It was one of the most severe small battles of the war and is remembered today with Marianna Day observances each year. This year's memorial service will take place tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 28th) morning at 9 a.m. at Confederate Park in downtown Marianna.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Cemetery will be open for tours from 10 a.m. until 12 noon.  I will be there at 9:45 to talk about the battle, so be sure to come if you would like to learn more!

Also, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available in both print and Kindle format at Amazon.com or you can buy it locally at Chipola River Book & Tea in downtown Marianna. I will be there from 2 until 4 this afternoon (Friday, Sept. 27th) to sign copies.

Also be sure to visit www.battleofmarianna.com.

Skirmish near Campbellton took place 149 years ago today (September 26, 1864)

Campbellton Baptist Church
Occupied by Union troops on September 26, 1864

Word traveled fast as the horsemen approached the creek and by the late morning of September 26, 1864, Campbellton was alive with rumors that "something was up" in Holmes County. The town was home to one of Jackson County's three home guard companies.

Organized by order of Governor John Milton, the Campbellton Cavalry was a mounted unit of around 30 citizen soldiers. The men were farmers, laborers and merchants from throughout western and norther Jackson County. Their captain, Alexander Godwin, owned a large plantation north of what is now Cottondale. By September 1864 they were operating as part of a mounted battalion organized by Captain W.W. Poe of the 1st Florida Infantry Reserves.

Gov. John Milton

On the morning of September 26th they were called to arms as rumors reached Campbellton that Union soldiers were advancing east through Holmes County. One member recalled that they formed in town and road southwest on the road to Holmes Creek.

Graceville had not been founded in 1864 and the road followed by the Campbellton Cavalry as it rode for Holmes Creek followed the route of today's Highway 273 to the Galilee Community and from there along a series of roads - some still in use, some not - to the Marianna ford over Holmes Creek near today's Tri-County Airport.

The Campbellton men waded their horses across the creek and before long saw the head of the Union column advancing in their direction along the same road. As the Federal vanguard moved toward them, they fell back across the creek into Jackson County.  The Union troops followed.

Gen. Alexander Asboth

Asboth's men struck at homes and farms all along the route to Campbellton. At the Nelson Watford farm near Galilee, they took everything they wanted and destroyed what they couldn't take with them. Even the big molasses barrel was dug up from the ground and its contents poured out at spoiled. At the home of Captain Henry Grace, who would later help found Graceville, they terrorized his wife and daughter, taking their food, livestock and anything else they could find.

At some point during the afternoon, however, the 30 or so men of the Campbellton Cavalry advanced on the head of the 700 man Union column. Exactly what happened remains something of a mystery, but three of the Confederates were captured that afternoon. Asboth reported that "rebel troops" were constantly in the vicinity of his column as he marched from the Choctawhatchee to Marianna, fighting with the men forming the vanguard at the head of his command.

Wartime Sketch of Asboth on the Move
His dogs always accompanied him.

Because they were so severely outnumbered, the Confederates of Captain Godwin's company did not try to make a stand against Asboth's column. Instead they followed tactics their ancestors had developed during the American Revolution. They would ride up to within range of the Federals and fire, then fall back until they could reload and make another advance. This style of fighting was used successfully in Georgia and the Carolinas during the American Revolution and the men of the Campbellton Cavalry used it effectively on the afternoon of September 26, 1864.

Where Union troops camped on the night of the 26th

The hit and run resistance slowed the advance of Asboth's column, forcing him to halt for the night when he reached Campbellton instead of advancing on to Marianna. His men camped in the town itself, in camps that reached from the town square area east along what is now SR 2 to Campbellton Baptist Church.

A courier sent to Marianna by Captain Godwin, meanwhile, arrived in town and alerted Colonel Alexander B. Montgomery that Union troops were in Jackson County. He immediately mounted up with the two companies available to him - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Mounted) and Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts, Alabama State Militia - and rode north up the Campbellton road to assess the situation.

The Battle of Marianna would be fought the next day.

To learn more about the Raid on Marianna, please consider my book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available on the right side of this page or from Amazon.com or your favorite online bookseller. It is also available at Chipola River Book & Tea in Downtown Marianna and I will be there tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 27th) afternoon signing copies.

Also be sure to check out my website on the battle at www.battleofmarianna.com.

