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Florida State Battle Map
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The Battle of Olustee 1864: The Final Union Attempt to Seize Florida When the Civil War began in 1861, Florida the third state to secede from the Union of little strategic importance to North or South. By the end of 1863, this position had changed dramatically. For the struggling Confederacy, Florida had become a crucial source of supplies, most especially for the troops in Savannah and Charleston. President Lincoln, soon to be seeking re-election and facing immense dissatisfaction due to the course which the war had taken, was desperately seeking some method of remedying his political situation. Bringing a reconstructed Florida back into the Union, with delegates who he hoped would be friendly to the Republican cause, seemed to be an ideal solution. Thus the Union launched a last-minute endeavor to regain control of Florida, an effort that culminated in the Battle of Olustee. |
Confederate Military History of Florida Confederate Military History of Florida, written by Florida's flamboyant cavalry commander J. J. Dickison, traces the political and military events in the Confederacy's least-populated state during the American Civil War. It begins with the secession of the Florida in January 1861 and continues through the actions at Santa Rosa Island, the Battle of Olustee, and the engagement at Natural Bridge. It also includes all the smaller, yet just as important, engagements and skirmishes that occurred in Florida between 1861 and the final surrender in 1865. Florida regiments composed one brigade each in the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Tennessee and fought in all the major battles in both theaters of war, often in the thickest of the fighting. |
Harriet Beecher Stowe in Florida, 1867 to 1884 Harriet Beecher Stowe was certainly a pioneer of her time, as an abolitionist and as a woman, when she wrote the famous antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1867, Stowe relocated to Mandarin, Florida, to escape the pressures of her antislavery writing and to deal with personal issues. In Florida, she immersed herself in programs to educate former slaves and black children, and supervised the organization of an Episcopalian church. The author centers his work on Stowe's time in Florida from 1867 to 1884 and what emerges is a view of a lesser-known side of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Such questions as why she moved to Florida, how she was received in the South after the Civil War, and what attracted her to Florida are discussed, as well as her role as an early activist for environmental protection. |
Discovering the Civil War in Florida: A Reader and Guide Discovering the Civil War in Florida chronicles Civil War activity in thirteen Florida towns, exploring both land and sea maneuvers. Maps showing the major skirmishes in each geographical area, as well as railroads that existed at the time, highlight the text. Sprinkled throughout are photos from the state archives and woodcut illustrations from books written during or soon after the war. For each town, the author has included excerpts from official government reports by officers on both sides of the battle lines as well as excerpts from other sources, including first-hand reports of the death and destruction soldiers brought to Florida's sparsely populated towns. |