Marianna's Union Monument

Learn the story of the little known monument to the Union soldiers killed in the Battle of Marianna, Florida.

Woody Nickels: Youngest Casualty of the Battle of Marianna, Florida

"Good-bye all of you, I'm in for it now."

Woodbury "Woody" Nickels was killed at
the Battle of Marianna, Florida. He was a
15-year old student at Marianna Academy.

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Dale Cox's critically-acclaimed book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It tells the story of Woodbury "Woody" Nickels, a 15-year old schoolboy who fought and died on September 27, 1864.

(Excerpt)

[A] fascinating account of the scene in town was written years later by Mary Beeman, who as a 12-year-old girl had been sent from North Carolina to stay with relatives in Marianna. She and her younger cousin were walking up what is now Wynn Street on their way to school but found the people of the town all greatly alarmed. They stopped at the corner of Wynn and Lafayette to admire the roses on the fence of Mrs. Caroline Hunter’s boarding house before continuing up Lafayette Street into town:

…We were now fairly in town and were soon curious to know what was amiss. Something was wrong as could plainly be seen. Women stood bareheaded talking in groups on the sidewalk or at the gates, with a look of startled expectancy on their faces, all talking so eagerly and all at once as in a chorus, while the little children grabbed tight their mothers’ hands or dress skirts, and gave little terrified glances up and down the street. [96]

Beeman remembered that it seemed as if everyone in town was “mad today.” The schoolboys ran excitedly in the streets as if a holiday had been declared, but the men looked angry, and the women rushed to save what possessions they could:

…Wagons, carts and carriages drive hurriedly up the street, while in many yards carts and wheelbarrows even stand at front doors, being heavily laden as on moving-day. Women would rush to the door with sheets tied up full of something, dump it in the carts and fly off like mad for another load. And the men sat impatiently in the wagons, calling out: “Hello! Hurry up there, unless you want them to come before you get these tricks off.” [97]

The Nickels or Bellamy Mansion no longer
stands. This was the scene of Woody's last
farewell to his family. The house is better
remembered for its connection to Jackson
County's Bellamy Bridge Ghost Story.

It became apparent to the girls that there would be no school that day, so they went to the home of her uncle, William Nickels. A prominent Marianna merchant and innkeeper, Nickels lived in the massive old mansion built years earlier by Samuel Bellamy. They were told there by a cousin that 10,000 Union troops were on their way, which prompted Beeman to remark that they would “swallow
Marianna.” Another relative responded defiantly that they would have to swallow guns and bayonets if they did. “We won’t sit ready greased for the eating,” the female cousin proclaimed. It was as this discussion was underway that Beeman’s 15-year-old cousin, Woodbury “Woody” Nickels, appeared in the central hallway of the house:

“What’s that, little Reb,” called out Woody, as he came bouncing in the hall where we were all at work with toungue and hands; “want me to bring you a dead Yank for that bloody speech after the battle?” “Yes, Lot’s of them” returned I, “if you can. Nothing would please me better.” Well, here goes!” cried he, taking Josie’s gun and cap from behind the door and proceeding to don one and load the other [Note: Josie was Woody’s brother, who had been killed earlier in the war]. “Put in lots of shot,” I called to him. “Aye, that I will. Good-bye, all of you. I’m in for it now.” And he gave me a pinch on one cheek, while he laid a hearty kiss on the other. As he went down the steps he called out to me: “Don’t you wish you were a man?” [98]

Dale Cox, author of The Battle of Marianna, Florida, points
out bullet scars on a grave monument for students of
Thomasville Christian School.

(End of Excerpt)

Woody Nickels died that day. He was among those inside St. Luke's Episcopal Church when it was torched by Union soldiers. Running out through the front door, he was shot through the leg. The wound left him unable to walk, but Woody crawled as far as he could from the fire, wrapping his arms around the Robinson monument in front of the church as his enemies closed in around him.

The body of Woodbury "Woody" Nickels was found in the St. Luke's Churchyard after the battle. His hands still clung to the monument. His head had been crushed by a blow from a musket butt.

Just 15-years old, he was the youngest man killed in the Battle of Marianna.

Editor's Note: Read the full story in Dale Cox's book, The Battle of Marianna, Florida. It is available in Marianna at Bespoken Gifts and Antiques (4430 Lafayette Street) or online from Amazon in print and Kindle e-book formats. Click here for ordering information. 

You can also learn more in this free mini-documentary from Two Egg TV:

References

[96] Mrs. Mary Beeman, “Killed in Cold Blood,” Our Women in the War: The Lives They Lived, The
Deaths They Died, published by the Charleston News and Courier, 1885.

[97] Ibid.

[98] Ibid.

Legend of the Courthouse Cave in Marianna, Florida

Entrance to the Courthouse Cave

by Dale Cox

The legendary Courthouse Cave that runs beneath the City of Marianna is the subject of a very old story that is told in many different forms.

One popular version holds that the Jackson County Courthouse itself could disappear at any minute due to a collapse of the mysterious cavern. They point to cracks visible in the courthouse as evidence that the weight of the structure is pressing down on the ceiling of the cave.

Inside the cave, looking into a natural "forest" of formations

Another version tells of how early explorers could hear courtroom activity from above while deep within the cave.

Many if not most Jackson County residents have heard folklore about the cave. Here is the real story:The Courthouse Cave legend originates from a story that has been told around Marianna since at least the late 1800s. According to that tale, a pair of teenage friends were exploring the cave when their torch went out and they found themselves trapped in total darkness. Unsure of which way to go, they wandered deeper and deeper into the cave.

Passage leading deep under Marianna

Search parties were organized and groups of local men launched a rescue effort that took them deeper into the cave than any of them had ever been. The missing teenagers were found and brought out alive, but the rescuers told a fascinating story. At one point far into the cave they said that they heard sounds echoing down its passages. Thinking these sounds might be coming from the lost teenagers, the rescuers searched for their source. According to the legend, the noises turned out to be the sounds of courtroom activity drifting down through the roof of the cave!

