Remembering the Casualties of the Battle of Marianna

This weekend marks the 144th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna.

Union troops attacked Marianna on September 27, 1864, and remained in the city until early on the morning of the 28th.

For many years the anniversary was memorialized each year across Florida as "Marianna Day." It was a time when citizens across the state paused to remember the sacrifices made that day by the defenders of Marianna, many of them just every day civilians that took up arms to defend their homes, families and communities.

"Marianna Day" is no longer recognized in Florida. The day of remembrance has passed into history. Observances still take place in Jackson County, but it is a tragedy of modern times that we so easily forget the sacrifices of those who came before us.

It reminds me of the words of a friend and former business associate of mine. We were walking the National Cemetery in Fort Smith, Arkansas, a few years ago because he had asked to see the grave of General William Darby, the father of the U.S. Army Rangers as we know them today. My friend had been an Army Ranger and visiting the grave of this World War II hero had a great impact on him.

He told me that day that "Americans have very short memories." His words come back to me often when I visit the graves of America's heroes, whether they be the veterans of recent wars or those that served and died long ago. We let their memory fade away much too soon.

The following are the lists of the casualties, Confederate and Union, of the Battle of Marianna:

Confederate Dead:

Henry O. Bassett - Marianna Home Guard (officer home on leave)

James H. Brett - Marianna Home Guard

John C. Carter - Marianna Home Guard

M.N. Dickson - Marianna Home Guard

Arthur Lewis (Sr.) - Marianna Home Guard

Woodbury Nickels - Marianna Home Guard

Solomon Sullivan - Marianna Home Guard

Francis Allen - Greenwood Club Cavalry

M.A. Butler - Greenwood Club Cavalry

Littleton Myrick - Co. B, 15th Confederate Cavalry

Confederate Wounded:

A.F. Bount - Marianna Home Guard

Thomas Baltzell - Marianna Home Guard

John Chason - Marianna Home Guard

John Davis, Sr., - Marianna Home Guard

Peyton Gwin - Marianna Home Guard

Thaddeus W. Hentz - Marianna Home Guard

R.C.B. Lawrence - Marianna Home Guard

Adam McNealy - Marianna Home Guard

Samuel Bosworth - Campbellton Cavalry

William Mathews - Campbellton Cavalry

Isaac King - Company B, 15th Confederate Cavalry

John J. Dickson - Greenwood Club Cavalry

C.N. Sheats - Chisolm's Company, Alabama State Militia

W.N.W. Shiver - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves

William McPherson - Company G, 5th Florida Cavalry

Oliver Sellers - George Robinson's Home Guard

Confederate Prisoners of War:

Jesse J. Norwood - Marianna Home Guard

C.J. Staley - Marianna Home Guard

Allen H. Bush - Marianna Home Guard

William B. Wynn - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

J.B. Justiss - Marianna Home Guard

Samuel Gammon - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

James O'Neal - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

Ellis Davis - Marianna Home Guard

Albert G. Bush - Marianna Home Guard

J.B. Whitehurst - Marianna Home Guard

Charles Tucker - Marianna Home Guard

W.E. Anderson - Marianna Home Guard

Alex Merritt - Marianna Home Guard

J.W. Hartsfield - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

John Blaney - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

Miles Everett - Marianna Home Guard

J.T. Myrick, Jr. - Marianna Home Guard

Nicholas A. Long - Marianna Home Guard

Felix H.G. Long - Marianna Home Guard

F.R. Pittman - Marianna Home Guard

J. Austin - Marianna Home Guard (Died in Prison)

Israel McBright - Marianna Home Guard

Samuel Harrison - Marianna Home Guard

W.A. Abercrombie - Campbellton Cavalry (Died in Prison)

T.B. Haywood - Campbellton Cavalry

William Daniel - Campbellton Cavalry (Died in Prison)

Mark Elmore - Campbellton Cavalry

Cullin Curl - Campbellton Cavalry

W.H. Kimball - Greenwood Club Cavalry

T.D. Newsome - Greenwood Club Cavalry

Hansel Grice - Greenwood Club Cavalry

B.J. Fordham - Chisolm's Company, Alabama State Militia

W.L. Hatton - Chisolm's Company, Alabama State Militia (Died in Prison)

H.R. Pittman - Chisolm's Company, Alabama State Militia

Peter Abercrombie - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Died in Prison)

John Alley - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Died in Prison)

John Anderson - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves

Miles Sims - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Died in Prison)

J.M. Brown - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves

J.R. Williams - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves (Died in Prison)

Mathney Kiel - Company C, 1st Florida Reserves

A.B. Montgomery - Provisional Army of the Confederate States (Colonel)

J.B. Roulhac - Company B, 15th Confederate Cavalry

Lawson Daniels - Company B, 15th Confederate Cavalry (Died in Prison)

