GPS Coordinates: GPS Coordinates: 84° 10.955' W ~ 30° 4.658' N W ~ 30° 4.658' 84° 10.955' Fort Williams, in a drawing from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newpaper, February 22, 1862 (de- of Florida) tail). (Courtesy State Archives

St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge History Trail

1 Wakulla Beach: site of 84°15.703' W 30° 6.316' N 4 Mounds Station: site of 84° 9.869' W 30° 5.282' N Wakulla Beach Hotel and Shell Mounds and Naval Stores West Goose Creek Seineyard 5 St. Marks Lighthouse: site of 84° 10.955' W 30° 4.658' N 2 Plum Orchard: site of Port Leon 84°8.892' W 30° 9.099' N Lighthouse, Ft. Williams, and Spanish Hole/Shipwreck 3 East River: site of CCC and 84°8.710' W 30° 7.797' N Salt Works 6 Mandalay: site of Aucilla River 83° 58.769' W 30° 6.985' N Before the Civil watery woods , Florida was and engaged thinly populated Confederate with few cities of forces on March any size. St. Marks 6 at the of had been the Natural Bridge. fifth largest town Their goal was to in Florida and a capture Tallahas­ busy port. But in see, but the Union the decade before troops withdrew the war shipping after the battle. business shifted Tallahassee to other towns. remained the The beginning only southern of the conflict capital east of This drawing shows the lighthouse, Ft. Williams and the three-masted U.S. gunboat Mohawk firing on the Confederate signaled a short­ gunboat Spray. The Spray was a modern steam-powered side wheeled boat armed with three guns that carried the Mississippi lived revival for the men and supplies between St. Marks and the lighthouse. The Spray is in the background, between the fort and the that was never port of St. Marks; lighthouse. (Courtesy State Archives of Florida) captured by ­ forces. runners easily slipped in and out stockade to shelter the The exact location of Fort Williams until President Lincoln authorized soldiers who were guarding is unknown, but it is thought to be a blockade of southern ports – the salt workers and the near the end of Cedar Point Trail. including St. Marks – on April 19, townspeople of St. Marks. Musket These items (not shown to scale) were 1861. On June 15, 1862, a ball recovered during an archeological dig shot near the site of Fort Williams. They Shortly after the blockade began, party of Union Ma rines could have been left behind by Civil the Confederates landed near the lighthouse. War soldiers or nearby residents. built a fort near They burned the barracks and the (Artifact photos courtesy of the Florida Division of Historical Resources, the St. Marks keeper’s home. The fort was not Handcut Bureau of Archaeological Research) button Lighthouse rebuilt, but it had provided a sense of safety for a few months. and named it The St. Marks Refuge Association, Inc., Ft. Williams in On March 4, 1865, soldiers from with a matching grant from the National Fish honor of Colonel the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored and Wildlife Foundation, produced the signs J.J. Williams, landed and brochures for the St. Marks National a Tallahassee near the Wildlife Refuge History Trail. The association lighthouse. is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports planter who led educational, environmental, and biological the 2nd Florida They slogged programs of St. Marks National Wildlife . The fort Bristol Glazed north Refuge. Visit www.stmarksrefuge.org for more was more of a Albany slipped through the information. 9/2010 whiskey jug sherd Glass bottle neck