So is the story true?  Well, let's just say that it is one of hundreds of colorful Jackson County stories that result from a bit of exaggeration.

There is in fact a large cavern called the Courthouse Cave that runs deep under part of the City of Marianna, even though it doesn't quite reach all the way to the courthouse and worries of the building tumbling into it have no foundation.

I will be a little circumspect about its actual location, but the cave stretches for hundreds of yards beneath parts of Marianna. Experienced cavers have explored and mapped it, learning in the process that its myriad of passages connect to at least two other named caves.

Inside the Courthouse Cave

While the story of being able to hear courtroom activity deep inside the cave is not true, it does have a rich and important history. Prehistoric American Indian artifacts dating back thousands of years have been found inside the entrance, clear evidence that hunting parties used it as shelter when hunting along the hills on which Marianna was later founded.

On September 27, 1864, the day of the Battle of Marianna, the cave provided shelter and a hiding place for many of the city's women, children and elderly. The Union troops arrived on the west side of Marianna so quickly that many of the town's people did not have time to evacuate. As the men and boys gathered on Courthouse Square to organize for the fight, noncombatants headed for the Courthouse Cave.

View of a connecting passage in Courthouse Cave

The presence of the cave was never discovered by the Union soldiers and many Marianna residents remained safely hidden there with their valuables while the battle took place overhead. They emerged the next day after the Federal troops withdrew only to find that their homes had been ransacked and vandalized. This story is not a legend, but was told by many of those who survived the Battle of Marianna until the day they died.

Another story that may or may not be legend holds that members of the Republican Party hid arms, ammunition and assassins in the cave during the Reconstruction-era violence that swept through Jackson County in 1865-1876. Documentation of this has not been found, but the cavern's proximity to the scenes of some of the most severe violence of that era adds credibility to the tale.

During the Prohibition era (1920-1933), the cave was used as a place to store secret stocks of bootleg liquor. While claims that a speakeasy or illegal bar called the "Bloody Bucket" operated in it may or may not be true, evidence of moonshiner activity has been found in several Jackson County caves.

The stories all combine to make the cave a myseterious and fascinating place.

It is on private property and not open to the public.

Please click play below to enjoy a "behind the scenes" visit to another legendary Jackson County cave:




To learn more about caves and their place in Jackson County's history, please enjoy the books below from author Dale Cox: 

67 Confederates you should meet before it is too late

Woodbury "Woody" Nickels, CSA
Beaten to death and burned at the Battle of
Marianna on September 27, 1864.

I was terribly saddened this morning to see that a friend of mine, who happens to be a professor at Florida State University (FSU), had written this social media:

...let's be clear about one other thing: removing confederate monuments has nothing to do with "erasing history." And everything to do with publicly defenestrating the confederacy--its ideals and its combatants.

If you aren't familiar with the term "publicly defenestrating" - and I admit that I wasn't - it means to publicly throw someone or something out of the window. In short, my friend the professor is advocating not only that Confederate monuments be torn down, but that we throw everything about the Confederacy out the window - including the men who fought in its armies.

Was he suggesting that dead Confederates be dug up from their graves and thrown away? I hope not.

The good professor is certainly entitled to his opinion. My ancestors fought to preserve Freedom of Speech for one and all. Some gave their lives. Others were permanently disabled. They served in the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard. Some also served in the armed forces of the Confederacy. If you aren't familiar with the Confederate Constitution, the Bill of Rights from the U.S. Constitution was copied verbatim into it so that it guaranteed Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, the right to hold and bear arms and so on.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church is sometimes called
"Florida's Alamo" because men and boys fought to the death
and were burned alive there during the Battle of Marianna.

The issue of slavery is emotional and raw, even after all these years. We seem to forget, though, the tidal wave of blood that washed that sin from our land. Estimates vary, but between 640,000 and 1,000,000 men and boys gave their lives in the War Between the States (or Civil War). Some wore blue. Some wore grey. We don't know how many civilians died from disease, starvation and battle wounds. All were sacrificed on the altar of war. The Union prevailed. Slavery was abolished (even in the North where it had remained legal throughout the war).

Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee among them, urged their soldiers to go home, to rebuild and to become good citizens. And by and large they did. Some went on to serve heroically in other conflicts, notably the Spanish-American War in which many former Confederates again donned the blue of the United States.

The loss of so many hundreds of thousands of men and boys, however, haunted the land. Wives, daughters and mothers could not forget. They could not throw the memories of their loved ones out the window. They raised money, penny by penny and dime by dime, and they raised monuments. The first ones went up in the 1870s, less than twenty years after the end of the brutal conflict.

Union veterans return a captured flag to Confederate
veterans in Marianna during the early 20th Century.

These were not monuments to slavery or oppression. They were not memorials to a "lost cause." By and large they were raised for the simple purpose of remembering sons, fathers and brothers. They were not political. They were not symbols of defiance. They were erected with reverence not for a vanquished Confederacy, but for loved ones who never came home. Union veterans often attended the dedications. Sometimes they even returned flags that had been captured on the battlefield.

The men of that era used such opportunities to shake hands, to bury old wounds and to remember lost friends. They found ways to make peace with each other. It strikes me as incredibly sad that our present generation is so intent on destroying the foundation built by the old soldiers who had faced each other over the barrels of their rifles so long ago. If they could forgive and honor each other, why can't we?

Most Confederates were conscripted. That means they were drafted. They didn't run off to fight for slavery or states rights or anything else. They went because their state ordered them to go. Many went because their state had been invaded and Union armies were ravaging the countryside to break the will of the South to fight. That was the case at a battle that is dear to my heart.

