Posted on 03/01/2024 7:02:22 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Monday, Feb. 22, 1864.
The entire column, numbering a little less than 5,000 men, left Barber's at 7 o'clock Saturday morning, and proceeded on the main road toward Lake City. I am confident the force did not exceed the number stated, for I am assured by an Aide-de-Camp to Gen. SEYMOUR, that rations were drawn that morning for not quite 5,000. The forward movement was made suddenly. On Friday it was not supposed by the commanding officers -- not including Gen. SEYMOUR -- that an advance would be made for some days thence. With that conviction, the officers and men had built themselves log huts, and provided such conveniences available in that section as would insure a fair share of comfort. Some time during the night Gen. SEYMOUR received information of the enemy's whereabouts and plans, which led him to believe that by pushing rapidly forward his column, he would be able to defeat the enemy's designs, and secure important military advantages. Whatever that information may have been, the events of Saturday would indicate that it was by no means reliable, or that Gen. SEYMOUR acted upon it with too much haste. We all know that Gen. SEYMOUR is not a man to hesitate in his actions when an opportunity offers for a possible success. He is one of the class that believes he has a chance of winning and a chance of losing, and that success would never be obtained if he rested quietly on the bend of the little South Fork. He means it shall never be said of the army that he commands that it is all quiet on the line of some river. Gen. SEYMOUR deserves credit for his ambition and dash. If he had allowed himself to rest his command at
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The Repulse in Florida: A Full Account of the Late Battle – 2-5
Late Southern News: Severe Cavalry Fighting in Mississippi – 5-6
From East Tennessee: Retreat of Longstreet – 6
News from Washington: Dispatches to the Associated Press – 6
Proceedings of Congress – 6-8
Editorial: Will the Cabinet be Broken? – 8-9
Editorial: Material Progress of the Country in Spite of the War – 9
News of the Day: The Rebellion – 9
This was the battle of Olustee.
An evenly matched battle between Union and Confederate troops about an hour west of Jacksonville.
The battle was fought on February 20, 1864 and was a Confederate victory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Olustee
It’s worth a visit. I was there about 4 years ago. The battlefield looks pretty much the same with the terrain being flat with many Southern pines and scrub palmetto.
Accounts I've seen give the numbers 5,500 Union and 5,000 Confederate.
Sorta related. Always enjoyed this song:
“In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans
We fired our guns and the British kept acom’in
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
We looked down the river and we seed the British come
And there must have been a hundred of’em beatin’ on the drum
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
We stood behind our cotton bales and didn’t say a thing
We fired our guns and the British kept a’comin’
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
Old Hickory said we could take’em by surprise
If we didn’t fire our muskets till we looked’em in the eyes
We held our fire till we seed their faces well
Then we opened up our squirrel guns and gave’em...well...we...
...fired our guns and the British kept a’comin’
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
Yeah they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn’t go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch’em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
We fired our cannon till the barrel melted down
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round
We filled his head with cannonballs’n powdered his behind
And when we touched the powder off,the gator lost his mind
We fired our guns and the British kept a’comin’
There wasn’t nigh as many as there was a while ago
We fired once more and they began to runnin’
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
Yeah they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn’t go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn’t catch’em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
Spoken:
Hut,hut,three,four
Sound off, three,four
Hut,hut, three,four
Sound off,three,four
Hut,hut,three,four”
And the Giant Ocean Pond!
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