1864
Confederate troops defeat a
Union army sent to bring Florida into the union at the Battle of Olustee, Fla.
The
Battle of Olustee or
Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in
Baker County,
Florida on February 20, 1864, during the
American Civil War. It was the only major battle fought in Florida during the war.
Union General
Truman Seymour had landed troops at
Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt
Confederate food supply. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital of
Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. Confederates in Charleston sent reinforcements under General
Alfred H. Colquitt and the two armies collided near Ocean Pond in
Olustee. The Union forces were repulsed and retreated to Jacksonville where they stayed for the remainder of the war.
Union casualties were 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing, a total of 1,861 men—about 34 percent. Confederate losses were lower: 93 killed, 847 wounded, and 6 missing, a total of 946 casualties in all—but still about 19 percent. Union forces also lost six artillery pieces and 39 horses that were captured.
[3] The ratio of Union casualties to the number of troops involved made this the second bloodiest battle of the War for the Union, with 265 casualties per 1,000 troops.
[5] Soldiers on both sides were veterans of the great battles in the eastern and western theaters of war, but many of them remarked in letters and diaries that they had never experienced such terrible fighting.
[4] The Confederate dead were buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in nearby
Lake City.
[6]
The Union losses caused Northern authorities to question the necessity of further Union involvement in the militarily insignificant state of Florida.
[3][4]
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