Preserving the memory of the Battle of Marianna has provided
opportunities for today's generations to learn about the role of
African-American soldiers during the war. The 82nd and 86th
USCT (U.S. Colored Troops) fought there.

The Battle of Marianna was fought on September 27, 1864. It was a small engagement compared to many of that horrible war, but it was brutal. You can read about it here.

Other Confederate troops were involved, including units in which my ancestors served, but much of the memory of the event centers around the desperate last stand of the Marianna Home Guard. These men and boys fought desperately from in and around St. Luke's Episcopal Church after they were trapped on its grounds.

A total of 67 men and boys fought with the Marianna unit that day. Some were as young as 13.

Of that number, 7 were killed in action and 6 were badly wounded. Another 24 were taken as prisoners of war and 9 of those died in prison. At least 13 of the volunteers were over the age of 50. At least 8 were under the age of 18.

These men and boys were doctors and lawyers, merchants and farmers. Some were disabled from other wounds. Some were mere schoolboys. You can read about them below and I hope that you will, especially those of you who feel that their memory and monuments should be erased forever.

Have we really reached the point in time at which it is appropriate to toss out forever our collective memory of little boys and old men who took up arms to defend their community when it came under attack? May God forgive us if that is so.

Capt. Jesse J. Norwood's Company
Marianna Home Guards (1st Florida Militia)

Jesse. J. Norwood, Captain, age 30, state senator and attorney, captured and imprisoned, died immediately following the war of debilitation from time as a prisoner of war. He left behind a wife and three children.

A.F. Blount, Lieutenant, age 44, a physician, he was severely wounded in the shoulder.

Christian J. Staley, Lieutenant, age 53, he was captured at the Battle of Marianna and imprisoned at New Orleans, Fort Lafayette and Fort Warren. He was paroled on February 12, 1865.

B.J.Alderman, private, a merchant and former California gold miner, he helped bond the construction of the Jackson County Courthouse. He was imprisoned but paroled before the Federals left Marianna.

Isaac Anderson, private, he was captured during the fighting but paroled by the Federals before they left Marianna.

William E. Anderson, age 51, a former brigadier general in the Florida militia, he put down an insurrection in Calhoun County in 1860. He was a lawyer. Captured during the Battle of Marianna he was imprisoned at New Orleans, Fort Lafayette and Fort Warren and was not released until June 26, 1865, well after the end of the war. He later served as county judge for Jackson County.

Lawrence T. Armistead, 3rd Lieutenant of Company E, 6th Florida Infantry, had been wounded in the wrist at Chickamauga and was home on medical leave when Marianna was attacked. He escaped across the Chipola River at the end of the battle. He was a student of the ministry before the war.

Robert Armistead, age 15, private, was a school boy who was marched into battle under the leadership of his instructor. He was captured in the fighting, but was released the next afternoon in Vernon, Florida.

J. Austin, private, was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans and Ship Island. He died in prison on Ship Island and is buried there in an unmarked grave.

Frank Baltzell, age 13, private, was a student at the Marianna Academy and a "printer's devil" at the local newspaper before the battle. He was taken prisoner in the fighting and was either released or escaped at Vernon on the next afternoon. He later became the editor of the Marianna Courier before moving to Alabama where he was a journalist and a leader in the Populist Movement.

Richard Baltzell, age 15, private, was a student at the Marianna Academy. Captured during the fighting, he was released at Vernon on the next afternoon.

Thomas W. Baltzell, age 15, private, was a student at the Marianna Academy before the battle. He marched into battle behind his teacher, Charles Tucker. He was wounded in the hand and taken prisoner. He was held at prisons in New Orleans and on Ship Island, Mississippi. He was too sick to be transferred from the island to Elmira Prison in New York on November 5, 1864, and instead was held on Ship Island until May 1, 1865. He was released at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on May 5, 1865 and made his way home.

Henry O. Bassett, age 39, captain of Company E, 6th Florida Infantry, was home on leave when Marianna was attacked. The former sheriff of Jackson County, he was beaten and bayoneted to death on the banks of Stage Creek during the Battle of Mairanna. His body could be identified only by the Confederate uniform pants that he was wearing.

John Blaney, age 50, private, was captured during the Battle of Marianna and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He died at Elmira on December 15, 1864, and was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

James H. Brett, age 52, private, was the local constable and a veteran of the Mexican-American War. He was the original 1st lieutenant of the defunct "Jackson Guards" militia company. He received a severe wound that tore the muscle from his left forearm during the fighting and was also clubbed to the head with a rifle butt. He died of his wounds shortly after the battle.

Albert G. Bush, age 49, private, was captured at the Battle of Marianna and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He survived and turned to his farm after the war.

Hon. Allen Henry Bush, age 55, private, was the local circuit judge and had been a practicing Marianna attorney since the 1840s. He was a delegate to the ill-fated Florida Constitutional Convention on October 25, 1865, at which he voted in favor of the ending of slavery. He was reported to be "conciliatory" to the Republicans who controlled Jackson County during the Reconstruction era.

Rev. Richard Bush, age 50, was a local minister who was captured during the fighting. He was paroled by the Federals before they left Marianna.

John C. Carter, age 22, private, had served as a private in Company E, 6th Florida Infantry, until he was badly wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga and was given a medical discharge. He volunteered when Marianna was attacked and was burned to death when St. Luke's Episcopal Church was torched by Union soldiers.

John Chason, age 57, private, was a farmer in Jackson County. He was wounded in the neck during the battle and taken prisoner. He was held in prison at New Orleans and Ship Island. He died at the latter place of dysentery on December 19, 1864, and was buried in Grave #99 on Ship Island, Mississippi. His grave is now unmarked.

Ellis Davis, age 63, private, was the captain of a state militia company during the Second Seminole War and had also served as captain of the defunct "Jackson Guards" militia company. He suffered a compound fracture of his thigh during the fighting and was disabled for the rest of his life.