Union Dead:

Nicholas Francis - Company E, 82nd U.S. Colored Infantry

Mahlon M. Young - Company H, 7th Vermont Infantry

Silas Campbell - Company E, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Thomas A. Davis - Company J, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Ellis Ayer - Company I, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Ansel Brackett - Company F, 2nd Maine Cavalry

David C. Whitney - Company F, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Union Wounded:

Alexander Asboth - U.S. Volunteers (Brigadier General)

Nathan Cutler - 2nd Maine Cavalry

Eben Hutchinson - 2nd Maine Cavalry

Elisa E. Clark - Company L, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Orrin Evans - Company L, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Charles Clough, Jr. - Company L, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Luthor Pollard - Company G, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Joshua R. Adams - Company M, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Sanford Pendleton - Company E, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Samuel Stoddard, Jr. - Company F, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Unknown - Company D, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Unknown - 2nd Maine Cavalry

Unknown - 2nd Maine Cavalry

Isaac Anderson - Company C, 86th U.S. Colored Infantry

Solomon Johnson - Company C, 86th U.S. Colored Infantry

James Breckenridge - Company C, 86th U.S. Colored Infantry

Unknown - 82nd U.S. Colored Infantry

Unknown - 82nd U.S. Colored Infantry

Lyman W. Rowley - Company B, 1st Florida U.S. Cavalry

Union Prisoners of War:

Henry O'Neal - Company D, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Chester Whitney - Company I, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Moses Sims - Company M, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Henry Brown - Company E, 2nd Maine Cavalry

Daniel Ellis - Company H, 2nd Maine Cavalry (Died in Prison)

Abiel N. Linscott - Company E, 2nd Maine Cavalry

George W. Williams - Company I, 2nd Maine Cavalry

G. Shuman - Company G, 2nd Maine Cavalry

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.

Remembering Northwest Florida's "Great Tide"

By Dale Cox

Port St. Joe – Tropical Storm Fay and Hurricane Gustav have had all eyes on the Gulf of Mexico lately. This always brings my mind back to the legend of Northwest Florida’s “Great Tide.”

That was the name given by novelist Rubylea Hall to a legendary hurricane tidal surge that supposedly wiped the city of St. Joseph, Florida, from the map. St. Joseph stood on the present site of Port St. Joe and during the 1830s was the largest city in Florida. Little remains today other than tombstones and a museum to remind visitors that the city ever existed.

Hall’s story of a “city so wicked that God wiped it from the earth” is a Gone with the Wind like tale of life on the plantations of Jackson County and our area’s close connections to the lost city. In the novel, as in real life, St. Joseph prospered only to be devastated by a deadly yellow fever epidemic. The survivors in Hall’s story were at last driven away by a hurricane driven surge that rose from the Gulf and swept St. Joseph into history.

The Great Tide mirrored real history in many ways, with some artistic license. Jackson County did indeed have many strong connections to St. Joseph. Robert Beveridge, the founder of Marianna, moved to St. Joseph less than ten years after he and his workers carved Marianna from the wilderness. He died at St. Joseph during the great yellow fever outbreak and is buried in an unmarked grave in the old cemetery there.

Connected to St. Joseph by direct road, Marianna naturally developed many business and social ties to the coastal boomtown. Residents of Jackson County built “summer homes” in St. Joseph to escape the brutal heat and humidity of the interior. Many original promoters of Webbville also became involved in the new city on the coast, establishing businesses there. St. Joseph’s newspaper, for example, was published by a former Webbville entrepreneur.

By the time that St. Joseph hosted the Florida Constitutional Convention in 1838, the city had grown to become the largest in Florida and its promoters envisioned the day when it would become a major coastal city to rival New Orleans.

It was not to be. A massive yellow fever outbreak hit the city, sending residents fleeing into the interior. Newspapers across the South reported the death toll from St. Joseph. How many people actually died from fever may never be known, but the list was large and the sickness showed no respect for wealth or position. It inflicted a death blow from which St. Joseph never recovered.

During the early 1840s a hurricane did hit the city, but the legends of a “Great Tide” that wiped St. Joseph from the earth grew significantly in the telling. By the time of the Civil War, however, St. Joseph had disappeared as the forest reclaimed the streets, cemetery and ruins of the city.
By the mid-1840s, many Jackson County families that had relocated to St. Joseph returned to their former homes in and around Marianna.

A visit to Port St. Joe today provides a fascinating glimpse back in time. Visitors can explore the history of the lost city at the Constitutional Convention State Museum located on the site of old St. Joseph. Exhibits there include artifacts from St. Joseph and a replica of Florida’s first railroad locomotive. The old St. Joseph Cemetery also survives as a somber reminder of the fever outbreak that doomed what once was Florida’s largest city.