Yankees in Holmes County as Marianna Raid continues (149 years ago)

Cerrogordo in Holmes County, Florida

149 years ago today on September 25, 1864, the Union column of Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth crossed the Choctawhatchee River in Holmes County, Florida.

Water was high as the rain from a stalled tropical system had been falling for at least seven straight days, so the crossing was difficult, perilous and slow. The soldiers moved over in detachments aboard a small barge that local people used as a ferry, while the horses swam across the muddy river. Gen. Asboth described the boat as a "small scow," which in his terminology meant it was a flat-bottomed boat with a blunt bow.

Choctawhatchee River where Asboth crossed

The crossing took place at Cerrogordo, then the county seat of Holmes County. Located around five miles north of today's Westville, the community in 1864 consisted of a small courthouse, a jail, one store and a scattering houses. The total population numbered around 25 people.

The 700 Union soldiers had spent the night of September 24th in Cerrogordo after moving north from Eucheeanna in Walton County (see First Fighting of the Marianna Raid) by way of Ponce de Leon Springs. Although a skirmish had been fought at Eucheeanna, the only casualty of the raid so far had been sustained at Ponce de Leon when a Union soldier was wounded in an accidental shooting.

Asboth practiced Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's concept of "total war." As he advanced, his men did as much damage as possible to the businesses and farms they encountered. The objective was to inflict so much suffering on the civilian population that Confederate soldiers in the main armies would desert to go home and care for their families.

I

Ponce de Leon Springs State Park

n Walton and Holmes Counties, barns were burned, livestock stolen or killed, foodstuffs taken or destroyed and a population made up primarily of the elderly, the disabled, women and children was left with little food or anything else with which to survive the coming winter. The log hotel or inn at Ponce de Leon Springs was "broken up" by the soldiers. The store, homes and courthouse at Cerrogordo were damaged.

The crossing of the Choctawhatchee moved slowly and it took all of the rainy day of September 25, 1864, for the soldiers to get across. They camped for the night in the mud on the east bank of the river, within view of their campsite of the previous evening at Cerrogordo across the water.

Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth

They would continue their advance on Marianna the next day, moving first on Campbellton. The Battle of Marianna was now just two days away.

A memorial service commemorating the 149th anniversary of the battle will be held in Marianna on Saturday, September 28th. The commemoration will begin at 9 a.m. (central) at Confederate Park in downtown Marianna (intersection of Lafayette and Caledonia Streets). The public is encouraged to attend. Historic St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where heavy fighting took place during the battle, will be open from 10 a.m. until 12 noon, with young people from the church and the Blue Springs Society of the Children of the American Revolution as hosts.

To learn more about the Marianna Raid, please consider my book - The Battle of Marianna, Florida - which is available on the right side of this page, through your favorite online bookseller or from the Walton County Historical Museum in Defuniak Springs, the Washington County Historical Museum in Chipley and Chipola River Book & Tea in Downtown Marianna.

You can read more anytime at www.battleofmarianna.com.

First Fighting of Marianna Raid was 149 Year Ago Today

Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church in Eucheeanna

It was 149 years ago today on September 23, 1864, that the first fighting of the Marianna Raid took place.

Having left Pensacola Bay on September 18, 1864, Union troops led by Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth reached the outskirts of the small community of Eucheeanna in Walton County during the pre-dawn darkness of September 23rd.

Aware that two detachments of Confederate cavalry were camped in the village, which was then the county seat of Walton County, Gen. Asboth ordered the 2nd Maine Cavalry to form a line of battle and charge. Led by Lt. Col. Andrew Spurling, the Maine cavalry hit Eucheeanna at daybreak, taking the Confederates there completely by surprise.

Church and Cemetery in Eucheeanna

The brief skirmish at Eucheeanna, in which no one was reported wounded on either side, was the first clash of Asboth's Raid on Marianna, an expedition that would culminate on September 27, 1864, at the Battle of Marianna.

Eucheeanna, Florida

The Confederates at Eucheeanna consisted of two detachments of cavalry. One, from the Fifteenth Confederate Cavalry, had come over from the large Confederate post in Pollard, Alabama.  The other, from Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts of the Alabama State Militia, had been sent from Marianna. Both detachments were "enforcing the conscription." In 1864 terminology, "enforcing the conscription" meant the same thing as drafting soldiers would mean today.

