Company K, 7th Florida Infantry Regiment

Company K, 7th Florida Infantry Regiment

Regimental colors (from ca. March or April 1864 to April 1865)
Active March 12, 1862 – April 26, 1865
Allegiance Confederate Florida
 Confederate States of America
Branch  Confederate States Army
Type Company
Role Infantry
Size 100 aggregate (April 1862)
Part of Department of East Tennessee
Confederate Army of Kentucky
Army of Tennessee
Nickname(s) Mulrenan's Company; Smith's Company; Key West Avengers
Equipment .577 Pattern 1853 Enfield
.69 Springfield Model 1842
Engagements

American Civil War

Commanders
Notable
commanders

Captain Henry Mulrenan: November 27, 1861 – April 24, 1862

Captain Robert Blair Smith: April 25, 1862 – April 26, 1865

On February 2, 1862, the Confederate War Department issued a call for troops. Florida, under this newly imposed quota, would furnish two regiments and a battalion to fight for the duration of the war. The troops would rendezvous at preselected locations and there "be clothed, supplied, and armed at the expense of the Confederate States." Furthermore, each enlistee would receive a $50 bounty for volunteering.[1]

Organization

Notional Concept of the sailing sloop Cate Dale, a gaff-rigged sailing sloop owned by James McKay, Sr., who was a cattleman, ship captain, and the sixth mayor of Tampa, Florida, from February 12, 1859, to February 1, 1860. Cate Dale was constructed of live oak and pine in Louisiana. She measured between 80 and 100 feet overall length, some 22–25 feet of beam, and drew 4 feet of water. Used by Lieutenant Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards at Tampa, Florida, between November 1861 and March 1862, and later as a blockade runner.[2] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
Two of the three vessels crewed by Captain Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards were the Long (or great) boats Mary Jane [3] and Mollie Post.[4] They were fourteen-oar, single-sail-rigged boats of approximately thirty feet overall length, and each was probably mounted with a four-pounder cannon in their bow.[5] Mollie Post was christened on December 24, 1861, by the request of a "Mr. Post", reportedly in honor of one of his daughters. According to Robert Watson's diary entry of December 24, 1861, "Launched our second boat and had a jolly time of it. Mr. Post[6] requested Mr. Maloney to name her Mollie Post, which was done. He brought down a lot of whiskey and we launched the boat with Mr. Crusoe and little Mollie Post in her. When the boat was in the water Mr. Crusoe gave us a short but very appropriate speech after which we all took a drink..."[5][7][8] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)

Captain Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guard Company was the core of what would become Company K, 7th Florida Infantry Regiment. Mulrenan's Company was organized and called into the service of the State of Florida by Special Order No. 2, issued from the Adjutant General's office, Tallahassee, Florida, on November 27, 1861. The company was sworn into state service on December 13, 1861, before Judge Augustus Steele, at Cedar Keys, Florida.[9] Initially stationed at Tampa for a few days in mid-December, 1861, the unit took up station at Fort Buckley, Point Pinellas on December 21, and remained in that vicinity for some time.[5][9][10]

During its short existence, Mulrenan's Company was mainly involved in the regular duties associated with a coast guard unit, such as drills, guard duties, and observation of the coastline for enemy activities. In the latter, they regularly crewed three small, armed vessels. The sloop Cate Dale (aka Kate Dale) transported the officers as well as the six-pounder cannon and provisions between the signal stations. The Mary Jane and Mollie Post were fourteen-oar, single-sail-rigged boats of approximately thirty feet, and each was probably mounted with a four-pounder cannon in its bow. It was not all work and no play, as their sojourn also included periods of welcome activities, such as fishing, hunting, singing, dancing and other similar episodes.[5] The sobriquet, Key West Avengers, was adopted by the men on January 30, 1862.[7][11]

About mid-February 1862, the men of Mulrenan's Company were advised that they would be taken into Confederate Army service.[12]

On April 10, 1862, Florida Governor John Milton informed Secretary of War George W. Randolph that the requisition for "two regiments and a half of infantry…would by the 15th instant be fully organized and subject to your orders, and companies enough have volunteered for service for three years or the war to compose three full regiments of infantry. ... to serve during the war and wherever their services may be necessary…Some of the companies which will compose the battalion [soon to be the 7th Florida Infantry Regiment]...have been used in saving the arms, &c., landed at Smyrna, but will be at Camp Lee, if I am correctly informed (Camp Lee is near Gainesville, in East Florida) in time to elect a commander during this week."[13] On April 21, 1862, Florida Adjutant and Inspector General Wm. H. Milton would inform Governor Milton that, "...five companies for local defense were assigned to General Trapier and by him ordered to be mustered into Confederate service: One cavalry company, known as the Tallahassee Guards, and commanded by Capt. P. B. Brokaw, for twelve months, and stationed near the Shell Point, and four infantry companies, one known as Dilworth Volunteers, and commanded by Capt. James Tucker, and upon duty on the Suwannee River and at the railroad bridge where it crosses the river; one company known as Key West Avengers, and commanded by Capt. Henry Mulrenan, at Tampa Bay, and a company known as the Gulf Coast Rangers, and commanded by Capt. John C. Chambers, near Cedar Keys."[14]

The 7th Florida Infantry Regiment, created to complete the February quota,[1] organized in Gainesville in late April, 1862. It was composed of nine militia companies that had been organized in late 1861 and early 1862, and for good measure added Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guard Company. By April 25, 1862, most of Mulrenan's company were mustered into service as company K, 7th Florida Infantry. Elections of field and staff officers for the 7th Florida were held on April 25. Ex-Governor Madison Starke Perry was elected colonel; Robert W. Bullock was elected lieutenant colonel, and Tillman Ingram, a cousin and political crony of Madison Starke Perry, became the major.[12] Captain Mulrenan was appointed assistant quartermaster general, with the rank of major, on April 24, 1862. Robert Blair Smith, a 2nd lieutenant in Mulrenan's Company, was elected captain and company commander; the company would become "Smith's Company".

For the remainder of April until early June, eight of the 7th Florida's companies remained at Camp Lee outside of Gainesville in camp of instruction; one company remained at Cedar Key, and Company K remained on duty at Tampa. On June 12, the companies at Camp Lee and Cedar Key made their way to Chattahoochie to embark on steamers bound for Columbus, Georgia, where they arrived on June 14–15. Company K, after having to move from Tampa to Chattahoochee, did not reach Columbus until July 11.[12]

Active service

C.S. Army

7th Florida Infantry Regimental Colors – Hardee Pattern (c. Late Summer 1862 – March/April 1864) with "Chickamauga" battle honor. (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)

Company K would serve from July through August 1862 in the Army of East Tennessee commanded by Major General Edmund Kirby Smith. The Army of East Tennessee was redesignated as the Confederate Army of Kentucky on August 25, 1862, when General Smith led it into eastern Kentucky during the Confederate Heartland Offensive. On November 20, 1862, the Army of Mississippi, General Braxton Bragg commanding, and the Army of Kentucky, General E. Kirby Smith commanding, became the Army of Tennessee. General Bragg assumed command, and General Smith was reassigned to the Department of East Tennessee. The 7th Florida would remain assigned to the Army of Tennessee for the remainder of the war (under General Braxton Bragg through December 27, 1863; under General Joseph E. Johnston from December 27, 1863, to July 18, 1864; under General John B. Hood from July 18, 1864, through January 23, 1865; under Major General Richard Taylor from January 23 to February 23, 1865: and again under General Joseph E. Johnston from February 23 to April 26, 1865.).[14][15][16]

C.S. Navy

Facsimile of Letter to Confederate States Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory from "Key West Avengers" requesting transfer to the C.S. Navy, dated May 1, 1862. (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)[7]

From May 1862 through March 1864, Company K suffered almost 38% losses; not by combat action or sickness, but by transfer of its men to the C.S. Navy. The "core" of Company K were men who before the war made their living as mariners or fishermen. 49 of the 82 men mustered into Confederate service at Gainesville in April 1862 were already in state service to Florida, either in 2nd Lieutenant Able Merander's Coast Guard Detachment or Captain Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards.[9][17]