If you would like to learn more about historic St. Joseph and what remains of "Florida's Lost City," please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/portstjoe.

Jackson County's Oldest American Settlement

Campbellton - The smoke had barely cleared from the First Seminole War when the first settlers began to make their way back to the rich lands they had explored with Andrew Jackson in 1818. It was a risky proposition at best. The area that would become Jackson County was still Spanish territory at the time and there was the possibility of violent confrontation with Native American warriors still angered over their losses in the war.

It is unclear whether the first settlers actually intended to cross the international border. Moving down through southern Alabama, they crossed into Florida just north of present-day Campbellton and began to clear farms along Spring Creek. The land in the area was rich, with a good water supply, and the border dividing the United States from Spanish Florida was poorly marked.

Although there are some old Florida history books that claim Campbellton was founded during the American Revolution, this is an inaccurate claim. A community of a similar name existed during the 1700s north of Pensacola, but the Jackson County community was not settled until the early 1800s.

Exactly when the first settlers arrived north of Campbellton is not known, but it was sometime in either late 1818 or early 1819. By the time Florida was transferred from Spain to the United States in 1821, several dozen families had staked claims in the area, clearing small farms ranging in size from 15 to around 40 acres.

Many of the names of these original settlers can still be recognized in Jackson County today. They included members of the Williams, Falk, Nelson, Philips, Hamilton, Cadwell, Parrot, Ward, Farmer, Thomas, Hays, Fowler, Hudson, Blount, Brantley, Robert Thompson, Moore, Daniel, Gwinn, Jones, Roach, Moses, Porter, Cook, Smith and Scurlock families. Their farms stretched from Holmes Creek near present-day Graceville and along Spring Creek in a curving arc just north of the present Campbellton site to the west side of Forks of the Creek.

As the settlement grew, it spread south across the site of Campbellton and by the time of the cession of Florida from Spain to the United States, a settlement had begun to grow there. The area was incorporated into Jackson County in 1822 and in 1825 a landmark event in Florida history took place in the little settlement.

On March 12, 1825, seventeen residents of the area gathered in a grove of oak trees to form what was then known as the Bethlehem Baptist Church. Known today as Campbellton Baptist Church, it is the oldest Baptist congregation in the State of Florida.

The original members of the church were John Beasley, Miller Brady, Sarah Brady, Sexton Camp, Ephriam Chambless, James Chason, Lucy Chason, Elizabeth Daniel, Benjamin Hawkins, Clark Jackson, Richard Lonchsten, Martha Parker, Martha Peacock, W. Peacock, Nancy Phillips, Elizabeth Taylor and Sarah Williams. Elizabeth Owens was taken under the “watch care of the church” for unclear reasons and William Brady was appointed as the first clerk of the congregation. James Chason and Clark Jackson were ordained as the first deacons.

The historic church continues to meet today, a living reminder of the first settlement in Jackson County and of the determination of the early settlers that carved homes and built a new county from the wilderness of Northwest Florida.

Remembering the "Gopher Gang"

Depression Era Vision, Determination and Hard Labor Made Florida Caverns a Success

By Dale Cox


Marianna – People by the thousands pass through Florida Caverns State Park each year, but few realize that perhaps as remarkable as the beautiful scenery is the fact that this major area tourist attraction became a reality during some of the darkest years of American history.

The Great Depression, brought on by the economic collapse of 1929, was felt from coast to coast and the already poor rural areas of the South were particularly hard hit. By the 1930s employment had all but vanished, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes and hunger and misery stalked the land. It is sometimes in the midst of such hardship, however, that great ideas take root and it was during the Great Depression that Dr. J.C. Patterson of Malone gave Jackson County an unforgettable gift.

Dr. Patterson was fascinated with caves and during a visit to Luray Caverns in Virginia he began to ponder the possibility that a similar attraction might be developed in the beautiful caverns north of Marianna. The idea must have seemed farfetched during such a time of economic distress, but in 1935 the doctor invested his own funds to purchase 494 acres forming the heart of today’s state park.

Tom Yancy of the Marianna Chamber of Commerce quickly realized that Patterson was onto something and he soon joined the doctor, with support from other chamber members, in a drive to encourage the state to take over the project. Yancy and Patterson both realized that the creation of a state park at the site would mean construction jobs for local residents and tourism dollars for decades to come.

Florida’s governor and legislature agreed and Florida Caverns became the state’s seventh state park. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Number SP-12 was established on the original Patterson parcel and construction work began on the park during the late 1930s.

It is remarkable to think today that the massive cavern now known as the “Tour Cave” at the park was completely unknown to Patterson and his fellow promoters. An opening was discovered beneath the roots of a fallen tree and exploration revealed the beautiful caves and formations that have delighted hundreds of thousands of visitors over the years.

