A lot of you expressed interest in the Spanish American War battery located at St Johns Bluff that was recently sold to a private individual. Here are some pictures I put together and some information on the site during the Civil War. (War of Northern Aggression as we Southerners sometime refer to it) ;-) I hope you will find this recap as interesting as I did. St johns Bluff was vital to the Unions Florida Strategy because if the Federals controlled the St Johns River they could raid at will deep into Floridas Confederate interior. During the early 1860s Florida was one of the least populated states. Munitions and supplies for the Confederate Army were filtering in from Europe via the Bahamas and Floridas plantations were providing much needed beef to the Rebel forces. Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, the Confederate commander of East Florida with few resources at his disposal began in the summer of 1862 fortifying St Johns Bluff using slave labor. The Confederates opened fire on the first Union gunboat, the U.S.S. Uncas on 11, September. The Uncas was joined by the U.S.S. Patroon. However the naval force alone could not drive the Confederates off the bluff, so Union commanders sent an additional 1,500 men for a combined Army/Navy amphibious operation to conquer the battery. A contingent of US Marines armed with Dahlgren 12 pdr Boat Howitzers slipped into Mt Pleasant Creek to the south and marched through the terrain most likely crossing over Thrill Hill. The battery fired on Union ships as they passed the mouth of Sisters Creek. The Confederate commander, Colonel Charles F. Hopkins was in a panic because he believed that 5,000 men were preparing to assault his defenses. He ordered his men to retreat from the bluff on the night of 2-3 October. Union forces took the bluff and raised their flag and sailed unmolested up the river to Jacksonville and reoccupied the city on 3 October. Hopkins was later exonerated in a court martial in this humiliating defeat for the Confederate Army.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 18:00:39 +0000
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