A great many of these "core" mariners were not at all thrilled with the idea of being soldiers. At the request of a number of the beached mariners, Private Peter A. Crusoe (until recently a Clerk of the Circuit Court of Florida at Key West) was prevailed upon to draft a letter to the Confederate Secretary of the Navy, former U. S. Senator Stephen R. Mallory of Florida.[7][18]

May 5, 1862 (Monday) - Fort Brooke, Florida - "This petition was sent last night and Capt Smith is dreadfully put out at it, he says that we want to break up the company, but we assured him that such was not our intention but that we wished to enter the navy and would do so if we could get a chance." - 3rd Sergeant Robert Watson, Company K, 7th Florida Infantry Regiment[7]

A number of Key West's prominent citizens were members of the "Key West Avengers", and known personally by Secretary Mallory; he seemed to have no qualm with approving the requested transfers. On August 5, 1862, 10 men received orders transferring them from the "Key West Avengers" to CSS Chattahoochee under construction at Saffold, Georgia. Between August 6, 1862, and March 1864, another 21 "Key West Avengers" would be transferred into the C. S. Navy; in addition to CSS Chattahoochee, they would also variously serve in CSS Charleston, CSS Columbia, CSS Georgia, CSS Macon, CSS Sampson, CSS Savannah, CSS Spray, and CSS Tallahassee.[7][9][17]

Surrender

Bennett Place – Farm home of James Bennett, where Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered his army to Union General William T. Sherman, Apr. 26, 1865. Johnston's surrender followed Lee's at Appomattox by 17 days and ended the Civil War in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. (Image credit: Library of Congress)

From April 8–10, General Johnston reorganized the army, consolidating dozens of shrunken regiments and brigades. Containing fewer soldiers than an understrength battalion, the remnants of the Florida Brigade were united to form the 1st Florida Infantry Regiment, Consolidated – 1st Florida Infantry & 3rd Florida Infantry (consolidated)(Capt. A. B. McLeod); 1st Florida Cavalry (dismounted) and 4th Florida Infantry (consolidated) (Capt George B. Langford); 6th Florida Infantry (Lieut. Malcolm Nicholson); 7th Florida Infantry (Capt. Robert B. Smith).[19]

Company K of the original 7th Florida Infantry, along with companies A, C, D, and I, would be consolidated to form Company F of the 1st Florida Infantry Regiment.[20][21]

On April 18, General Joseph E. Johnston signed an armistice with General William T. Sherman at Bennett's Place near Durham, and on April 26, formally surrendered his army. Of the 100 men who mustered into Confederate service on April 25, 1862, at Camp Lee at Gainesville, Florida, only ?? "Key West Avengers" were present. On May 1, 1865, five days after General Johnston surrendered the force under his command, the troops of the 1st Florida Infantry, Consolidated, were paroled.[9][12][22][23]

Roster

Officers

Captain Robert Blair Smith (Image credit: Descendants of Captain Robert Blair Smith and Anna Jane Clark)
Lieutenant John Alexander Bethell (Image credit: Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers, 1861–1865[29])

Non-commissioned Officers

Sergeants

CSS Chattahoochee was a twin-screw steam gunboat built at Saffold, Georgia. She entered service in February 1863 for the Confederate States and was named after the river upon which she was built. She was 150 feet long, with a beam of 25 feet, drew 8 ft of water, and could make 12 knots. Her armament consisted of four 32-pounder smoothbore cannon mounted two on each broadside, one 32-pounder rifled cannon on pivot at the bow, and one 9-inch smoothbore cannon on pivot at midships. Her complement was 120 officers and crew.[35] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
One of six "Richmond Class" single-screw ironclad steam sloops, CSS Savannah was constructed under contract by H. F. Willink for the Confederacy at Savannah, Georgia. Her keel was laid in April 1862, and she was launched in February 1863. She was 150 feet long, with a beam of 34 feet. She drew 13 feet of water, and could make 6 knots. Her armament consisted of two 7-inch Brooke rifles pivot-mounted fore and aft, two 6.4 inch Brooke rifles mounted on the broadside, and a 12-pounder coastal howitzer mounted on the shield deck. Her naval compliment totaled 25 officers and 150 sailors, and her marine detachment totaled 1 officer and 20 marines.[50] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)

Corporals

CSS Columbia was constructed under contract at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1864, of yellow pine and white oak with iron fastenings and 6-inch (150 mm) iron plating. Hull work was done by F. M. Jones to John L. Porter's plans, plating and machinery by James M. Eason; her casemate was shortened to conserve precious metal and clad with 6-inch iron. Her length was 216 feet, her beam was 51 feet 2 inches, and she drew 13 feet 6 inches. She was launched in March 1864 and entered service later that year. She was armed with 6 guns, one of which is documented as a 10-inch Brooke smoothbore. On 12 January 1865, while on duty as part of the defenses of Charleston, she struck and became lodged on a sunken wreck near Fort Moultrie; she broke in two when the tide receded.[53] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)

Enlisted men

CSS Sampson, sometimes spelled Samson, was a sidewheel steamship employed as a tugboat, prior to her purchase by the Confederate Government in 1861. A great deal of verifiable information about her has been lost; however, she would have been of very similar construction and appearance to such vessels as USS O. M. Pettit and CSS Ida. CSS Sampson would likely have measured just over 100 feet from stem to stern, a beam just shy of 30 feet, and would draw between 6 and 8 feet. Her wheels were powered by a single walking beam steam engine. When she was taken into Confederate service, she was armed with one 32 pounder smooth bore and one 12 pounder. Her naval compliment totaled 49 officers and enlisted men.[61][62] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
CSS Spray was a new, steam-powered, side-paddle wheel tugboat built in New Albany, Indiana originally fitted out as a mercantile ship. She displaced 118 tons; her engine was rated at 70-horsepower. In 1850, Daniel Ladd, a Newport, Florida, cotton and general mercantile businessman, purchased the Spray for $15,000. Spray handled most of the freight which had to be lightered between the river ports and Spanish Hole. With ships at the port averaging about 120 annually in the early 1850s and increasing steadily in number throughout the decade, the lightering business was a lucrative one. There was enough traffic to keep five pilots busy after 1846. Taken into Confederate service as a gunboat, CSS Spray was armed with two light guns; her complement was 25 officers and enlisted. CSS Spray operated in the vicinity of the naval station at St. Marks during 1863–1865, and was the object of much attention by the Federal forces in that vicinity.[68][69][70] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)"
Private Asa Bishop (Image credit: Find-a-Grave, accessed November 26, 2015)
Ruins of the Asa Bishop homestead at Bishop's Point, Florida, c. 1909–10. The house was built c. 1858. (Image credit: Manatee County Public Library Historical Image Digital Collection)
April 19, 1864 (Tuesday) - Savannah, Georgia - "One of our boats went down the river in the morning after oysters, two midshipmen and 4 men went in her. They got a boat load and went on shore and built a fire and while they were opening and eating, Robert Bryson and another man sneaked off and deserted and have gone to Fort Pulaski and the Yankees."