Much of the work on developing the cave was done by a group of men known as the “Gopher Gang.” CCC workers, they moved tons of mud, ran electrical wiring, carved steps and passage ways.

Three different companies of CCC workers labored to build the park. One company was comprised of veterans from World War I, the second was comprised of African Americans from Florida and the third was made up of “junior members.”

Florida Caverns State Park today is one of the most beautiful public places in the South. The tourism it generates produces a major economic boost for Jackson County and the determination, inspiration and labors of the people that worked to create it more than 70 years ago stand today as a spectacular memorial to human endeavor during a time of great suffering.

To learn more about Florida Caverns State Park and its history and historic sites, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/floridacaverns.

Medal of Honor awarded for action during the Battle of Marianna

Union Officer Saved the Lives of Local Prisoners and was Honored by His Country

By Dale Cox

Marianna – One of the most nationally significant events in Jackson County history took place on September 27, 1864, during the engagement remembered today as the Battle of Marianna.
A Union officer, Captain George H. Maynard of the 82nd U.S. Colored Infantry, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in part for his actions in saving the lives of local men and boys on the grounds of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

A Northerner by birth, Maynard had joined the Union army early in the war as a private in Company D of the 13th Massachusetts Infantry. He quickly displayed an unusual combination of both heroism and mercy on the battlefield that attracted the attention of his superior officers.
At the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg), Maryland, on September 17, 1862, for example, Maynard personally went under fire to remove two wounded comrades from danger. He then joined each Union regiment advancing to his location of the battlefield and by the time the fight was over had charged the Confederate lines with six different units.

At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, three months later, he went twice alone into enemy fire to bring wounded men to safety. This heroic act resulted in his promotion to captain and assignment to the 82nd U.S. Colored Infantry, a new regiment formed of liberated African American men from Mississippi and Louisiana.

A detachment from the regiment fought at the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 1864, and in the final stages of the fighting, Maynard found himself with his men on the grounds of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where Captain Jesse Norwood and the local citizens of the Marianna Home Guard refused to surrender.

According to Maynard’s personal account of the battle, the Union troops ceased firing in an effort to talk Norwood and his men into giving up, but the local citizen soldiers intensified their fighting. The action, he said, “infuriated” his men and the battle degenerated into a bloody melee.
Finally, Norwood and his men realized that their situation was hopeless and began to lay down their weapons. To Maynard’s shock and outrage, however, his men began shooting the defenseless prisoners. “I at once dismounted and rushed into the graveyard,” he reported, “just in time to knock away a musket placed at the head of a prisoner.” According to his account, he then leveled his pistol at his own men and “threatened to blow out the brains of the first man who dared to shoot a prisoner.”

According to men present from both North and South, Maynard’s actions at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church prevented the massacre of many of the captured men and boys of Marianna.

The captain was subsequently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism under far, in part for his actions during the Battle of Marianna. The medal survives today, a reminder of a remarkable act of courage and compassion for which Maynard was recognized by his government. The medal is accompanied by the notation that he was honored for being “heroic and humane.”

If you would like to read more about the Battle of Marianna, please visit http://www.battleofmarianna.net/. Also please consider my book - The Battle of Marianna, Florida - available online at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/dalecox and at Chipola River Book and Tea in downtown Marianna.

Article: Florida's Lost County

Remembering Florida’s Lost County

By Dale Cox

Eastern Jackson County – One of the more unique political fiascos in Florida history took place in 1832 when the Territory’s Legislative Council carved off the eastern half of Jackson County to create an entirely new political entity. Called Fayette County (after the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution), the new county was a political boondoggle of the first order.

For five years, the communities of Marianna and Webbville had been engaged in a fierce political battle to become the county seat of Jackson County. Although Webbville received the designation of the U.S. Congress, Marianna ultimately prevailed in the fight when the Legislative Council (the equivalent of today’s state legislature) levied fines against any public officials not doing business from the new city on the Chipola.

Unwilling to give up the fight without one last attempt, the promoters of Webbville devised the bizarre strategy of giving away half of the county in order to win the coveted county seat title. In a flurry of intense lobbying, they convinced the members of the Legislative Council that the people of eastern Jackson County would be happier if they could govern themselves.

Accordingly, on February 9, 1832, the council approved “An Act to organize a county to be called the County of Fayette.” Encompassing the entire area of today’s Jackson and Calhoun Counties between the Chipola and Chattahoochee/Apalachicola River systems, the new county stretched from the Alabama line south to the northern limits of today’s Franklin (then part of Washington) County. The modern communities of Malone, Bascom, Greenwood, Two Egg, Dellwood, Cypress, Grand Ridge, Sneads, Altha and Blountstown are all located within the limits of the original Fayette County.