Marmaduke Dickson, private, was severely wounded in the Battle of Marianna and died later in the day.

Dr. Horace Ely, private, was a local physician, merchant and hotel keeper. He was the contractor who built the 1850 Jackson County Courthouse. Ely was captured in the fighting but was paroled by the Federals before they left town.

Miles Everett, private, was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He was released from prison on March 2, 1865, but was so ill that he remained ina hospital in Richmond, Virginia for six weeks. He returned home after the war.

Francis M. Farley, private, was the former captain of Company E, 6th Florida Infantry. He was captured at the Battle of Santa Rosa Island in 1861 and imprisoned. Eventually paroled, he returned to his company and served until he was badly wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Given a medical discharge, he returned home and was elected Clerk of Courts for Jackson County. He escaped across the Chipola River at the end of the battle.

Samuel B. Gammon, age 56, private, he was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans and Ship Island. He died at the latter place from typhoid on December 8, 1864, and was buried in Grave #72. His grave is unmarked.

Thomas N. Gautier, Age 32, private, was the owner of a Marianna mercantile firm and the Oak Hill leather tannery. He was captured during the fighting but managed to escape before the end of the battle.

Peyton Gwin, teenager, private, was an employee of the local newspaper. He received a severe blow to the head from a musket butt during the fighting.

Samuel (William) Harrison, private, was captured during the battle and carried away to prison. His fate is unknown.

John W. Hartsfield, private, was captured during the battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Fort Columbus. He died at Fort Columbus of diarrhea on February 15,1865, and is buried at Cypress Hill National Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Dr. Thaddeus W. Hentz, age 30, private, was Marianna's dentist. A son of noted 19th century novelist Caroline Lee Hentz, he had served as a private in Gamble's Light Artillery but was discharged for medical reasons four days before the Battle of Marianna. One of his fingers was shot off during the fighting and he was taken prisoner. Hentz was imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. Released on March 2, 1865, he was hospitalized for roughly one week in Richmond, Virginia, due to general debility before returning home. He resumed his dental practice after the war and also helped disabled Confederate soldiers with facial reconstructions.

W.H.Hinson, private, was captured during the fighting but escaped before the end of the battle.

J.B. Justiss, private, was sometimes called Captain Justiss due to previous service in the state militia. He was captured during the battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He was exchanged in March of 1865 but was so weak and sick that he was hospitalized for two weeks at Howard's Grove Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, before he could return home.

W.O. Kincey, private, was captured during the fighting but escaped before the end fo the battle.

Rev. Richard C.B. Lawrence, age 42, private, was a local minister and the brother-in-law of Dr. Thaddeus Hentz. He was shot through the thigh during the fighting and took refuge in the blacksmith shop behind St. Luke's Episcopal Church. He was rescued by his family with the help of a Union sergeant and avoided imprisonment. He continued his ministry after the war.

Arthur Lewis (Sr.), age 58, private, was a former merchant. He was severely wounded during the fighting and died at his home two days later. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marianna.

Felix H.G. Long, age 47, private, was a local planter. He was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Fort Lafayette. He suffered a stroke at the latter place and was permanently disabled. He was released on December 14, 1864.

Dr. Nicholas A. Long, 49, private, was the 1st lieutenant of a militia company during the Second Seminole War. He was a planter and physician before the war, was a delegate to the National Whig Party Convention in 1848 and served in the Florida Legislature in 1849. He was captured in the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Fort Lafayette. He was released from prison on December 14,1864, so he could care for Felix H.G. Long. He returned home.

Israel McBright, private, was captured in the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and possibly Elmira. His fate is unknown.

W.L. McKinley, private, escaped at the end of the battle.

Adam McNealy, age 47, private, was a member of the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners at the time of the battle. He had served as one of the county's delegates to Florida's Secession Convention in 1861. He was shot through the lung and struck to the head by a musket butt during the fighting. He eventually recovered and in 1869 urged the governor not to place Jackson County under further military occupation. He served on the Jackson County Board of Educatoin following reconstruction and helped to create the county's modern public school system.

Alex Merritt, age 32, private, was a local merchant and later owned the mill that gave today's Merritt's Mill Pond its name. He was captured during the battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He was released from prison on December 12, 1864, and later resumed his profession as a merchant and millwright.

C.R. Moore, private, escaped across the Chipola River at the end of the battle.

Edwin W. Mooring, age 32, private, was a local merchant and the owner of a legal whiskey distillery. He was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He returned home after the war and was later murdered by his brother-in-law.

Nicholas Morgan, private, escaped at the end of the battle.

Milton Mosley, private, escaped at the end of the battle and opened a store near present-day Malone during later years.

John T. Myrick, Sr., private, was a former state senator, a merchant and a trustee of the Marianna Male and Female Academy. He was a Unionist and helped lead Richard Keith Call's Unionist campaign in 1860. The Confederate government sought judgments against him during the war and he was in contact with Union naval forces at St. Andrew Bay in January 1864. He was captured during the fighting but was paroled by the Federals before they left town. His son Littleton was killed in the battle.

John T. Myrick, Jr., age 16, private, was a Marianna school boy who was known as "Jack" to his friends. He was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. His brother, Littleton, was killed. Jack was released from Elmira on March 29, 1865, and returned home forever embittered against the U.S. Government. He was accused of murdering three African-Americans during Reconstruction after one of them was accused of killing his friend, Margaret McClellan. He fled the county and lived out the rest of his life as a farmer in Missouri.

Charles Nickels, age 14, private, was captured in the fighting. He was released the next day in Vernon, Florida.

William Nickels, age 64, private, was a Marianna merchant and innkeeper who also served as a trustee of the Marianna Academy. He was captured but paroled by the Federals before they left town. His son, Woody, was killed in the battle. He was a prominent Unionist.