April 20, 1864 (Wednesday) - Savannah, Georgia - "At daylight our boat came back to the ship and confirmed the report about the two men deserting, they had remained with the boat and searched all about for the two men thinking that they may have got lost in the swamp, but after waiting until nearly daylight they were satisfied that they had deserted, so they started and came back to the ship (CSS Savannah). Bryson was transferred from our company with me, am greatly surprised at his deserting from the navy where he had plenty to eat and little to do. [Page torn] of a chance to desert while in the army. [Page torn] starved, half naked and marched nearly to [page torn]." - Seaman Robert Watson, CSS Savannah, C.S. Navy[7]

February 5, 1862 (Wedensday) - Near Manatee, Florida - "Started for the settlement at daylight at which place we arrived at 7 1/2 o'clock A.M. In passing the guns [loaded and left in the boat from the previous evening] out of the Mary Jane one of the guns accidentally went off, one of the buckshot went into Tom Butler's foot. It struck one of his toes breaking it all to pieces and passing up into his foot. Sent Tom Butler up to Tampa in the Cate Dale to have his wound dressed for we have no doctor with us – Seaman Robert Watson, Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards[7]
Private (later 5th Sergeant) William Thomas Collier. He and his family became the first permanent settlers on Marco Island, Florida, in 1870. (Image credit: Naples Daily News Media Assets)
Rock Island Prison Barracks (Rock Island, Illinois). Located on a 946-acre island in the Mississippi River, Rock Island prison Barracks was operational for 20 months during the Civil War. Constructed in 1863 on approximately 12-acres, the prison had 84 wooden-framed barracks that each accommodated 120 prisoners. Rock Island Prison Barracks didn't receive Confederate prisoners until December 1863. The prison started with 468 prisoners, but within a few weeks the population was over 5,000 and eventually reached 8,594 prisoners. The prison had a 12-foot-high wooden fence, sentry boxes every 100 feet, trenches inside the fence and bedrock that deterred tunneling to contain the prisoners. Escape would be difficult but not impossible, as prison records show 41 successful escapes.[78](Image credit: Wisconsin Historical Society, accessed 2015-11-21)
Camp Douglas (Chicago, Illinois). Considered the "Andersonville of the North", Camp Douglas was one of the longest continuous operating prison camps of the Civil War. Located south of Chicago, the prison was built on land provided to the state by the estate of Stephen Douglas. Camp Douglas held a total of 30,000 Confederate prisoners during the Civil War. Like many other prison camps, overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and inadequate shelter led to sickness and death. Death also came as a result of withholding rations, torture by prison guards and neglect of soldiers who were ill. Inept record keeping makes it nearly impossible to calculate the number of dead soldiers buried in mass graves at Camp Douglas.[78] (Image credit: Harper's Weekly, April 5, 1862)
Private Samuel George Curry (Image credit: Find-a-Grave, accessed 2015-11-26)
CSS Georgia, also known as State of Georgia and Ladies' Ram, was built in Savannah, Georgia, in 1862 and was designed to be an ironclad ram. She was intended to help protect the river approaches to Savannah during 1863–1864. Her compliment was 12 officers and 82 enlisted men. CSS Georgia's steam power was barely sufficient to provide steerageway and required towing every time she was moved. Useless for offensive purposes, she was re-designated as a "floating battery", and moored in the river to cover both the city of Savannah and Fort Jackson. Troops under Sherman seized Fort Jackson on December 21, 1864; CSS Georgia's guns were plugged, and the she was intentionally fired and sunk after the evacuation of the captain and the crew.[53] (Image credit: Naval History and Heritage Command)
CSS Charleston was an ironclad steam sloop constructed under a contract authorized in the fall of 1862. Her keel was laid down in December 1862 at Charleston, South Carolina. She commissioned in September 1863, and commanded by Commander Isaac N. Brown. Charleston's length was 200 feet, her beam was 45 feet, she drew 14 feet, and displaced an estimated 1,050 tons. Her armament consisted of two 9-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns fore and aft, and four 32-pounder rifled cannon pivot mounted in broadside. Her complement was 120 officers and crew. She was the flagship for the Charleston Squadron, and served alongside CSS Chicora and CSS Palmetto State. Charleston was larger and stronger than her sisters, but was underpowered; her maxim speed was 5–6 knots. She was intentionally fired and abandoned along with her sister ships in Charleston harbor on February 18, 1865, to prevent capture as the city was evacuated by the Confederates.[53] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
Camp Chase (Columbus, Ohio). Camp Chase was established on farmland outside of Columbus, Ohio, in June 1861. It began as a training facility preparing Ohio volunteers for the battlefronts of the Civil War. Shortly after it opened, the camp received its first prisoner of war. Five months later, the camp held nearly 300 prisoners, most of them civilian political prisoners from Kentucky and Virginia. After the exchange program deteriorated in the summer of 1863, the prison population at Camp Chase grew to more than 2,000. By 1864, the prison population expanded to 8,000, well more than the facility was designed to handle. As the prison population exploded, living conditions rapidly deteriorated. Diseases, such as smallpox, typhus, and pneumonia, ran rampant in the camp's unsanitary, crowded barracks. Prisoners also suffered from malnutrition and exposure during the harsh winters. By the end of the war and the camp's closure in July 1865, more than 26,000 Confederate prisoners passed through Camp Chase's gates. Of these soldiers, nearly eight percent died while incarcerated.[79](Image credit: Library of Congress)
CSS Macon was a twin-screw steam gunboat constructed under contract by H. F. Willink for the Confederacy at Savannah, Georgia. Her keel was laid in April 1862, and she was launched July 28, 1863, as CSS Ogeechee. She was commissioned on June 17, 1864, as CSS Macon. She was 150 feet long, with a beam of 25 feet. She drew 8 feet of water, and could make 10 knots. Her armament consisted of two 6.4-inch Brooke rifles pivot-mounted fore and aft, and four 32-inch smoothbore cannon mounted two on each broadside. Her naval compliment totaled 17 officers and 83 sailors. She was very similar to CSS Chattahoochee; the main differences being the absence of masts, and the reduced height of her gunwales, allowing for easier training of her guns and reducing the amount of splintering caused by hits.[93][94] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
Private John Brown Jackson transferred to C.S. Navy in May, 1864. He served as a "landsman"[95] in CSS Macon until she was surrendered at Augusta, Georgia, in May, 1865. (Image credit: Find-a-Grave, accessed 2015-12-21)
November 6, 1863 (Friday) - Savannah, Georgia - "Visited Ironclad (C.S.S. Savannah) twice lately, saw [Charles] Miller, [Joseph] Cole, [John B. Sands] Bager, [Samuel] Morgan and [Jules] Chabert. I preached on profane swearing." Rev. Edmund C. Lee to his daughter Sarah[97]
Launched and christened as Atalanta, CSS Tallahassee was built in 1863 by J. & W. Dudgeon of Cubitt Town, London at their yards on the Thames River for the London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company, to the design of Captain T. E. Symonds of the Royal Navy. Atalanta was a "modern" vessel; she was iron-hulled, and propelled by twin screws that were driven by two 2-cylinder steam engines rated at 1220 indicated horsepower that allowed her to reach 17 knots. She displaced 700 tons; her length and beam were 220 feet and 24 feet, respectively; she drew 14 feet of water. Atalanta was built for blockade running; from April through July 1864, she made four successful runs bringing Confederate war supplies from Bermuda into Wilmington, North Carolina. Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory purchased Atalanta on July 20, 1864, for $125,000, and ordered her conversion to serve as a commerce raider. Her conversion included the installation of three guns, a rifled 32-pounder forward, a rifled-100 pounder amidships, and finally, a heavy Parrott aft. Commissioned as CSS Tallahassee, she was placed under Commander John Taylor Wood, CSN. Wood was a grandson of President Zachary Taylor and a nephew of Jefferson Davis. The 120 officers and crew were all volunteers from the Confederate gunboats on the James River and North Carolina waters.[98][99][100] (Image credit: Joshua Beschutzer & M. "J" Sterman)
Private (later 3rd corporal and 3rd sergeant) John Thomas Lowe was promoted to Sgt. March 1, 1863, and transferred to CS Navy February 25, 1864. He was detached for temporary service in CSS Tallahassee in August 1864. On his return, he served as pilot[101] on the CSS Savannah and helped to sink her just before General Sherman entered the city of Savannah on December 21, 1864. (Image credit: State Archives of Florida, The Florida Memory Project)
Established on August 1, 1863, Point Lookout was the largest and one of the worst Union prisoner-of-war camps. It was located at the extreme tip of St. Mary's County, on the long, low, and barren peninsula where the Potomac River joins the Chesapeake Bay. The prison's official name was Camp Hoffman but it was hardly ever used. Before long, the prison became the most populated and largest Union prison, at one time holding 20,000 prisoners, because it was so close to the battlefields on the Eastern Theater. Besides chronic diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid fever had become epidemic at the camp while smallpox, scurvy, and the itch had become quite common. Because of the topography, drainage was poor, and the area was subject to extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter. This exacerbated the problems created by inadequate food, clothing, fuel, housing, and medical care. As a result, approximately 3,000 prisoners died there over 22 months.[111](Image credit: Library of Congress)
Post-bellum image of Private John Pent and his wife, Elizabeth (Bowe) (Image credit: Find-a-Grave, accessed 2016-02-24).
April 10, 1862 (Thursday) - Tampa, Florida - "...we went to the officers quarters, took an old fellow that belongs to our company named Pratt that was living with a negro woman that cooked for the officers and rode him on a rail down to the wharf and threw him overboard. We then gave him a lecture, told him what it was done for and that if he was caught doing the like again that we would give him thirty nine lashes, after which we went to our different quarters and turned in." - 3rd Sergeant Robert Watson, Company K, 7th Florida Infantry Regiment[7]
Private (later 1st Sergeant) George Victor Rickards, Company K, 7th Florida Infantry. (Image credit: Find-a-Grave, accessed 2016-02-27)
Private (later 3rd Sergeant) Samuel Young Sawyer (Image credit: State Archives of Florida, The Florida Memory Project))
William Harvey Vanderipe and wife Eliza Jane (nee Burts), c. 1889–90. "Captain" Vanderipe served briefly in Company K; later in the war he enlisted in Munnerlyn's Florida 1st Special Cavalry Battalion. (Image credit: Manatee County Public Library System Historic Image Digital Collection"