On the same day, the council also incorporated the “Town of Ocheesee” at Ocheesee Bluff in what is now Calhoun County to serve as a county seat for the new county and construction was soon underway there on both a courthouse and jail.

The dream of the Webbville promoters to remove a large block of pro-Marianna voters from Jackson County, however, was soon dashed. When the council approved a new election to determine a permanent county seat for Jackson County, Governor James D. Westcott quickly realized what was happening. Just two days after the creation of Fayette County, he vetoed the election bill for Jackson County. In a letter to the leaders of the Legislative Council, he noted that after contentious debate the county seat issue in Jackson County had finally been resolved. “I am averse to disturbing the quiet of the county by raising the question again if it can be avoided,” he wrote. The governor also called into question the whole Fayette County debacle, “Had I anticipated the agitation of it, when the bill for forming Fayette county was under consideration, it would have formed an additional objection to that act.”

Webbville’s final effort had failed. Although Fayette County became a reality, it was short-lived. Just one year after the creation of the new county, the Legislative Council responded to pleas from residents living in its northern areas and reunited them with Jackson County. Ten months later, on January 15, 1834, the residents from the remaining part of Fayette County filed a similar petition in Tallahassee.

Fayette County disappeared from the map of Florida on February 1, 1834, when the Legislative Council repealed its earlier act creating the county. In existence for only two years, it is now remembered as “Florida’s Lost County.”

This story is presented in much greater detail in the new book - The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One - now available for purchase by clicking here.

An 1827 Account of Jackson County

The following is from this week's issue of the Jackson County Times. If you haven't subscribed to the newspaper yet, you can do so by clicking here.

A Description of Jackson County from 1827

By Dale Cox

Marianna – One of the most interesting accounts ever written about Jackson County is found in the journal of an early Catholic Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Michael Portier. He entered the county in June of 1827 by way of Orange Hill in what is now Washington County and left the only known description of the site of Marianna before the founding of the city.

Biship Portier crossed over the site where Marianna would be founded just a few months later while make his way on horseback from Pensacola to St. Augustine.

In his journal he wrote:

“On every side you could hear the rippling of the brooks which here and there blended their waters and developed into streams of deep and regular formation. Rocks were to be met as high as the trees themselves, and bordered around with wild flowers, while sweet-scented shrubbery decked the sides and summits of these pygmy mountains. Natural wells, underground caves, oak trees blasted by lightning or cast by the tempest across our narrow pathway like an artificial bridge – everything was present to enhance the spectacle.”

Less than six months after the bishop passed across the beautiful site, Robert Beveridge and his workers began carving the modern city of Marianna from the wilderness. Portier’s description provides a good idea of why the site was considered as an excellent location for a settlement.

Pushing on across the Chipola River, the bishop spent the night at the home of William Robinson overlooking Blue Spring. Robinson had moved to the area from Georgia a few years earlier and acquired more than 3,100 acres in the area around Blue Spring. A life-long bachelor, he was described as less than an ideal host by Portier.

The bishop was impressed, however, with the spring itself. “This beautiful body of water, of perfect blue color,” he wrote, “imparts the same tint to whatever it reflects, and when the sun is in the zenith the reflected images take on all the colors of the rainbow through the prismatic influence of the waters.”

Portier’s description of Blue Spring provides a fascinating word picture of how it must have appeared before the creek flowing from it was dammed later in the 19th century:

“Like a small flood tired of being hampered and held up in its progress, it pours over with mighty force into a bed cut deep into the rock. This bed or vase is oval in shape and possibly a hundred feet wide at its broadest span. So clear is the water that the smallest objects are distinctly seen in it at a depth of thirty or even thirty-five feet; while all around the magnolia, laurel, cypress, and cedar are found in profusion. The wild grape-vine, after pushing its plaint branches to the very tops of these trees, hangs suspended over the stream in festoons. Fish without number find shelter in this retreat; but at the slightest sound of an inquisitive wayfarer they seek speedy refuge in the deeper places.”

Bishop Portier passed on from Blue Spring after only one night and crossed the Apalachicola River in a small boat the next day. His account lives on, however, as one of the finest descriptions written of early Jackson County.

Bishop Portier’s journal is one of the early accounts of Jackson County in the new book The History of Jackson County, Florida: Volume One.

The Wreck of the Steamboat Eagle - Neal's Landing, Florida

Coming in this week's issue of the Jackson County Times, I have an article that I think you will find interesting.

It tells the story of the shocking wreck of the great steamboat Eagle near Neal's Landing in the northeast corner of Jackson County.

The Eagle was a 200 ton steamboat that was one of the largest and most elegant paddlewheel boats to navigate the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers during the years before the Civil War.

On January 29, 1854, she caught fire as she was approaching Neal's Landing and completely disappeared in less than 15 minutes. The fatal fire was one of the most shocking tragedies in the early history of Jackson County and also gave rise to a remarkable story of heroism.

