Florida Historical Quarterly Volume Xliii January, 1965 Number 3
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Historical J ANUARY 1965 Published by THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF FLORIDA, 1856 THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, successor, 1902 THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, incorporated, 1905 by GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS, FRANCIS P. FLEMING, GEORGE W. WILSON, CHARLES M. COOPER, JAMES P. TALIAFERRO, V. W. SHIELDS, WILLIAM A. BLOUNT, GEORGE P. RANEY. OFFICERS JAMES R. KNOTT, president WILLIAM GOZA, 1st vice president REMBERT W. PATRICK, 2nd vice president LUCIUS S. RUDER, honorary vice president THELMA PETERS, recording secretary MARGARET CHAPMAN, executive secretary D IRECTORS MRS. JOHN T. BILLS DAVID FORSHAY E. M. COVINGTON W ALTER P. F ULLER M ERLIN G. Cox WALTER R. HELLIER JAMES C. CRAIG JAY I. KISLAK MRS. RALPH DAVIS ROBERT L. F. SIKES HERBERT J. DOHERTY, JR. MORRIS WHITE MRS. JOHN R. DUBOIS BEN C. WILLIS FRANK B. SESSA, ex-officio SAMUEL PROCTOR, ex-officio (and the officers) (All correspondence relating to Society business, memberships, and Quarterly subscriptions should be addressed to Miss Margaret Chapman, University of South Florida Library, Tampa, Florida. Articles for publi- cation books for review, and editorial correspondence should be addressed to the Quarterly, Box 14045, University Station, Gainesville, Florida.) . To explore the field of Florida history, to seek and gather up the ancient chronicles in which its annals are contained, to retain the legendary lore which may yet throw light upon the past, to trace its monuments and remains, to elucidate what has been written to disprove the false and support the true, to do justice to the men who have figured in the olden time, to keep and preserve all that is known in trust for those who are to come after us, to increase and extend the knowledge of our history, and to teach our children that first essential knowledge, the history of our State, are objects well wordy of our best efforts. To accomplish these ends, we have organized the Historical Society of Florida. GEORGE R. FAIRBANKS Saint Augustine, April, 1857. THE FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY VOLUME XLIII JANUARY, 1965 NUMBER 3 CONTENTS THE BATTLE OF OLUSTEE: ITS MEANING FOR THE BRITISH . Lawrence E. Breeze . 20 7 CONFEDERATE RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION: THE LIVE OAK TO LAWTON C ONNECTOR . Jerrell H. Shofner and William Warren Rogers ...... 217 HENRY S. SANFORD AND LABOR PROBLEMS IN THE FLORIDA ORANGE I NDUSTRY . Richard J. Amundson . 229 P ONCE D E L EON I NLET . Alice Strickland ..... 244 THE EDITOR’S CORNER KEY WEST IN THE SUMMER OF 1864 ....... Millicent Todd Bingham ..... 262 JAMES BUCKLAND: THE MYSTERY OF AN EARLY F LORIDA VISITOR .......................... Eugene Alvarez ..... 266 RECOLLECTIONS OF A FLORIDA S CHOOLTEACHER . Alice Fry ..... 270 B OOK R EVIEWS . 276 HISTORICAL N EWS . 304 DIRECTORS’ MEETING, D ECEMBER 5, 1964 . 309 CONTRIBUTORS ......................................... 3 14 COPYRIGHT 1965 by the Florida Historical Society. Reentered as second class matter July 2, 1956, at the post office at Jacksonville, Florida, under the Act of August 24, 1912. OFFICE OF PUBLICATION, CONVENTION PRESS, JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA i BOOK REVIEWS Tanner, Zespedes in East Florida, 1784-1790, by John J. TePaske ............................................... 276 King, The Fountain of Youth and Juan Ponce de Leon, by Charles W. Arnade . 2 77 Fritz, Unknown Florida, by James W. Covington . 278 Dovell, History of Banking in Florida: First Supplement, 1954-1963, by O. Z. Tyler, Jr. ............................ 279 Caruso, The Southern Frontier, by Robert L. Gold ................ 280 Reese, Colonial Georgia: A Study in British Imperial Policy in the Eighteenth Century, by Hugh T. Lefler .............................................. 282 Levy, Jefferson and Civil Liberties: The Darker Side, by F. Bruce Rosen ....................................................................... 283 Hopkins-Hargreaves, The Papers of Henry Clay, Volume III: Presidential Candidate, 1821-1824, by Edwin A. Miles ......................................... 285 Seager, And Tyler Too: A Biography of John & Julia Tyler, by Alfred A. Cave .......................................... 2 86 Howard, American Slavers and the Federal Law, 1837-1862, by James Z. Rabun ....................................... 287 Hollander, Slavery in America: Its Legal History, by Theodore B. Wilson . 289 Robertson, The Stonewall Brigade, by Edwin C. Bearss ............. 289 Brown, The Galvanized Yankees, by Ben H. Procter . 291 Cox, Politics, Principle, and Prejudice, 1865-1866, by Phillip S. Paludan ............................................... 292 Morgan, The Gilded Age: A Reappraisal, by Stanley P. Hirshson . 