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. 1 2 OR, Series IV, Volume I, pp. 902–903
  2. ↑ Typical of the period, it is most likely that Cate Dale was a single–mast vessel, setting fore-and-aft sails but [usually] no square sails. Staysails (jibs) were set from the forestay(s) and a quadrilateral mainsail was set from the mast and spread by a gaff and a boom. The larger sloops would often set a triangular topsail over the main sail. She was documented as being in service to the state from November 27, 1861, until about May 1862. Major R. B. Thomas, the Confederate commander of Fort Brooke, would muster most of Captain Mulrenan's command into Confederate service on March 5, 1862. By order of Governor John Milton, this company (now Company K, 7th Florida Infantry regiment) would remain on duty at Tampa until their regiment was sent to Tennessee at the end of April. During this period, Cate Dale transported the officers as well as a six-pounder cannon and provisions between the signal stations. After Company K departed Tampa, Captain McKay used her and two other vessels to engage in blockade running activities, an activity at which he was successful from about June 1862 until October 18, 1863. On that date, a Federal raiding party of one hundred men fired Cate Dale and Captain McKay's other vessels at their berths at his warehouses and yard on the Hillsborough River.
  3. ↑ The men assigned to Mary Jane's crew were Charles Berry; Coxswain, Jules Chabert, Benjamin Albury, Thomas Burns, Thomas Butler, Jonathan Bethel, James Barnett, G. W Edward, William Franklin, R. Faliz, Samuel Morgan, W. B. Josselyn, Bejamin Swain, G. V. Rickards, John Morrison, & Charles Anderson, cook.
  4. ↑ The men assigned to Mollie Post's crew were: Samuel Ashby, Coxswain; Joseph Cole, John Allison, Charles Chapman, J. C. Collins, Charles Combs, Alfred Lowe, Marquis Olivera, Augustus Murrilar, Charles Miller, J. W. Tolbert, William Saywer, Robert Watson, J. D. Sands, Peter Williams, G. W. Smith, and Edward Dorsey, cook.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 University of South Florida, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of History (1988). "Tampa Bay History 10/02". Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2529.
  6. ↑ This may refer to Madison Post, a prominent Tampan who had served as mayor and who had several daughters. Karl H. Grismer, Tampa: A History of the City of Tampa and the Tampa Bay Region of Florida (St. Petersburg, Florida: St. Petersburg Publishing Co., 1950), 324.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Campbell, R.Thomas (2002). Southern Service on Land and Sea: The Wartime Journal of Robert Watson CSA/CSN. The University of Tennessee Press. p. 207. ISBN 1572331933.
  8. ↑ Regrettably, Mary Jane and Mollie Post have left behind no record of their service or fate after the departure of Company K; the scant memories of more than their names are recorded in Robert Watson's Diary.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 Robertson, Fred L. (Compiler) (1903). Soldiers of Florida in the Seminole, Civil and Spanish-American Wars. Democrat Book and Job Print, Live Oak, Florida.
  10. ↑ Point Pinellas was one of four coastal defense signal stations manned by members of the Coast Guard to warn of the approach of vessels in the U.S. Navy's blockade. The Maximo Point station could spot an approach from the north through Boca Ceiga pass while the guard at Point Pinellas commanded a view of the main channels into Tampa Bay. Signals were relayed by lighting a bonfire which could be seen by a third station at Gadsden's Point on the interbay peninsula (the location of today's MacDill Air Force Base) which would in turn relay the warning to Fort Brooke in Tampa. A fourth station was located at the mouth of the Manatee River at Shaw's Point for the purpose of warning Manatee Village. "Fort Buckley" was the formal name of the main camp of the Florida Volunteer Coast Guard, located three miles north of Point Pinellas at Big Bayou.
  11. ↑ United States War Records Office (Author) (July 7, 2012). Local Designations Of Confederate Troops: Total 3974. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p. 172. ISBN 1478202858.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Sheppard, Jonathan C. (2012). By the Noble Daring of Her Sons: The Florida Brigade of the Army of Tennessee. University of Alabama Press. p. 319. ISBN 0817317074.
  13. ↑ OR Series 1 - Volume 53, Chapter LXV, pps. 230-2
  14. 1 2 OR Series 1 - Volume 53, Chapter LXV, pps. 239-40
  15. ↑ Confederate Military History, Confederate Military History, Vol XI, pps. 175-6
  16. ↑ OR Series 1 - Volume 53, Chapter LXV, pps. 230-1
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Foenander, Terry. "Captain Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Browne, Jefferson B. (2006). Key West: The Old and the New. University Press of Florida, 15 NW 15th Street, Gainesville, FL, 32611. p. 243. ISBN 0813029619.
  19. ↑ OR Series 1 - Volume 47 (Part III), Chapter LIX, p. 735
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 "National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Microfilm Publication M251: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Florida.".
  21. ↑ The parole documents for all men of company K paroled at Durham would bear the same remark regarding the formation of Company F of the consolidated 1st Regiment Florida Infantry.
  22. ↑ TGossett. "Battle Summary: Bentonville, NC". NPS.gov. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  23. ↑ Encyclopedia Virginia
  24. ↑ According to Confederate Navy and Marine Corps historian Terry Foenander, The Master's Mates were the assistants to the Sailing Master, also warrant officers. These were usually young men with family connections not quite good enough to become midshipmen who either aspired to become sailing masters themselves or to be commissioned as lieutenants, as often happened.
  25. 1 2 Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R. (2015). The Encyclopedia of Civi War Medicine. Routledge, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY. p. 457. ISBN 0765621304.
  26. ↑ Debilitas (Latin) or debility were diagnostic terms used by Civil War surgeons, especially Confederates, to describe general, severe, disabling weakness in patients. Some doctors also used the terms cachexia for such weakness. Both Union and Confederate forms for listing the number of patients with each type of diagnosis included debility in the category "all other diseases".
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Foenander, Terry. "Confederate Naval and Marine Corps Personnel, A – G". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  28. ↑ Smith, Robert B., Robert Blair Smith Letters to Anna Jane Clark, File ms 3833, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 Hartman, David W. (1995). Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers, 1861–1865: (Volume 2; 5th Florida Infantry – 8th Florida Infantry). Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, North Carolina. ISBN 1568372884.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Foenander, Terry. "Confederate Naval and Marine Corps Personnel, H – M". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  31. ↑ coxswain (noun) \ˈkäk-sən, -ˌswān\ A sailor who has charge of a ship's boat and its crew and who usually steers. |Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, accessed 2015-09-25
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 Foenander, Terry. "Quarterly or Half Yearly Pay, Receipt, and Muster Roll of Confederate States Steamer "Chattahoochee" ending June 30, 1863". Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Foenander, Terry. "Tragic Explosion Aboard the CSS Chattahoochee". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  34. ↑ boatswain (noun) \ˈbō-sən\ A naval warrant officer in charge of the hull and all related equipment.|Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, accessed 2015-10-12
  35. ↑ CSS Chattahoochee was plagued by machinery failures; a boiler explosion killed 18 of her complement on May 27, 1863, as she prepared to sail from her anchorage at Blountstown, Florida, to attempt retaking the Confederate schooner CSS Fashion, captured by the Union. On June 10, 1864, she was floated and moved to Columbus, Georgia, for repairs and installation of engines and a new boiler. While she was undergoing repairs at Columbus, 11 of her officers and 50 crewmen tried unsuccessfully to capture USS Adela blockading Apalachicola, Florida. USS Somerset drove off the raiders, capturing much of their equipment. When the Confederates abandoned the Apalachicola River in December 1864, the CSS Chattahoochee was moved up the Chattahoochee River, and then scuttled near Columbus as Union troops approached the city.