Be sure to pick up a copy of this week's paper to read the story. If you haven't subscribed to the Jackson County Times, please consider doing so. They publish more news about the history of Jackson County than any other publication in the area. You can subscribe online by clicking here. Just look for the "Subscribe" button.

I will post the full article later in the week after this week's issue is out.

Florida's First Astronomical Observatory was in Jackson County

This is a view of Irwin's Mill Creek in the northeast corner of Jackson County. The location of the first astronomical observatory in the history of Florida was not far from this spot.

Neal’s Landing – It is a little known fact that the first scientific observatory in the history of Florida was established in what is now Jackson County in 1799.

Florida was still a Spanish possession at the time and the observatory was the result of a joint U.S. and Spanish expedition assigned to determine the exact boundary line dividing the two nations. Spain and the United States had ratified the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1796 and the treaty established the 31st parallel as the official dividing line between the United States and Florida.

The problem was that no one knew exactly where the line ran. To find out, the two countries assigned teams of surveyors to hack their way through the wilderness and mark the new boundary. The U.S. team was headed by Andrew Ellicott, a veteran of the American Revolution and the man called on by President George Washington to survey the new District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.). The leader of the Spanish team was Stephen Minor, a Pennsylvania native that had served in the Spanish army during the American Revolution and then settled in what was then Spanish territory at Natchez, Mississippi.

The two men, accompanied by other surveyors and a detachment of Spanish cavalry, started their work on the line in what is now Alabama in 1799. After they determined the starting point, Ellicott and Minor traveled separately by ship to the mouth of the Apalachicola River while the other men of the survey party chopped their way due east through the wilderness, marking the line with a series of mounds of earth known today as “Ellicott Mounds.”

Most of the mounds can still be found, but although the surveyors did the best they could with the equipment of the time, the Ellicott Line was incorrectly located for virtually its entire length. The errors were corrected by later surveyors.

Severely blistered by poison ivy, Ellicott began his trip up the Apalachicola River on July 18, 1799. The wind did not cooperate, however, so he moved his equipment from his ship into a canoe and set up off stream. Pushing ashore at a Native American village in what is now Calhoun County, he purchased horses and crossed into present-day Jackson County on July 23rd.

Following an old trail along the route of today’s River Road, he made contact with the surveying party on the banks of the Chattahoochee River just north of Irwin’s Mill Creek on July 25, 1799. In his journal he noted that, “The observatory was finished on the 27th, and the instruments unpacked and set up; but the rain continued until the 30th, and prevented any observations from being made until that day.”

Ellicott was soon joined by Minor and the two officials spent a total of 28 days at their observatory in Jackson County, conducting astronomical observations to determine what they believed to be the precise location of the 31st parallel. In the process, they also recorded the first known weather observations in the history of Jackson County.

On July 28, 1799, for example, Ellicott noted that the day was “cloudy with rain all day” and that the temperature began at 82 degrees in the morning, but fell to 80 degrees at 10 a.m. On August 20th he reported that the morning began “remarkably fine and clear, wind from the east,” but that a severe storm blew up at around 9 a.m. At 1 p.m. he reported a “gust of rain accompanied by large hail stones from the S.W.”

The observatory was abandoned on August 23rd and the surveyors moved down to the present site of Chattahoochee in Gadsden County where they continued their work. Their Jackson County observatory, however, was the first known such scientific establishment in Florida.
The site, located on the Chattahoochee River just north of Neal’s Landing, is now overgrown and forgotten, with nothing more than one of Ellicott’s mounds remaining to mark this landmark event in the history of Jackson County, Florida, the United States and Spain.

Location of Webbville

I received a question from a reader who was curious to know the location of the Jackson County "ghost town" of Webbville.

Webbville was a prominent community during the 1820s and rivaled Marianna for the title of county seat. In fact, the U.S. Congress actually designated Webbville as the official county seat of Jackson County. The Florida Territorial Legislature threatened to fine any public official that did not conduct business from the courthouse in Marianna, however, and all of the county's officials moved to that location. Webbville, however, still remains the congressionally designated county seat.

Nothing remains of the town today. The site was located near the intersection of Highway 73 and U.S. 231. Union Road leads north off Highway 73 near the intersection. This dirt road (Union Road) was the old Campbellton Road that connected Marianna, Webbville and Campbellton. The Webbville site is located on the hill between Highway 73 and Russ Mill Creek. Union Road crosses directly through the site.

Lake Seminole History, Part Eleven

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, we have more today on Camp Recovery.