Woodbury "Woody" Nickels, age 16, private, was a Marianna school student who marched into battle under his teacher, Charles Tucker. He was shot through the leg when he tried to escape St. Luke's Episcopal Church after it was set afire by Union troops. He crawled to a nearby headstone where his head was crushed by a Union soldier who beat him to death with the butt of his musket. His body was partially burned as the church collapsed.

Rev. E.B. Norton, private, was a local minister. He escaped at the end of the battle.

James (Daniel) O'Neal, age 51, private, was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He was "too sick" to be paroled on February 13, 1865, and died at Elmira on March 5, 1865. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Frederick R. Pittman, age 51, private, was a farmer and former Whig politician. He was captured during the battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He was released from prison on December 12, 1864.

Walter J. Robinson, captain of Company A, 11th Florida Infantry, was home on leave at the time of the attack on Marianna and volunteered for service with Norwood's men. He escaped across the Chipola River at the end of the battle.

H. Sweell, private, escaped at the end of the battle.

Solomon Sullivan, age 54, private, was badly wounded during the battle and died while receiving treatment at the home of Mrs. Mary Armistead.

Peter Taylor, private, escaped at the end of the battle.

Charles Tucker, private, was the school master at the Marianna Academy and led his students into the fight. He was captured but paroled by the Federals before they left town. Several of the young boys of his school were killed.

Charles Tucker, private (from Quincy, Florida), was in town on a court matter and volunteered to fight. He was captured in the battle and imprisoned at New Orleans, Ship Island and Elmira. He died at the latter prison camp on December 11, 1864, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Hinton J. Watson, private, was an owner of the Marianna mercantile firm of H.J. Watson & Company. He was captured during the fighting but was paroled by the Federals before they let town. His business collapsed in 1868 due to post-war economic conditions but he went on to serve in the Florida House of Representatives.

O.M. Watson, private, escaped at the end of the battle.

John B. Whitehurst, age 40, private, was the local justice of the peace. He was captured during the fighting and imprisoned at New Orleans and Ship Island. He died at the latter place from tuberculosis on October 24, 1864, and was buried in Grave #4 in the prison cemetery. His grave is unmarked today.

William B. Wynn, private, was a local farmer. He was captured during the fighting and help prisoner at New Orleans, Ship Island and Fort Columbus. He died at the latter place on December 21, 1864, and was buried at Cypress Hill National Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.


Other Confederate units present at the Battle of Marianna included Companies E & G, 5th Florida Cavalry; Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Mounted); the Woodville Scouts (Alabama State Troops); the Greenwood Club Cavalry, and the Campbellton Cavalry. Various individual volunteers also served.

If you would like to read more, please consider my book: The Battle of Marianna, Florida: Expanded Edition. It is available in both print and Kindle formats.


      

Riverside Cemetery turns 190 years old

The old section of historic Riverside Cemetery in Marianna.

Riverside Cemetery is a historic burial ground in the southeast corner of the charming old city of Marianna, Florida. It turns 190 years old this year.

Riverside was laid out by Robert and Anna Beveridge in 1827. They new that their soon to be developed town would need a public burial ground. They selected a spot on a separate hill just beyond their planned community.

The Beveridges had come down to Florida from Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Beveridge was a successful merchant and with his wife possessed strong political connections. Their investors included many prominent allies of Andrew Jackson.

Grave of Arthur Lewis
Killed in the Battle of Marianna

Sadly, one of the first people to be buried in the cemetery was Mrs. Beveridge herself. She was only 24 years old but already the mother of three children when she came down with the fever and died on March 24, 1830.

She was buried in Riverside Cemetery, but the location of her grave site has been lost to time. It is certainly possible that she is buried in one of the ancient brick crypts in the oldest part of the cemetery.

The section includes some of the oldest oak trees in Marianna.

The former area where both slaves and free African Americans were buried is just downhill from the crypts and markers of Marianna's earliest white settlers. The wooden markers that once designated the burial places of early African American residents have long since rotted away, although indentations in the ground still mark their graves in the southwest corner of the oldest part of the cemetery.

Burial trenches of Confederate soldiers at Riverside Cemetery.

Two burial trenches contain the remains Confederate soldiers who died at the Marianna Post Hospital in 1863-1865. Most of these men were the victims of illness or infections and their graves are marked by small headstones. Near them rest several of the local citizens and soldiers who died in the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 1864.

Separated from the area of oldest graves is a single monument to a Union soldier, Lt. Isaac Adams of the 2nd Maine Cavalry. He was mortally wounded in the Battle of Marianna.

Adams no longer rests at Riverside, but his monument remains.  He and other Union dead from the battle were exhumed during the late 1800s and their remains taken to Barrancas National Cemetery near Pensacola.

Monument to Lt. Isaac Adams, 2nd Maine Cavalry

The lieutenant's grave played a key role in the Reconstruction era confrontations that rocked Jackson County. Several young girls - relatives of men and boys killed in the Battle of Marianna - removed the flowers from Lt. Adams' grave and scattered them in the dirt. They were hauled before a military court, but showed up with backing from almost the entire community.

The Carpetbagger officials who ruled Marianna after the War Between the States (or Civil War) backed down in the face of this show of support and released the girls. The incident is remembered today as the "Battle of the Flowers" and was the beginning of the local uprising that eventually drove out the occupying force that controlled Jackson County from 1865-1876.

Riverside Cemetery is a peaceful and beautiful place. The azaleas and dogwoods bloom each spring, giving the cemetery a surreal charm.

A stroll through its acres and acres of stones and graves offers you the chance to walk not just through the history of Marianna and Jackson County, but through the history of Florida, the South and the Nation.

The main entrances to the oldest part of the cemetery are on Franklin Street, two blocks south of Jackson Street, in Marianna, Florida. It is open to the public during daylight hours.