  36. ↑ "Charles H Berry: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  37. ↑ The "1st sergeant" in an American Civil War infantry company had two additional titles - "Orderly sergeant", and "Covering Sergeant." "1st sergeant" pertains to his seniority in the company, "Orderly Sergeant" pertains to his administrative function, and "Covering Sergeant" pertains to his combat function. In the case of the latter, "The first sergeant in the rear rank, touching 'with the left elbow and covering the captain. In the manœuvres he will be denominated "covering sergeant", or right guide of the company. (See "Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel W. J. Hardee (1855)" and "A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, Captain Thomas Wilhelm (1881)"
  38. ↑ Between 1840 and 1860, a "Mate" was a deck officer aboard a merchant vessel; it was also a naval military rank equivalent to the modern "Sub-lieutenant" in the Royal Navy.
  39. ↑ Sixteen members of the crew were killed instantly, scalded to death by the steam. Another was mortally injured, two more were severely injured and another four received minor injuries. Those killed immediately were buried in Chattahoochee, where a monument marking their graves can be seen today.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 United States War Department. Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion: Series I, Volume 17, pps. 868-72, & Series II, Volume 2, p. 530. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
  41. ↑ "John Allison: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  42. ↑ Unlike the "1st sergeant", who was the senior non-commissioned officer in the company, Sergeants identified as "2nd", "3rd", "4th", or "5th" was not an indication of their respective seniority. The sergeants were file closers while the company was in line of battle; their "number" indicated their position and duties. The 2nd sergeant was opposite the second file from the left of the company. In the maneuvers he is called the Left Guide of the company. The 3rd sergeant was opposite the second file from the right of the second platoon. The 4th sergeant was opposite the second file from the left of the first platoon. The 5th sergeant was opposite the second file from the right of the first platoon. (See "Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel W. J. Hardee (1855)" and "A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer, Captain Thomas Wilhelm (1881)"
  43. ↑ Robertson 1903, "Soldiers of Florida", pps. 49, 58, 185
  44. ↑ NARA 251, Reel M251-76, Images 255-259
  45. ↑ Hartman 1995, "Bio Sketches", Vol. 2, p. pending
  46. ↑ "Timothy Buckley: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  47. ↑ "Jules Chebert: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  48. 1 2 On Tuesday, May 31, 1864, Lieutenant Thomas Pelot of the Confederate Navy was placed in command of an expedition to capture a US Navy vessel that was at anchor at the mouth of Little Ogeechee River near Savannah. This ship turned out to be the USS Waterwitch. Some 11 officers and 120 men ended up in the expedition, a number of which were the sailors and marines assigned to CSS Savannah and other vessels of the Savannah River Squadron. The Union crew of the USS Waterwitch put up a good fight, but they were overwhelmed by the great numbers of southern sailors boarding their ship. Reports list casualties for the Confederates as nine killed, and fifteen wounded. Among the Confederates casualties were two former members of Company K. Private Jules Chebert was "shot through the body", and though he survived, the wound never healed properly. Private James Barnett was "mortally wounded" (he would not succumb to his "mortal" wound until 1886).
  49. ↑ The quartermaster rate (along with gunner's mate, cook [mess management specialist], and boatswain's mate) is one of the four "right-arm" rates: the oldest rates in the Navy. Quartermasters in the days of sail were responsible for monitoring the helmsman—not only were the wooden ships subject to wave action, but flaws in the wind could take the ship aback. They also assisted in various navigational duties (heaving the log, shooting azimuths, etc.). Their domain was the quarterdeck, where the ship's wheel was located, hence the name. The rate dates back beyond the American Navy to the English Navy. (definition from Quartermasters)
  50. ↑ On June 30, 1863, she was transferred to naval forces in the Savannah River under the command of Flag Officer William W. Hunter, CSN. Under Commander Robert F. Pinkney, CSN, she maintained her reputation as the most efficient vessel of the squadron and was kept ready for service. After becoming operational in July 1863, CSS Savannah served as the flagship for the Savannah River Squadron ("Mosquito Squadron"). Her normal duty was guarding the water approaches to the city of Savannah, Georgia. When troops under Sherman seized Fort Jackson on December 21, 1864, they raised the American flag over the fort. C.S.S. Savannah, displeased with this display, fired on the Federal troops from the river. Because of many torpedoes (mines) CSS Savannah was unable to make the open sea. At 7:30 pm, on December 21, 1864, the CSS Savannah was burned intentionally after the evacuation of the captain and the crew.
  51. ↑ According to his diary, Watson was examined by the military physician, a Dr. Lively, at Tampa on December 12, 1862. He was informed by post from Lieut. Maloney dated January 16, 1863, that he was officially exchanged. Watson was experiencing recurrent relapses of respiratory illness, and reported to Doctor Lively on January 16 to inform him that he was ordered to return to Tennessee. Upon examination, Doctor Lively extended Watson's furlough another 60 days; Watson records that he sent notification to Captain Smith. Watson departed Tampa on March 14, 1863, for Tennessee; due to the nature of transportation, he and several other members of the company did not arrive at Knoxville until the morning of April 3, and rejoined his company stationed at the Wataugh (Watauga) Bridge some 110 miles to the east on April 4.
  52. 1 2 Foenander, Terry. "Confederate Naval and Marine Corps Personnel, T – Z". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  53. 1 2 3 United States War Department. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1921
  54. ↑ Corporals were numbered "1st", "2nd", "3rd", or "4th"; as was the case with sergeants (except 1st sergeant), this numbering was not an indication of their respective seniority. Unlike the sergeants, the corporals' number was a function of individual height, for "the corporals will be posted in the front rank, and on the right and left of platoons, according to height; the tallest corporal and the tallest [enlisted] man will form the first file, the second two tallest men will form the second file, and so on to the last file, which will be composed of shortest corporal and the shortest [enlisted] man. (See "Hardee's Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel W. J. Hardee (1855)"
  55. ↑ Sager, Eric (1996). Seafaring Labour. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 111. ISBN 0-7735-1523-2. The first task of the sailmaker was to maintain and to repair all sails, and this required some knowledge of the sailmaker's craft and many of the tools of the sailmakers loft. A sailmaker typically worked on shore in a sail loft with other sailmakers. Large ocean-going sailing ships often had sailmakers in the crew.
  56. ↑ Confederate States Navy Research Center, Mobile, Alabama www.csnavy.org
  57. 1 2 3 Foenander, Terry. "Confederate Naval and Marine Corps Personnel, N – S". Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  58. ↑ "Benjamin Alburry: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  59. ↑ According to Robert Watson's diary, "Gus" Archer Arrived at Tampa on Monday, November 24, 1862, having walked all the way from Knoxville, Tennessee. Watson spent 3 days with Archer at Archer's home near Clearwater, and then attended to some business for his friend Peter Crusoe before returning to Archer's home on November 30. They departed Clearwater Harbor on December 1 for Tampa; at daylight on the morning of December 2, they discovered that their ship had strayed extremely close to the Union blocking vessels. Two of the blockader's boats took up pursuit; the crew poled the boat as fast as was possible but were losing distance to their pursuers. Watson recorded that the boat was run aground several times; each time they went over the side to push the boat over the bars. The boat finally beached at Point Pinellas; Watson went overboard on last time and waded ashore, but reported that "Gus" remained in the boat under belief that his parole would save him and the boat. The Union sailors were of different conclusion; "Gus" was transported back to the blockade vessel and taken to Key West. There is no further record of his status as "deserter" or (much more likely, "prisoner of war").
  60. ↑ St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, Sunday, September 16, 1934, page 8, Section Two