The detachments escaped via the Geneva Road, although several prisoners were taken by the attacking Federals. Among those captured was Lt. Francis Gordon of the Fifteenth Confederate Cavalry. Several civilians also were captured during the attack, among them William Cawthon, Allen Hart and Col. William Torrance. Cawthon and Hart were cattle ranchers with large herds in the Walton County area. Torrance was a former officer from the Alabama State Militia who had been sent down to purchase beef for his state's troops.

Historic Marker at Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church

The Union troops also captured 46 horses, 8 mules, 26 stand of arms and a quantity of bar lead bearing the stamp of a factory in Baltimore, Maryland. They also helped themselves to all the corn, hogs, chickens, smoked meat and anything else of value they could find in the homes of the little community. Many families were left without a scrap of food and no way of getting any when the soldiers left Eucheeanna the next morning.

One of the Union soldiers also raped a woman and her teenage daughter after finding them at home alone in a remote area just outside the village.

The county seat of Walton County has since been moved to DeFuniak Springs, but the little community still exists and can be found about three miles southeast of DeFuniak Springs. The historic Euchee Valley Presyterian Church and Cemetery predate the War Between the States.

I will post more about the Marianna Raid and the Battle of Marianna over coming days, so be sure to check back often.  Until then you can read more at www.battleofmarianna.com.

If you haven't read it, be sure to check out my book - The Battle of Marianna, Florida.  It is available through Amazon.com or your favorite online book seller as well as at the Walton County Heritage Museum in Defuniak Springs, the Washington County Historical Museum in Chipley and Chipola River Book & Tea in Downtown Marianna. If you prefer, you can order it by clicking the book cover on the right side of this page.

Skirmish at Campbellton was important preliminary to the Battle of Marianna

Campbellton – The Battle of Marianna is a well known part of local history, but fewer people know about a smaller but also important skirmish that took place the previous day near Campbellton.

The fight developed as 700 Union soldiers from the 2nd Maine Cavalry, 1st Florida U.S. Cavalry and 82nd and 86th U.S. Colored Infantries splashed their way across Holmes Creek and began moving northeast up the old road leading from the “Marianna Ford” to Campbellton. This road followed roughly the route of today’s Tri-County Road to the Galilee community before eventually leading along the approximate route of Highway 273 to Campbellton.

As the Federal troops crossed into Jackson County on the morning of September 26, 1864, word spread like lightning throughout the area. The community had a local “home guard” or volunteer military unit and its commander, Captain A.R. Godwin, soon summoned his men to arms.

Godwin’s company was known as the “Campbellton Cavalry” and its volunteer members were under standing orders from Governor John Milton to resist any attack until reinforcements could arrive from the nearest Confederate headquarters, in this case Marianna. Following their orders to the letter, Godwin and his men sent a courier to Marianna with news that an enemy force was in the county and then rode out to oppose the oncoming Federals.

The Union troops, commanded by Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, moved slowly that morning, pausing to strike at homes and farms along the road. They confiscated provisions and livestock, freed slaves and did as much damage as possible to the local economy as they advanced.

As the day progressed, the Federals began to encounter resistance from Captain Godwin and his men. Exactly where the fighting started is not clear. Asboth said only that “rebel troops” were constantly hovering around the head of his column, engaging in “frequent skirmishes” with his men.

The Campbellton men, numbering less than 50, engaged in a standard cavalry practice of the time by approaching the Union troops on horseback, firing on them and then retreating back out of range. The routine was repeated time after time as Asboth’s column continued to move up the road to Campbellton.

There is no indication that any of Godwin’s men were killed or wounded in the fighting, but at least two were taken prisoner. Union records note that William Clayton and Charles Tipton were captured by Asboth’s men on September 26, 1864. Clayton identified himself as a member of Godwin’s company and Tipton reported that he was a Confederate soldier home on leave from the 11th Florida Infantry. He had turned out with his neighbors to oppose the raid.

Despite the resistance of Godwin and his men (against odds of more than 12 to 1), the Union troops finally reached Campbellton late in the afternoon. His soldiers exhausted from a day of riding and fighting, General Asboth set up camp in the town and halted his advance on Marianna until the next morning. The Campbellton Cavalry hovered in the distance, watching and waiting, until they were reinforced during the evening by Colonel Alexander Montgomery and two companies of Southern troops from Marianna.

The Union troops would move on the next morning and by noon would fight the Campbellton men again, this time at the Battle of Marianna.

Note: This article appeared in this week's issue of the Jackson County Times. You can visit the paper online at www.jacksoncountytimes.net.