This site is located in Decatur County, Georgia, about thirty minutes or so from Sneads. To reach the site, just go across the river to Chattahoochee and turn left at the light as you arrive in town. Follow Booster Club Road up into the Lake Seminole area and then veer right instead of going straight into the Booster Club Park area (if you are familiar with the lake, you will recognize this as the road to Wingate's Landing). The camp site is a few miles ahead on the right.

A historic marker and memorial archway stand by the entrance on the highway. From there it is a short walk up the lane to the cemetery site, which is accessed by a small gatehouse. The monument erected by the U.S. Government during the 1880s can be seen there.

Lake Seminole History, Part Ten

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, this is Camp Recovery.

Located in Decatur County, Georgia, less than a 30 minute drive from Jackson County, Camp Recovery was a hospital camp established for soldiers at nearby Fort Scott during the great fever outbreak in 1820.

Surgeons at the fort were anxious to find some way of relieving the suffering of the soldiers stationed there. Of the 780 men at Fort Scott, 769 were ill with what modern experts believe was malaria.

Finally, after considering the options, they decided to move as many of the men as they could to a camp located on a high pine ridge a few miles south of the fort. It was hoped that moving the men from the "swamp air" at Fort Scott would help them recover. The cause of malaria had not yet been identified in 1820 and most experts believe it was caused by "bad air."

More than 100 soldiers were moved to the site known today as Camp Recovery, where a camp was established in the open pine woods. At first they did show signs of recovery, but a heavy rain set in and the soldiers soon relapsed. A number died and were buried in a cemetery at the site. The camp was abandoned soon after.

During the 1880s, the U.S. Government placed a monument at the site to mark the burial ground.

We will have more on Camp Recovery in our next post.

Lake Seminole History, Part Nine

After rebuilding Fort Scott during the summer of 1817, U.S. troops held the post until the fall of 1821.

During this time the fort served as the headquarters for the U.S. Army's Southern Command. General Andrew Jackson launched his invasion of Florida from here during the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. The post served as an important frontier bastion until Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

The site of Fort Scott proved extremely unhealthy. Malaria ravaged the troops assigned to guard the Georgia frontier. By 1820, 769 of the 780 men assigned to the fort were sick. Dozens of them died. The story was repeated in 1821.

By the time Fort Scott was abandoned in September of 1821, more than 100 U.S. soldiers had died at the isolated post. They were buried on the grounds and their resting place today is forgotten and overgrown.

Our series on historic sites around Lake Seminole will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Eight

This is a view of the site of Fort Scott as it appears today. Other than a few traces of earthworks, nothing remains of the old fort and the site is overgrown with trees and brush.

Following his return from the expedition to the lower Apalachicola River, Col. Clinch ordered his men to begin the construction of a new, much larger fort on this site. The work was progressing well when the post was inspected by Major J.M. Davis in October of 1816.

Davis described the new fort at that time as consisting of a line of barracks, constructed end to end, in a row about 100 yards back from the edge of the bluff. The buildings were constructed of squared logs and designed so that by closing the doors and windows, they could be easily defended against a force attacking with small arms. A similar structure for the officers was constructed between this line of buildings and the edge of the bluff.

The fort was still not finished when Clinch was ordered to evacuate the site in December of 1817, so it was left in the care of George Perryman, a local Native American leader. Shortly after the troops left, however, Creek and Seminole warriors arrived at the fort, drove Perryman and his family away and set fire to the buildings.

The bloodless attack prompted the U.S. government to order to reoccupation of the fort and by June of 1817, troops were again at the site and busy reconstructing the fort.

We will continue our look at Fort Scott when our series continues.

Lake Seminole History, Part Seven

Continuing our look at historic sites around Lake Seminole, we shift today to the Georgia side of the Lake.

This is the State of Georgia marker for Fort Scott. The marker is located at Hutchinson's Ferry Landing (better known as Wingate's Lodge) in Decatur County, Georgia.

Fort Scott was an extremely important military post constructed by the U.S. Army in June of 1816. Under orders to establish a new outpost at the confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers, just above the border of Spanish Florida, Lt. Col. Duncan L. Clinch and a battalion from the 4th U.S. Infantry arrived in the area during the first week of June of 1816. After surveying the area, they selected a commanding bluff just up the Flint River from the confluence. The site is only about 10 miles from Jackson County (as the crow flies).

Here they constructed a rough log stockade that was originally named Camp Crawford after Secretary of War William Crawford, a Georgian. The name was changed to Fort Scott later in the year.

It was from this post that Clinch launched the expedition in July of 1816 that would result in the bloody destruction of the so-called "Negro Fort" on the lower Apalachicola River. To read more about this expedition, please see a series currently underway on our sister site, Civil War Florida.

When Clinch returned from that expedition in August, he renamed the new outpost Fort Scott in honor of General Winfield T. Scott, a hero of the recent War of 1812. He also began construction of a new, much more extensive fort at the site.