  61. ↑ On November 5 and 6, 1861, CSS Sampson (Lieutenant J. S. Kenard, CSN, commanding), stood out with CSS Savannah, CSS Resolute, and CSS Lady Davis of Commodore Josiah Tattnall's squadron to harass Rear Admiral Samuel Francis DuPont's much larger Union fleet preparing to attack Confederate strongholds at Port Royal Sound, S.C. On November 7, 1861, the Union fleet pounded the Confederate Forts Walker and Beauregard until they were abandoned. CSS Sampson helped transport a number of the retreating garrison to Savannah. On November 26, 1861, CSS Sampson, in company with CSS Resolute and CSS Savannah, under Flag Officer Tattnall, weighed anchor from under the guns of Fort Pulaski, Ga., and made a brief attack on Union vessels at the mouth of the Savannah River. On January 28, 1862, accompanied by CSS Resolute and CSS Savannah, she delivered supplies to the fort despite the spirited opposition of Federal ships. CSS Sampson received considerable damage in this encounter, and was removed from combat duty; she would serve as a receiving ship at Savannah until November 16, 1863, when she was placed back into active service patrolling the Savannah River with the defense force of Flag Officer William W. Hunter, CSN. In early December 1864 she joined with CSS Macon and CSS Resolute in an expedition to destroy the Charleston and Savannah Railway bridge spanning the Savannah River. On December 12, the vessels had succeeded in firing the bridge and were returning to Savannah when they were taken under fire opposite Argyle Island. Despite almost 150 rounds fire against the vessels were seriously damaged; however, CSS Resolute became disabled after colliding with both CSS Sampson and CSS Macon. CSS Resolute would ground on Arglye Island and was captured on the same day by Union soldiers under Col. W. Hawly, USA, of General Sherman's forces, and taken into Federal service. Prevented from returning to Savannah, CSS Sampson and CSS Macon made their way upriver to Augusta, where they would remain until the cessation of hostilities in May, 1865.
  62. ↑ Naval History and Heritage Command - CSS Sampson (accessed 2015-12-23
  63. ↑ Private James Barnett was listed as "mortally wounded"; some sources have him being killed outright. Considering that he was married in 1866 and died almost two decades later, it would appear that his wounding was somewhat less than "mortal", and that report of his death were very much premature.
  64. ↑ "The History of Gulfport : City of Gulfport, Florida". MyGulfport.us. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  65. ↑ "Joseph Simon Bartlum (1838-1903) - WikiTree: The FREE Family Tree". WikiTree.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  66. ↑ Robert Watson and John Jackson both vouched for him on his wife's pension application on June 28, 1906. Watson's diary entry for Friday, November 27, 1863, (two days after Missionary Ridge) records that he had, "… marched to Dalton, arriving there about 6 p.m. where he found Lieutenant Maloney and some of his company. The [Florida] brigade was camped at the old hospital buildings 1 mile from Dalton where he found that the casualties of his company were Captain R. B. Smith, and Privates Joseph Batlum [sic] John Pent and John Jackson wounded and Privates Joseph Fagan, Charles Comb, and William Herrymand missing. [p. 88]. Bartlum is also mentioned again as VISITING Watson onboard the CSS Savanah on Friday, March 11, stating that he had been on furlough at home (Tampa) and was on his way back to his command (does not specify whether this was Company K or another vessel).
  67. ↑ The CSS Chattahoochee was at that time awaiting tow to Columbus, Georgia, for general repairs and the installation of engines and a boiler reclaimed from the fatally wrecked ironclad CSS Raleigh. When the Confederates abandoned the Apalachicola River in December 1864, CSS Chattahoochee was moved up the Chattahooche River; she was later scuttled near Columbus to avoid capture, just as Union troops approached the city.
  68. ↑ Spray, which drew only six and a half feet of water, had no difficulty navigating the river which was such a problem for so many of the vessels trading at St Marks and New Port. Slightly smaller than the average steamer in Gulf waters at the time, she was nevertheless capable of voyages of some distance. She carried passengers and cargo on her deck and in her holds when steaming between New Port and other Gulf ports, but much of the lightering was done on barges. With her barge attached, Spray usually had a crew of ten, including the stevedores. She consumed about five hundred cords of wood annually and stored her own food and supplies, so much of her own space was unavailable for paying cargo. The Spray operated as far south as Cedar Key, Florida, up the Apalachicola River to Columbus, Georgia, and up the Suwannee River and west to New Orleans, transporting cotton, naval stores, hides, tobacco, beeswax. It first sailed into St. Marks, Florida, in 1850, with a very modern steam engine and was in constant use transporting troops and material out to Lighthouse Point. She was still valued at $10,000 in 1860 and was still hauling most of the freight between New Port and St Marks and the Spanish Hole. She still had more than a half century of active life and had not even begun her much-publicized career as a Confederate gunboat. On September 12, 1863, the captain of the USS Stars and Stripes reported an unsuccessful attack on the CSS Spray up river on the St. Marks River. The CSS Spray was said to be the only Confederate States Navy vessel to operate exclusively in Florida waters. In February 1864, Federal troops in two naval expeditions of 14 ships landed at St. Marks. Their mission was to capture Fort Ward, Port Leon, and burn the nuisance gunboat CSS Spray. The mission failed. March 6, 1865, CSS Spray participated in the Battle of Natural Bridge with a complement of 25 men. The CSS Spray 's ultimate fate is specious in that it was reported as sunk by Confederates on St. Marks River in a few accounts and yet survived into the early 20th century by the accounts of the Ladd family.
  69. ↑ 290 Foundation (accessed 2015-12-24)
  70. ↑ Ladd, Merle G. "Ladds in Florida". LaddFamily.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  71. 1 2 Favorite, Merab-Michael (2013). Bradenton (Images of America). Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. p. 128. ISBN 9780738590783.
  72. ↑ Ordinary seaman was the second-lowest rank of the 19th century U.S (and C.S.) Navy, ranking above landsman and below seaman. Promotion from landsman to ordinary seaman required three years of experience or re-enlistment. An ordinary seaman's duties aboard ship included "handling and splicing lines, and working aloft on the lower mast stages and yards." (Williams, Glenn F. (April 2002). "Uncle Sam's Webfeet: The Union Navy in the Civil War")
  73. ↑ "John Clute: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  74. ↑ "William T Collier: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com". Fold3.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  75. ↑ "Archaic Medical Terms English List P". AntiquusMorbus.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  76. ↑ Sullivan-Hartung, M. (2013, August 29). Meet the 'other' Mr. Collier: the founder of Marco Island. Naples Florida Weekly. Retrieved from http://naples.floridaweekly.com
  77. ↑ Carpenter, J. (2012, April 1). Lighthouse Project - Chapter One: Early pioneers of Marco Island were first Colliers. Naples Daily News. Retrieved from http://www.naplesnews.com
  78. 1 2 "The Source - Confederacy". EIU.edu. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  79. ↑ "Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery--Civil War Era National Cemeteries: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary". NPS.gov. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  80. ↑ Private William Curry has been presumed to have been a member of Captain Henry Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards, based upon an entry in Robert Watson's diary. There is no corroboration in "Soldiers of Florida", "Biographical Sketches", or any other reference available to support this presumption...William Curry's name appears only once - on the petition to be transferred to the C.S. Navy.
  81. ↑ According to a relative: "In 1864, he and Samuel H. Kemp, then a youth 12 years old, found on the beach at Clearwater, Fla., a bomb. While they were tampering with it the bomb exploded killing young Kemp and blinding young Curry. He never recovered from blindness." His pension application file contains two pages; one of which claims his entitlement as a result of "wounds received" while in Confederate service.
  82. ↑ He is often mistaken for his older brother, J. Alfonso Delaunay, who served variously as Mayor, Postmaster and Deputy Inspector of Customs for the Port of Tampa, as well as newspaper owner/editor and Hillsborough County delegate to the Florida Secession Convention. Alfonso did not serve in the Confederate armed forces during the war. See City of Tampa.