294 Healy, The United States in Cuba, 1898-1902: Generals, Politicians, and the Search for Policy, by William Schellings ...................................... 295 Silva, Rum, Religion, and Votes: 1928 Re-Examined, by John DeGrove .................................................. 296 Udall, The Quiet Crisis, by John D. Pennekamp . 298 Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, Volume I: 1607-1 861, by Jack P. Dalton . 299 Bradbury, Renaissance in the South: A Critical History of the Literature, 1920-1960, by Frederick W. Conner .............................. 300 Whitaker, Nationalism in Latin America, Past and Present, by Kenneth H. Beeson, Jr. .............................. 301 THE BATTLE OF OLUSTEE: ITS MEANING FOR THE BRITISH by Lawrence E. Breeze ARLY IN FEBRUARY 1864, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore, commanding the Federal Department of the South with head- quarters at Hilton Head, South Carolina, ordered Brigadier Gen- eral Truman Seymour, commander of the District of Hilton Head, to prepare his forces for a seaborne expedition. 1 Subsequent or- ders, issued after the embarkation of the troops, directed the expe- dition to the east coast of Florida. 2 On February 7, Seymour’s forces reached the mouth of the St. Johns River. They ascended the river to Jacksonville and soon took possession of the town. 3 Meeting only token resistance in the area, they began raiding operations outward from Jacksonville. 4 As advance units of the Federal forces pushed toward the interior of the state, Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, the Confederate commander in East Florida, was gathering forces at Lake City approximately sixty miles west of Jacksonville. On February 13, the Confederates took up a position near Olustee, a village thirteen miles east of Lake City, and threw up field works. Finegan considered it the strongest position between Lake City and the Federal forces at Barber’s plantation [Lawtey] on the St. Marys River. 5 It was on firm ground in an area that otherwise was dotted with ponds and swamps and through it ran the roadway from Jacksonville to Lake City and the railroad from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. During the next few days, Finegan received reinforcements from General P. G. T. Beauregard, commander of the Confederate Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 6 These units came largely from Georgia and South Carolina and increased the Confederate 1. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, 69 vols. (Washington, 1880- 1901), Series I, Vol. XXXV, pt. 1, 280. (Cited hereafter as O.R.) 2. Ibid., 280-281. 3. William Watson Davis, The Civil War and Reconstruction in Flor- ida (New York, 1913), 276-277; Mark F. Boyd, “The Federal Cam- paign of 1864 in East Florida,” Florida Historical Quarterly, XXIX (July 1950), 7. 4. Davis, 277-278; Boyd, 7. 5. O.R., Series I, Vol. XXXV, pt. 1, 330-333. 6. Ibid., 110-111, 331. [ 207 ] 208 FLORIDA HISTORICAL QUARTERLY force to approximately 5,000 men. The cautious, even hesitant, nature of the Federal advance had facilitated the southern build- up in the area of Olustee. On the morning of February 20, the main body of Union troops, amounting to 5,500 men, began an advance from Barber’s plantation toward Lake City, intending to cut railroad communi- cations between East and West Florida at the Suwannee River. 7 Shortly after mid-day the Federal advance cavalry encountered the Confederate outposts, and by mid-afternoon the opposing forces were locked in deadly combat. 8 The battle site was some three miles in advance of the Confederate defensive works at Olustee. By nightfall the Federals had been beaten badly and Seymour ordered a withdrawal. 9 The retreat continued until Union forces reached Jacksonville. On February 23, General Gillmore reported to General Halleck, General-in-Chief, United States Army, that the enemy had thrown such a large force into Florida that it was inexpedient to attempt to do more than hold the line at the St. Johns River. 10 Olustee was a bloody battle. The Confederates reported a total of 946 casualties, and General Seymour reported nearly twice that number - 1,861. 11 Olustee brought the Federal invasion of Florida to an abrupt and disastrous conclusion. From the Con- federate standpoint it was a timely victory, and it produced “gen- eral jubilation over the south.’’ 12 The purpose of this paper is to examine the reaction of the Confederacy’s British friends and 7. Ibid., 288. 8. Ibid., 288-290, 330-333, 338-341; Davis, 286-292; Boyd, 17-27. 9. O.R., series I, Vol. XXXV, pt. 1, 289, 302, 305, 333. 10. Ibid., 291. After the war, Gillmore reported (Ibid., 290-291) that he learned later there had been no “disparity in numbers” at Olustee. The Confederates greatly overestimated the size of Union forces at Olustee. Ibid., 339. 11. Ibid., 298, 337. These figures included killed, wounded, and missing.