We will have more on Fort Scott when our series continues.

Lake Seminole History, Part Six

This beautiful view of Lake Seminole was taken from the picnic area at Three Rivers State Park just north of Sneads.

The now submerged lands visible from this vista are among some of the most historic in the South.

The lake now covers the significant Kemp Mound and Tan Vat Pond Archaeological sites. Located in the flood plain of the Chattahoochee River, the sites were flooded when the Jim Woodruff Dam was completed.

Research at these sites determined that they were occupied nearly 2,000 years ago by Native Americans who built villages and constructed an earthen burial mound in the rich floodplain lands.

In 1674, the Spanish mission of La Encarnacion a la Santa Cruz de Sabacola was established just across the Chattahoochee River in what is now Seminole County, Georgia. The Bishop of Cuba participated in the dedication of a church at Sabacola in 1675.

After the settlement of Jackson County, the lands now on the lake bottom were cleared for fields of cotton, corn and sugar cane. By the time of the Civil War, this was an area of large plantations.

To read more about the history of the Three Rivers State Park area, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/threerivers.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Five

One of my favorite historic sites around Lake Seminole is the old Sneads Town Pump.

Located on Old Spanish Trail in Sneads, the pump was installed in 1899-1900 and according to tradition was the second mechanical pump in the area. The land on which it stands was deeded to the Town of Sneads for $200.

Legend holds that "He who drinks from this pump will always return" and for generations, non-local grooms of local brides were brought here for a good "dunking" to make sure that they always brought local girls back home.

It is remarkable that the pump has survived through the years when so many similar landmarks around the area have disappeared.

The site is now maintained by the Town of Sneads and an adjacent historic marker tells the story of the town and the old pump.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Four

This view of Lake Seminole was taken from the Mission San Carlos site looking out at the "big water" of the lake just above the Jim Woodruff Dam.

Beneath the water near the shore is the site of Pope's Trading Post, an important early Jackson County settlement.

William S. Pope first arrived in Jackson County shortly after the transfer of Florida from Spain in 1821. He lived for a time at Mt. Vernon (Chattahoochee), then relocated west to the Chipola settlement in Jackson County. Early land records show that he acquired property around Webbville (a few miles northwest of Marianna).

He lived in this area and speculated on the success of the community until nearby Marianna was established and secured the Legislative Council's backing to become county seat. Pope then relocated to the high ground just west of the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers. Here he acquired land, established a trading post and began farming.

Pope's Store was listed as a Jackson County voting precinct during the 1830s and Pope was appointed to the role of U.S. Subagent to the Native Americans still living on reservations along the lower Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers. In 1833 he negotiated the "Treaty of Pope's" with several of these groups, by which they agreed to relinquish much of their land. The treaty ultimately led to their removal west on the Trail of Tears.

The site of Pope's first settlement is now covered by the lake, but his legacy lives on in a pattern of continuous occupation in the area that continues today in the Town of Sneads.

Our series will continue.

Lake Seminole History, Part Three

This aerial view shows the western end of the Jim Woodruff Dam at the point it intersects with the commanding bluff overlooking Lake Seminole in Jackson County, Florida.

The paved parking area visible in the left center of the photograph is the West Bank Overlook, a park area near Sneads that provides a beautiful view of the main lake.

The overlook and surrounding hilltop was the site of Senor San Carlos de Chacatos, a Spanish mission established here in around 1680 to serve a village of Christian Chacato Indians.

The Native Americans who inhabited the village on this site had originally lived west of the Chipola River, but relocated here between 1675 and 1680 after the two missions originally established to serve them had been abandoned following an uprising by part of the Chacato nation.

Spanish missionaries returned to this site and established a church that functioned for sixteen years as the most outlying European settlement in Florida. The presence of the mission establishment here was mentioned in the 1686 journal of Marcos Delgado and again in the documents relating to the 1693 expedition of Don Laureano de Torres y Ayala. The latter official led the first known overland crossing of Northwest Florida from the Apalachicola River to Pensacola Bay by European explorers.

The mission at this site was attacked and destroyed by Alibamo (Alabama) and Apalachicoli (Lower Creek) warriors in 1696. Many of the inhabitants were carried away as slaves and sold to the English in South Carolina. The church was destroyed and the implements used in the religious services there were looted. The survivors of the raid fled to a new site near present-day Tallahassee.

Florida Park Service archaeologist Ripley P. Bullen relocated the site of Mission San Carlos in 1948 while conducting studies in the area as the Jim Woodruff Dam was being built. No structural traces of the mission were found, but he did locate broken fragments of Spanish ceramics and other items consistent with the presence of a 17th century settlement at the site.

There are no markers at the site, but it is open to the public. Searching for artifacts is strictly prohibited on U.S. Government property.

Our series will continue.