  83. ↑ University of South Florida, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of History (1980). "Sunland Tribune 06/01". Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2560.
  84. ↑ Gregory, M.D., George (1835). Elements of the Theory and Practice of Medicine; Designed for the Use of Students and Junior Practitioners. Baldwin and Craddock, Paternoster Row, London.
  85. ↑ Hooker's Company was mustered out of state service and into Federal service on February 21, 1856, at Fort Meade, Florida.
  86. ↑ Given his birth date, Goddard was two weeks shy of his 15th birthday at the time of his discharge
  87. ↑ The Minorcans from the island of Minorca (now Spanish) in the Mediterranean Sea came to Florida as British subjects, bringing their Catholic Spanish culture with them in 1768, bound by contract to cultivate a British plantation established at New Smyrna. In 1777, the Minorcans abandoned that plantation and were welcomed as citizens of St. Augustine by the British governor of East Florida. They sank their roots and their descendants still flourish there in the twentieth century. Some went to several parts of Florida also, as, for example, in 1818, Antonio Maximo Hernandez, Minorcan native of St. Augustine, owned a farm on the east shore of Tampa Bay. University of South Florida. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Department of History, "Tampa Bay History 05/01" (1983). Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2518
  88. ↑ Florida Department of Military Affairs, Special Archives Publication Number 68, Volume 2, "Florida Militia Muster Rolls Seminole Indian Wars" George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Digital Collection, accessed 2015-12-31
  89. ↑ Florida Department of Military Affairs, Special Archives Publication Number 68, Volume 8, "Florida Militia Muster Rolls Seminole Indian Wars" George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Digital Collection, accessed 2015-12-31
  90. ↑ Favorite, Merab-Michal (2012), The Feral Children of Terra Ceia Island, accessed 2015-12-31
  91. 1 2 3 4 Florida Department of Military Affairs (1903). Florida Militia Muster Rolls Seminole Indian Wars. George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Digital Collection.
  92. ↑ Since it was feared the disease would spread if his body was moved, Hawkins was buried in an unmarked grave on the open range. Carroll, Betty (2002) The Ghosts Among Us: A Look into Haunted Manatee County, Bradenton Herald.
  93. ↑ On August 3, 1864, she was transferred to naval forces in the Savannah River Squadron under the command of Flag Officer William W. Hunter, CSN. Lieutenant Joel S. Kennard, an Alabama native, was placed in command. Entering active service in late August, CSS Macon was sent below Savannah to guard the water approaches to the city. She would spend the next three months anchored either near the Skidaway River or at the mouth of the Herb River. On November 27, CSS Macon was ordered above Savannah to defend the Savannah and Charleston Railroad bridge. She was joined by CSS Resolute and CSS Sampson a few days later. In addition to defending the bridge, they were to also patrol the river above the bridge to prevent portions of General William T. Sherman's army from crossing the river and trapping General William J. Hardee's forces in Savannah. Less than a week later, with the military situation rapidly deteriorating at Savannah, Flag Officer William W. Hunter ordered the three vessels to fire the bridge and return to Savannah to assist in the city's defense. The following day, December 12, the vessels came under heavy fire opposite Argyle Island, about two miles upstream from Savannah. Due to the narrow channel and high bluffs, the vessels could only bring their bow and stern guns to bear. Less than an hour after the exchange began, CSS Resolute was disabled and captured; CSS Sampson and CSS Macon suffered three hits each, none of which caused serious injury. Prevented from reaching Savannah, CSS Macon had no alternative but to return to the river's navigation head at Augusta. When Savannah was taken on December 21, CSS Macon was effectively bottled up at Augusta, where with the exception of a short trip to ferry men and ammunition, she would remain until the end of the war. Augusta was peacefully occupied in May 1865; CSS Macon was turned over to Federal authorities, and her crew of less than 5 watch-standers was paroled.
  94. ↑ Holcombe, Robert Jr. "The C.S.S Macon: Forgotten Confederate Gunboat." Middle Georgia Magazine Volume 4 Number 1 (1994)
  95. ↑ Landsman was the lowest rank of the United States Navy in the 19th and early 20th centuries; it was given to new recruits with little or no experience at sea. Landsmen performed menial, unskilled work aboard ship. A Landsman who gained three years of experience or re-enlisted could be promoted to Ordinary Seaman. (Williams, Glenn F. (April 2002). "Uncle Sam's Webfeet: The Union Navy in the Civil War")
  96. ↑ Eaton Florida History Room, The Florida in the Civil War Message Board'', accessed 2016-01-02
  97. ↑ Whittle, Henry E. Whittle (2007-02-09) The Florida in the Civil War Message Board, accessed 2016-01-02
  98. ↑ CSS Tallahassee departed Wilmington and slipped through the blockade on August 6, 1864. Her first day out, four cruisers chased her to no avail. She made a spectacular 19-day raid off the Atlantic coast as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia. CSS Tallahassee destroyed 26 vessels and captured 7 others that were bonded or released. Commander Wood sailed CSS Tallahassee into Halifax Harbour on August 18 to take on bunker coal and water. Neutrality laws limited her stay in Halifax to 24 hours; CSS Tallahassee was granted an extra 12 hours to fix a broken mast but was only allowed to load enough coal to take her to the nearest Confederate port. Being unable to procure enough coal to continue, Commander Wood was forced to return to Wilmington, where he arrived safely on August 26. In an effort to disguise her origins, CSS Tallahassee was renamed CSS Olustee after the Battle of Olustee in northern Florida and placed under the command of Lt. W. H. Ward, CSN. CSS Olustee once more evaded the blockade but suffered some damage from Union ships in the process. Off the Delaware coast she captured and sank six merchant vessels before returning to Wilmington for more coal. Arriving on November 6, 1864, she avoided attempts by the USS Sassacus and four other Union men-of-war to capture her, finally reaching port the following morning. After this successful voyage, the CSS Olustee was renamed CSS Chameleon and had her guns removed. Under command of a new Captain, Lieutenant J. Wilkinson, she sailed out through the blockade on December 24, encountering no opposition from the Union navy, which was preoccupied with the bombardment of nearby Fort Fisher. CSS Chameleon sailed to Bermuda to obtain much needed supplies for the Confederate Army. On her return to the Confederacy, she attempted to enter two different ports without success. The decision was then taken to sail her to Liverpool, England and hand her over to the Confederate agent, James Dunwoody Bulloch. CSS Chameleon arrived in Liverpool on April 9, 1865, and was seized by the British authorities. She was given back her original name of Atalanta, and then later renamed Amelia. Hearing of the seizure, the United States issued a suit for her possession; she was handed over to the US Consul on April 26, 1866, and sold to Japan as the Haya Maru. She was lost between Kobe and Yokohama in 1868, having changed names seven times in five years.
  99. ↑ "C.S.S. Tallahassee - 290 Foundation". Google.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  100. ↑ Ahoy - Mac's Web Log Naval, Maritime, Australian History and more, accessed 2105-12-25
  101. ↑ A pilot refers to a commercial ship operator who is especially qualified to operate ships in local coastal waters and into harbors. Lowe was an extremely experienced ship captain and owner before the war.
  102. ↑ Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered close to shore. For several centuries wrecking was an important economic activity in the Florida Keys. During the 19th century wrecking in the Keys became a highly organized and regulated industry, with dozens of vessels and hundreds of men active in the trade at any given time. The combination of heavy shipping and a powerful current flowing close to dangerous reefs made the Florida Keys the site of a great many wrecks, especially during the 19th century. Ships were wrecking on the Florida Reef at the rate of almost once a week in the middle of the 19th century (the collector of customs in Key West reported a rate of 48 wrecks a year in 1848). For a period of almost 100 years, wrecking captains and wrecking vessels in the Keys had to hold a license issued by the Federal court. In 1858 there were 47 boats and ships licensed as wreckers.