#51 Jewels of Light, The Windows of St. Luke's (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

St. Luke Window

On Sunday (1/25) at 2:00 p.m., St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Marianna will offer its second "Jewels of Light" Tour. This year's event honors Father Norman Bray, whose passing on January 21, 2014, was felt by friends from all denominations.

The name "Jewels of Light" refers to the church's extraordinarily historic and beautiful stained-glass windows, which are #51 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Special thanks are due to Mary Robbins for assisting with this history of the windows:

The story of the stained-glass windows dates back to the Civil War. Union troops burned St. Luke's Episcopal Church to the ground during the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 1864. In the hard times of Reconstruction, it took the parish fifteen years to raise enough money to replace its lost sanctuary.

Rare photo of 1879 church with original stained-glass windows.

By 1879, however, the replacement structure was nearing completion when Mr. Charles B. Benedict of St. John's Episcopal Church in Jacksonville offered to pay for stained-glass windows. His wife, Martha Alston Baker - called "Pattie" by her husband and friends - was a native of Marianna and the two had been married at the home of Dr. J.T. Holden in the city on August 15, 1876. She died less than three years later on January 31, 1879, and Mr. Benedict asked to donate the windows in her memory.

Rare photo of church after 1941 fire.
Courtesy of Mary Robbins

His incredible gift was accepted and the windows were prepared by the renowned artists of Payne-Spiers Studios in Patterson, New Jersey.  They graced the beautiful little church until another fire struck on March 2, 1941. The blame this time was electrical.

Once again war and hard times intervened in the replacement of the structure and it was not until Easter morning, April 6, 1947, that the present building was dedicated. World War II had slowed the work of rebuilding.

Inside St. Luke's with the windows glowing from sunlight.

To preserve the memory of the beautiful windows lost in the 1941 fire, the church contacted Payne-Spiers. The studio created the stunning windows seen today in the sanctuary, chancel and nave, along with two windows in the stairwell and two in the sacristy.  All were placed in 1946-1956.

Local artisans Ashley and Yoshiko Hill, assisted by noted artist Maria Therrien Johnson, designed and produced two windows for the Children's Chapel in 1997 and the glass transom and door windows on the north side of the church in 2002.

Philips Memorial Window

The windows placed in the 1940s and 1950s are similar to the ones donated by Mr. Benedict in 1879. The altar window is a Philips Memorial window that is but slightly changed from the original. Many of the sanctuary windows were donated by families and friends in memory of loved ones.

Of special note is the Friendship Window high in the west wall of the church. It was placed to the Glory of God and as a show of appreciation for the many friends that came to the aid of the parish after the heartbreaking fire in 1941.

Section of the St. Peter Window.

Other windows include the Nativity Window, dedicated in memory of Mr. John Hardin Carter; the Presentation Window, placed in memory of Francis Asbury Robinson and his wife, Lorena A. Bush; the Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God) Window, placed in appreciation of the organists of the church; the Sermon on the Mount Kilpatrick Memorial Window; the St. Luke Window, dedicated to the Glory of God and in memory of Dr. N.Albert Baltzell; the St. John Window, in memory of John and Floie Milton; the St. Peter Window, in memory of Sen. William Hall Milton; the St. Philip Window, in memory of Phillip D. Mathews; the St. Bartholomew Window, for the Baker family, and the St. Andrew Window, in memory of Rev. J. William Foster and his wife, Elizabeth.

The "Jewels of Light" Tour will be this Sunday, January 25, at 2 p.m.

To learn more about St. Luke's Episcopal Church, please visit www.stlukesmarianna.org.

To see the full list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida, as it is unveiled, please visit http://twoegg.blogspot.com/2014/03/100-great-things-about-jackson-county.html.

#58 Marianna Home Guard (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Battle of Marianna Monument

The Marianna Home Guard, which bore the brunt of the fighting at the Battle of Marianna 150 years ago next week, is #58 on my list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

After the St. Andrew Bay Raid came within 30 miles of Marianna in July 1864, Governor John Milton ordered every male citizen of Florida over the age of 15 to join militia companies to help repel future such invasions. The Marianna Home Guard was among the companies that formed in response to his order.

Robert Daffin portrays Capt. Norwood in
the new Battle of Marianna documentary.

Organized by the governor himself during a meeting at the Jackson County Courthouse in Marianna, the unit originally mustered 44-men and officers. It was doubled in size by the addition of volunteers as Union troops approached the city on the morning of September 27, 1864.

The new company elected its own officers, as was the custom in those days. Jesse J. Norwood, a local attorney who had served in the 5th Florida Cavalry, was named captain. Dr. A.F. Blount and Christian J. Staley were elected as lieutenants and Edwin W. Mooring became adjutant.

The men had no uniforms and carried their own weapons - mostly shotguns, pistols and antique firearms - because they were in essence "minutemen" who continued to pursue their daily occupations but would turn out on a moment's notice in the event of a pending attack. When the bells of the city rang on the morning of September 27, 1864, the company had drilled only once.

