#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/.

#78 Widow Hull's Place, First County Seat (100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida)

Map showing location of Widow Hull's Place
Click to Enlarge

Widow Hull's Place, the first county seat of Jackson County, is #78 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

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

Although Jackson County was established by act of the Florida Territorial Legislative Council in 1822, it took a couple of years to get its government up and running. This was largely due to the massive size of the original county, which then extended from the Suwannee River on the east to the Choctawhatchee River on the West and from the south lines of Alabama and Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. 

U.S. Land Patent for Sarah Hull
Click to Enlarge

By the time the first census was taken in 1825, the size of the original county had been carved down considerably by the creation of other new counties. The population that year, however, included only 213 families scattered from the Alabama line to the Gulf of Mexico. Marianna had not yet been established, although the modern towns of Greenwood and Campbellton were identifiable communities. 

On April 18, 1825, the three members of the Jackson County Court (comparable to today's county commissioners) met at the home of Mrs. Sarah Hull to appoint a commission that would recommend a site for a permanent county seat. It is by virtue of this meeting that Mrs. Hull's place, often called "Widow Hull's Place," can be considered the first county seat of Jackson County.

Waddell's Mill Pond
About one mile upstream from Widow Hull's Place

According to a patent in the General Land Office Records at the Bureau of Land Management, Sarah Hull obtained the Northwest 1/4 of Section 2, Township 5 North, Range 11 West directly from the land office in Tallahassee. Exactly when she settled on the property is not clear, but her patent was approved in Washington by President John Quincy Adams in 1827. Since she was living on the parcel in 1825, it is likely that she settled there at some point between that date and the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States in 1821. Thomas Hull, evidently a grown son, acquired adjoining land in Section 3.

Mrs. Hulls' home was located on the south side of Waddell's Mill Creek, downstream from Waddell's Mill Pond between the mill dam and today's Bump Nose Road. The site is on private property.

Cristoff's Ferry on the Chipola River
The ferry was in use by 1825.

Although the records are silent as to the reason her home was selected as a location for the meeting of the county court, it probably was picked due to its convenient location near the road leading from Cristoff's Ferry on the Chipola River. Centrally located in the area of the county where settlers were establishing themselves, it was a reasonable place for a meeting.

Convening at Mrs. Hull's house on April 18, 1825, were Jacob Robinson, William S. Pope and Joseph Russ. They appointed three commissioners - Dr. William P. Hort, James Patterson and Owen Williams - to find a permanent place for building a courthouse and county seat.

The commissioners viewed several locations before settling on the West 1/2 of the Southwest 1/4 of Section 4 in Township 4 North, Range 10 West. This is the present site of Marianna. 

Marianna later grew on the proposed site of the Town of Chipola

The County Court returned to Mrs. Hull's on June 10, 1825, to receive the recommendation of the commissioners and the members seemed to have been pleased, noting in their minutes that the future site of Marianna was "the most Eligible site for the public buildings of said County."

Things seemed to be going well and, from the temporary county seat at Mrs. Hull's, the County Court moved forward with plans for a town where Marianna would later stand. On July 11, 1825, the court members met at Widow Hull's and ordered Deputy Clerk Court/County Surveyor John B. Jackson to lay out the "Town of Chipola" on the designated site. A plat was prepared and a sale of lots was set for October 19.

The plan began to fall apart shortly before the date of the sale. The three members of the County Court met again at Mrs. Hull's place on October 17, 1825, just two days before the planned sale. Some controversy developed and two of the judges - Jacob Robinson and Joseph Russ - reconvened the next day and declared the selection of the site for a permanent county seat to be illegal.  The reason why they believed it to be so was never explained.

Site of Webbville

Instead, from their meeting at the Widow Hull's, the two judges ordered the permanent county seat to be established on a different site in Section 22, Township 5 North, Range 11 West. This site is about two miles southeast of the intersection of today's State Highway 73 and U.S. 231 north of Cottondale. 

The new location for a permanent county seat was immediately southeast of Section 16 of Township 5 North, Range 11 West, where the town of Webbville would soon grow. 

The selection of this site led to all out political war in Jackson County. Multiple elections would follow, as would decisions from both the Territorial Legislature and the U.S. Congress. In the end, the city of Marianna (founded in 1827) would emerge as the winner in the battle for county seat.

Although it would take years of political fighting to decide the location of a permanent county seat, the Widow Hull's Place holds the distinction of being Jackson County's first county seat by virtue of the fact that the county court met there repeatedly over an extended period of time. Mrs. Hull was not still in Jackson County by the time the county seat battle was decided. She relocated to Quincy prior to 1830.

Widow Hull's Place, the long forgotten first county seat, is #78 on our list of 100 Great Things about Jackson County, Florida.

Jackson County's own St. Nicholas

It is a little known fact that the first European settlement in Jackson County was named for St. Nicholas or, as we remember him these days, Santa Claus.

The Spanish mission of San Nicolas was founded in 1674 by Franciscan missionaries who made their way west from the mission center of San Luis in present-day Tallahassee. Located at a large village of Chatot or Chacato Indians (sometimes confused with the Choctaw, even though they never lived in the area), San Nicolas consisted of a rough church, a home for the priest Fray Rodrigo de la Barreda and a storage building.

Mission San Nicolas was only occupied for about one year before a rebellion among the Chatot forced a wounded Fray Rodrigo to flee for his life. Although it is not believed that the church was ever again occupied, the site of San Nicolas remained an important landmark and camping spot for Spanish explorers over the next few decades.

The exact site of the mission has never been determined. Based on a journal kept my Fray Rodrigo, it is evident that the church stood at the mouth of a large cave somewhere west of the Chipola River. He mentions passing Calistoble (Blue) Spring and a severe swamp (the Natural Bridge of the Chipola) before arriving at the site. The cave at the mission site was described as extremely large and with a stream of water flowing inside.

The two most likely possibilities for the mission site are the now largely collapsed cave at Waddell's Mill Pond and the well-known Arch Cave about three miles northwest of Marianna. No evidence of the mission's existence has ever been found at these sites, but they are the only known caves in the area matching the priest's descriptions. Both are on private property and the owners do an admirable job of protecting the caves from damage.