  103. ↑ Viele, John. (2001) The Florida Keys: The Wreckers. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. ISBN 1-56164-219-3
  104. ↑ Lowe served in the capacity of a "standby" pilot", in the event that CSS Tallahassee might find herself in Florida waters. The CSS Tallahassee went through the blockade on August 6, 1864, from her home port of Wilmington, North Carolina. Her first day out, four cruisers chased the CSS Tallahassee without incident. She made a spectacular 19-day raid off the Atlantic coast as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Tallahassee destroyed 26 vessels and captured 7 others that were bonded or released. CSS Tallahassee put into Halifax Harbour on August 18 to take on bunker coal and water. Neutrality laws limited her stay in Halifax to 24 hours. CSS Tallahassee was granted an extra 12 hours to fix a broken mast but was only allowed to load enough coal to take her to the nearest Confederate port. Two Federal war ships, the USS Nansemond and USS Huron, had chased her north and were believed to be waiting for the CSS Tallahassee at the harbour entrance. A legendary Halifax pilot John "Jock" Flemming, is believed to have guided the warship through the narrow and shallow Eastern Passage between Dartmouth and Lawlor Island, a route only suited for small fishing vessels. CSS Tallahassee succeeded in negotiating the passage out of the harbour, although no Northern warships were in fact waiting. The first Northern warship, the gunboat USS Pontoosuc, arrived at the harbour entrance several hours after the Confederate cruiser departed. Being unable to procure enough coal to continue, CSS Tallahassee was forced to return to Wilmington, where she arrived safely on August 26.
  105. ↑ Marquis, Gred. In Armagedon's Shadow: The Civil War and Canada's Maritime Provinces, (1998) McGill Queens Press, p. 233
  106. ↑ "Timeline - Seminole Historical Society". SeminoleHistoricalSociety.org. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  107. ↑ "Anona - Ghost Town". GhostTowns.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  108. ↑ Civil War soldiers never had the luxury of standing in a mess line waiting for army cooks to dish out the chow. Civil War food for both Union and Confederate soldiers was provided by their respective commissary departments, but the daily rations were given to the soldiers uncooked. Generals and other officers may have had the luxury of a cook; the vast majority of soldiers gathered in small groups each evening to prepare their food. They called these groups "messes" and referred to others in the group as "messmates". Messmates took turns watching the meals they cooked. Food in the Civil War was cooked over an open campfire in a cast-iron skillet or kettle or occasionally on a spit. If they had the time, soldiers tried to devise ways of making their dull diet a little more varied, occasionally catching wild game or picking wild berries.
  109. ↑ "William Brownell Meares (1829-1894) - WikiTree: The FREE Family Tree". WikiTree.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  110. ↑ A petty officer in the days of sailing navies whose duty it was to assist the gunner of the ship in keeping the guns and their carriages in proper order, scaling the barrels when necessary, filling the cartridges with powder, etc. Quarter-gunners were appointed in each ship at the rate of one for every four guns. (from Oxford Reference)
  111. ↑ The American Civil War, "Point Lookout Prisoner of War Camp"
  112. ↑ OR, Series 1, Volume 30 (Part II), Chapter XLII, p. 537; also General Order # 64/2 dated August 10, 1864
  113. 1 2 3 "NC Civil War Sailors Project". Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  114. ↑ Lighthouse Friends, Egmont Key, Fl, accessed 2016-01-04
  115. ↑ Historum, Tampa Bay and the Civil War, accessed 2015-05-07
  116. ↑ Florida Department of Military Affairs, Special Archives Publication Number 71, Volume 5, "Florida Militia Muster Rolls Seminole Indian Wars" George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Digital Collection, accessed 2016-03-04
  117. ↑ This particular soldier presents a conundrum. There is a "Noah L. Thompson" buried in plot 253 of the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. The marker identifies him being a member of Company K, 7th Alabama Cavalry. A review of the CMSR for the 7th Regiment of Alabama Cavalry lists a "Noah L. Thompson"; however, there is no documentation of his enlistment date or location. Oddly, the records (almost exclusively of his capture and transfer to Camp Chase) contain documents that identify him as a member of "Co. K 7th Ala Inf", and even more curious, "Co. K 7th Fla Inf". There is also a single document for "Noah L. Thompson" in the CMSR for the 7th Regiment of Florida Infantry; the document states that, "Noah L. Thompson Private (illegible) 7 Florida Infantry Name appears as signature to an Oath of Allegiance to the United States, subscribed and sworn to at Chattanooga, Tenn., the day and year set opposite the several names. Place of residence Levy Co. Fla. Complexion (illegible) hair; black eyes gray height 5 ft. 9 in. July 14, 1864." Many believe that Noah L. Thompson in this grave is the same Noah L. Thompson who was born in Georgia in 1826 and moved to Florida ca. 1847-8. He married Lydia M. Roberts on 17 August 1848 at Duval County, Florida, with the ceremony conducted by Samuel S. Somers (JP) and recorded in the Clay County Florida archives, "Index of Duval (County, Florida) Marriages to 1860". He, along with wife Lydia and daughters Caroline, Lucinda, and Margaret, are listed in the 1860 Federal Census for Levy County.
  118. ↑ hostler (noun) \ˈhäs-lər, ˈäs-\ One who takes care of horses or mules |Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, accessed 2016-03-07
  119. ↑ Florida's Cow Cavalry or Cattle Guard Battalion was one of the most colorful and effective militia units organized during the Civil War. Officially designated Florida 1st Special Cavalry Battalion, the unit was authorized by the War Department, March 28, 1864, with authority granted to C. J. Munnerlyn, July 7, 1864, to organize the Battalion. The battalion consisted of 9 companies and approximately 800 men. They protected Florida cattle herds from the roving bands of deserters and Union sympathizers; drove beef cattle north to the commissary depots to feed the Confederate Army; rounded up deserters; checked the nuisance raids conducted by Union troops garrisoned at Fort Myers; assisted with scouting and picket duty; assisted the blockade running operations, and protected the Salt Works.
  120. ↑ "History - Sarasota History Alive!". SarasotaHistoryAlive.com. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  121. ↑ According to Anderson's his wife Eliza (nee Thompson), and corroborated by John B. Jackson and John A. Bethel, Anderson Wood enlisted in June 1862, that he entered service with Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards in January 1862, and remained with that unit until he enlisted on March 3, 1862, with Smiths Company at Tampa. They also attest that he was discharged honorably from service at Knoxville, Tennessee. According to Ellen, he was discharged from service on account of disability - from the loss of his right arm! It seems that Anderson Wood and James Woods may be one and the same. see Florida Confederate Pension Application A00494
  122. ↑ "A Tale of Two Wood(s)? Another conundrum. According to Florida Confederate Pension Application (A00494) , Anderson Wood's wife (Ellen) applied for and received a pension for her husband's service. Anderson Wood enlisted with Coast Guards, Lieutenant Able Merander's Detachment from July 14, 1861, through September 5, 1861. This is documented in "Soldiers of Florida". Both James Woods and Anderson Wood are documented on Company K's Roster; Anderson having enlisted in June 1862, being captured in 1862 and exchanged in 1863. James is documented as enlisting in June 1862; there is no other information available. (James is mentioned several times in Watson's Diary; there is no mention of "Anderson", although James' tale and Anderson's Pension documentation are all but "identical") According to Anderson's his wife Eliza (nee Thompson), and corroborated by John B. Jackson and John A. Bethel, Anderson Wood enlisted in June 1862, that he entered service with Mulrenan's Florida Volunteer Coast Guards in January 1862, and remained with that unit until he enlisted on March 3, 1862, with Smith's Company at Tampa. They also attest that he was discharged honorably from service at Knoxville, Tennessee. According to Ellen, he was discharged from service on account of disability - from the loss of his right arm! It seems that Anderson Wood and James Woods may be one and the same.
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