I will post more on the courageous stand of the Marianna Home Guard at the Battle of Marianna next week. Here is the list of all known members:

Marianna Home Guard

Commanding Officer       

Captain Jesse J. Norwood
Officers                    
Dr. A.F. Blount, Lieutenant
Christian J. Staley, Lieutenant
Edwin W. Mooring, Adjutant
Members and Volunteers
B.G. Alderman                                       
Isaac Anderson                                    
William E. Anderson       
Lawrence T. Armistead       
Robert Armistead       
J. Austin       
Franklin Baltzell      
Richard Baltzell       
Thomas W. Baltzell       
Henry O. Bassett       
John Blaney       
James H. Brett       
Albert G. Bush       
Allen Henry Bush       
Rev. Richard Bush       
John C. Carter       
John Chason       
Ellis Davis       
John Davis, Sr.       
Marmaduke Dickson       
Dr. Horace Ely       
Miles Everett       
Francis M. Farley       
Samuel B. Gammon       
Thomas N. Gautier       
Peyton Gwin       
Samuel (William) Harrison       
John W. Hartsfield       
Dr. Thaddeus W. Hentz       
W.H. Hinson       
J.B. Justiss       
W.O. Kincey       
Rev. R.C.B. Lawrence       
Arthur Lewis (Sr.)       
Felix H.G. Long
Dr. Nicholas A. Long
Israel McBright
W.L. McKinley
Adam McNealy
Alex Merritt
C.R. Moore
Nicholas Morgan
Milton Mosley (Mosely)
John T. Myrick, Sr.
John T. "Jack" Myrick, Jr.
Charles Nickels
Woodbury "Woody" Nickels
Rev. E.B. Norton
James (Daniel) O'Neal
Frederick R. Pittman
Walter J. Robinson
H. Sewell
Henry Stephens (Stevens)
Isaac Hugh Stone (Private from 5th Florida Cavalry in hospital at Marianna)
Solomon Sullivan
Peter Taylor
Charles Tucker
Charles Tucker (from Quincy)
Hinton J. Watson
O.M. Watson
John B. Whitehurst
Dr. W.S. Wilson
William B. Wynn

If you have an ancestor who served in the Marianna Home Guard and do not see them listed here, please let me know by leaving a comment. We are trying to identify every possible member in time for the Battle of Marianna 150th Commemoration on September 27, 2014.

To learn more about the Battle of Marianna, please visit www.battleofmarianna.com.

#59 The Greenwood Club Cavalry (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Grave of Captain Henry Robinson

The school boys of Greenwood turned out in defense of their homes and families at the Battle of Marianna 150 years ago this month. Their company, the Greenwood Club Cavalry, is #59 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

The withdrawal of most regular Confederate troops from Florida in the months after the Battle of Olustee left vast areas of the state with no protection. Even before Governor John Milton ordered all men and boys over the age of 15 to enlist in militia or "home guard" companies for the defense of the state, individuals in some communities responded to the need and organized companies of their own.

This was the case in northwestern Jackson County where around 30 men and boys formed the Campbellton Cavalry (see #60 the Campbellton Cavalry). At the academy or school in Greenwood, instructor Henry J. Robinson led his students in doing the same.

Great Oaks was  landmark of Greenwood in 1864.

The unit formed by Robinson and the school boys of Greenwood was dubbed the Greenwood Club Cavalry, the word "club" inserted as a probable indication that the company had been formed privately. The boys continued their studies, but Robinson also gave them military training. They were Florida's "other" cadets of the War Between the State (or Civil War).

It should be noted that the Greenwood unit is often confused or blended with another company, Captain George Robinson's Jackson County Home Guards. Both companies were from eastern Jackson County and both were headed by captains named Robinson.

View of Ely Corner where Greenwood Club Cavalry helped
drive back a Union charge during the Battle of Marianna.

Henry J. Robinson was a former member of the 5th Florida Cavalry and had a basic understanding of cavalry tactics. Taking on the mantle of captain of the Greenwood Club Cavalry, he led his students through horseback and weapons drills. By the time Union troops entered the county on September 26, 1864, the Greenwood boys had become proficient.

Robinson was not the only adult member of the unit. Dr. M.A. Butler of Greenwood served as a lieutenant and other adults of the community joined the company after July 1864 when Governor Milton ordered all male citizens of the state to join the militia.

The courageous role of the Greenwood Club Cavalry in the Battle of Marianna will be discussed in a future posting. While the fight at Marianna was the heaviest action in which the company took part, it also responded to Union raids on at least two other occasions.

An original roster of the company has not been found, but the following list was compiled from 19th century documents and later pension application files:

Greenwood Club Cavalry

Henry J. Robinson, Captain
Dr. M.A. Butler, Lieutenant
Francis "Frank" Allen (76 years old)
Henry Applewhite
William Arnold
C.C. Avery
James S. Baker
Bolling Barkley
Thomas Barnes
J.R. Bowles
William Henry Cox
James H. Dickson (left to join cadets in Tallahassee before Battle of Marianna)
John J. Dickson (59 years old)
James R. Ferguson
Charles A. Finley
Davis Gray
Hansel Grice
William H. Harvey
W.H. Kimball (Sheriff of Jackson County)
James R. McMillan
T.D. Newsome
Andrew Scott, Corporal
Robert Sorey
William D. Sorey

This list is incomplete. If you have an ancestor that served in the Greenwood Club Cavalry, please let me know by leaving a comment. We would like to assemble as many names as possible in time for the Battle of Marianna 150th anniversary on September 27, 2014.

#60 The Campbellton Cavalry (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

William J. Daniel was a member of the Cambellton Cavalry
He is buried at Campbellton Baptist Church.

With the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna approaching, the next few articles in our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida, will focus on the men and boys that defended the county on September 26-27, 1864. The countdown continues with #60 the Campbellton Cavalry (sometimes called the Campbellton Home Guard).

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

Soldiers and officers from both North and South enlisted and fought for a variety of reasons in 1861-1865, but the men and boys of the Campbellton Cavalry fought for one reason and one reason only - to defend their homes and families.

Spring Hill United Methodist Church
Established in 1897 at Spring Hill near Campbellton.

Most of the regular Confederate forces were withdrawn from Florida during the months following the Battle of Olustee in early 1864. The result was that homes and communities across vast regions of the state were left utterly defenseless.

At Spring Hill, just southwest of Campbellton, a group of around 30 local men and boys gathered in May 1864 to form a volunteer unit that they dubbed the Campbellton Cavalry. They came from as far south as present-day Cottondale and as far east as modern Malone, although most lived in the area from Campbellton to Holmes Creek.

F.B. Callaway served with the Campbellton Cavalry
He is buried at Campbellton Baptist Church

The citizen soldiers were comparable to the "Minutemen" of an earlier time. They continued their daily occupations, but were prepared to respond and fight in the event their homes were threated by Union troops or one of the deserter gangs that roamed the area. Like most such units of the time they elected their own captain.

That distinction went to a plantation owner named A.R. Godwin. A well-known resident of Jackson County, he was respected and trusted by his friends and neighbors, had served as a justice of the peace and was a member of the county grand jury on at least one occasion.

A reenactor armed with a shotgun prepares to fire.
From the documentary The Battle of Marianna, Florida to be released 9/27.

The company was in essence an irregular cavalry formed by civilians and disabled Confederate veterans. Its men had neither uniforms nor government arms.

Most of them carried the percussion lock shotguns that were so common in Jackson County homes of that age. While designed for hunting, these smoothbore guns were easy to load and could be fired accurately from horseback.

For the first few months of its existence, the Campbellton Cavalry did not do much actual duty. Some of the men wrote later in their pension applications that they guarded creek crossings and occasionally responded to reports of deserter activity. There is no indication that they came under fire prior to the Marianna Raid.

Interpretive kiosk at Campbellton Baptist Church
includes information on the Campbellton Cavalry.

The company was independent until August 1864 when troops in Northwest Florida were reorganized following the St. Andrew Bay Raid. Godwin's unit and Captain W.B. Jones' Vernon Scouts of Washington County were attached to Captain Wilson W. Poe's Company C, 1st Florida Infantry Reserves (Mounted). Together they formed a battalion for home defense with Poe as overall commander. Godwin and Jones retained company command of their individual units.

All three companies would fight against the Union troops that attacked Jackson and Washington Counties on September 26-28, 1864. The role of the Campbellton men in defending Jackson County during Marianna Raid will be discussed in future articles of this series.

No original roster of the Campbellton Cavalry has been found and only a partial list of its members can be reassembled from original accounts and later pension records:

Men of the Campbellton Cavalry

Alexander R. Godwin, Captain
William A. Abercrombie
George Ball
Samuel Bosworth
William Clayton
Cullen Curl
William Daniel
Mark Elmore
F.B. Haywood
Spencer Lamb (also given as Lamb Spencer)
William Mathews
A.J. McNeal
Charles Tipton
Ezekial Register
J.W. Rouse
Jasper Newton Williams
J.W. Williamson

If you had an ancestor that served in the Campbellton Cavalry and do not see them listed here, please let me know by leaving a comment.  I hope to identify as many of the men as possible before the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 2014.

#62 Camp Governor Milton, Civil War camp at Blue Springs (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Blue Springs from site of Camp Governor Milton

The important Confederate camp established at Blue Springs during the War Between the States (or Civil War) is #62 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

Blue Springs (or Jackson Blue Springs as the state has renamed it) has been a landmark for thousands of years. Early American Indians frequented the spring and surrounding caves to hunt and fish. The actual Old Spanish Trail passed by the spring, which was a frequent stopping point for Spanish missionaries, soldiers and explorers. The U.S.Army of Major General Andrew Jackson visited Blue Springs during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. During the 1820s it became the centerpiece of Major William Robinson's cotton plantation.

Sylvania Plantation Marker at Blue Springs

By the time Florida seceded from the Union in January 1861, the beautiful spring was known by its present name and was owned by Governor-elect John Milton as part of his Sylvania Plantation. He enjoyed fishing in Blue Springs and sitting by the water to reflect during the trying times of the War Between the States.

The availability of a large quantity of fresh water, access to good roads leading in all directions, proximity to Marianna and the good condition of the buildings of the former Robinson Plantation led the Confederate Army to establish Camp Governor Milton at Blue Springs in 1862.

Historic photo of Blue Springs with plantation house visible.
State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection

The camp stood on the hill overlooking the head spring where the parking area is located today. The surrounding farms and plantations provided a steady supply of provisions plus corn could be ground downstream at Coker's Mill.

While the term "camp" implies a temporary establishment and evokes mental images of soldiers sleeping in tents, Camp Governor Milton was a more permanent facility. Surviving documents include receipts for lumber and nails used to build a hospital. Soldiers were quartered in the original Robinson plantation house and outbuildings instead of in tents.

Underwater view of Blue Springs
Photo by Alan Cox

In fact, the camp was occupied from 1862 until the end of the war in 1865. Among the units known to have been stationed there at various times were Captain Walter Robinson's Independent Company (later Company A, 11th Florida Infantry); the Marianna Dragoons (later Company B, 15th Confederate Cavalry); Company C, 1st Florida Reserves; Captain Robert Chisolm's Woodville Scouts of the Alabama State Militia (later Company I, 5th Florida Cavalry); Companies A and E, 5th Florida Cavalry, and detachments from other companies.

View from Blue Springs at Sunset
Photo by Camille Lakey

Troops from Camp Governor Milton played a critical role in several Florida actions of the War Between the States. Robinson's company marched from Blue Springs to attack Union sailors trying to get the captured blockade runner Florida out of St. Andrew Bay in 1862. The next year the same company attacked another Federal detachment at St. Andrews (present-day Panama City). In September 1864, a detachment of Chisolm's company fought at the Eucheeanna Skirmish in Walton County and then the entire company took part in the Battle of Marianna. Finally, in March 1865, companies of the 5th Florida Cavalry rode from Blue Spring to Tallahassee to fight at the Battle of Natural Bridge.

The camp was abandoned at the end of the war and not used by Union occupation troops during the Reconstruction era. The buildings are gone now, but traces of the Confederate soldiers that once served there can still be seen in the form of carvings left in the rocks and caves around Blue Springs.

To learn more about the history of Blue Springs Recreational Area, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jacksonbluespring.