THE AUCILLA IN THE CIVIL WAR

Submitted by
George M. Cole and John E. Ladson III
Aucilla Research Institute

Although not generally recognized as a major area of Civil War action, the Aucilla River area was the scene of some notable activity during the war. That action included both land and naval skirmishes. Although most accounts of the Civil War concentrate on movement of troops and battles on land, the considerable naval operations are often neglected. Yet, such operations, which were centered around a blockade of the Confederate coastline, played a big role in the war, especially in the Gulf Coast area around the Aucilla River.

Most of the Civil War naval activity had its beginning in April 1861 when President Abraham Lincoln ordered a blockade of the Confederate coastline. At that time, the United States Navy had only a few steam powered vessels in service. As a result, the Navy began a frantic effort to acquire additional ships for the task. Once vessels were available, two squadrons were created for this task - one for the Atlantic and one for the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Coast squadron faced an especially difficult challenge working along the Florida coastline. The fact that there were no major ports but numerous small ports, together with the lengthy coastline, numerous inlets and bays, and relatively shallow water required a different strategy to enforce the blockade than on the Atlantic coast. As a result, there were a third more blockade runners along the Gulf coast than along the Atlantic and much of such shipping was able to operate with impunity.

Because of the lack of major ports, the basic plan developed for the Gulf coast was the assignment of each major participating Union ship to a broad sector of coast to patrol. In addition, the Union forces relied a great deal on spies to report shipping activities to assist in intercepting blockade runners. As a result, many sailing dates for southern ships were known to the Federal forces before the vessels were loaded. In the Aucilla River area, much of the blockade activity occurred around the port of St. Marks since it had become an important shipping point for cotton and other types of produce. Furthermore, the foundry at Newport had become a major producer of shot and shell for the Confederacy. Consequently, the coastline near the Aucilla saw considerable naval warfare with a number of blockade runners destroyed as well as frequent attacks on the port of St. Marks itself, including the burning of the lighthouse.

In addition to stopping shipping to and from Confederate ports, another important goal of the blockade squadrons was to eliminate salt production along the coast. As a result, Union ships would frequently cruise along the shoreline looking for columns of smoke indicating the presence of boiler operations. Salt was crucial to the Confederacy for preserving food and curing leather and, as a result, numerous saltworks developed along the Florida Gulf Coast. As evidence of the importance of this activity, salt workers were exempt from military service. It was estimated that, at one time, there were 5000 such workers in Florida. Because of its relative remoteness, the Big Bend shoreline was one of the most widely used areas for salt production with numerous small plants working 24 hours per day boiling salt kettles. The local prevalence of this activity is illustrated by advertisements, which appeared in March 1863 in the Tallahassee Sentential for workers at “highest wages” at the Empire Salt Works in St. Marks with a notation that the location “was safe.” There are accounts of numerous residents of the Aucilla River area being involved in salt production. The naming of the road along and crossing the river in Jefferson and Taylor Counties is graphic evidence of the prevalence of these small factories in the area.

When salt works were spotted by Union ships, teams would be sent ashore in small boats to destroy salt making facilities. One such Union attack on a salt works in the St. Marks area was reported to have destroyed 50 boilers and 4800 bushels of salt worth $12.50 a bushel, and also destroyed several fish houses and took several local residents as prisoners. Another attack just east of the Aucilla River, destroyed property estimated to be worth at least two million dollars. According to historian, June Parker McLeod, that property included “390 large kettles, 52 sheet-iron boilers with an average capacity of 900 gallons, 170  masonry furnaces, 150 pumps, wells and aqueducts, 55 storehouses, 165 houses and shanties, and 60 sheds and stables. These works were estimated to produce 1,500 bushels of salt a day.” In spite of the Union raids these rudimentary plants were quickly rebuilt in many instances.

One especially interesting incident regarding the blockade took place along the east bank of the Aucilla a few miles from its mouth. The incident began when evidence of Union naval activity was noted on a patrol by a company of Confederate soldiers. The patrol was led by Lieutenant Colonel George Washington Scott. Scott was a local businessman and the owner of a 1000 acre plantation on land near land currently occupied by Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee. On his plantation, he was noted for innovative agricultural practices including the use of crushed phosphate rock. Scott had joined the Tallahassee Guard at the onset of the Civil War when it was mustered into Confederate service. He was assigned to command a company whose mission was to patrol the area between the Suwannee and Choctawhatchee Rivers.

Scott’s company frequently patrolled the Aucilla River area, and he created several maps of the region for use in those missions. One such map shows a route of his patrol from Newport, then crossing the lower Aucilla and continuing northerly along the east bank to the natural bridge near Nutall Rise. There, the route crossed over to an area depicted as a camp site.

When Scott saw the evidence of Union activity on one of the patrols along the Aucilla, he saw an opportunity to avenge some of the naval raids on local salt works. He may have been especially interested in stopping such Union activity due to his personal investment in saltworks in nearby Newport which had experienced several attacks by Union forces. Therefore, Scott’s company set up an ambush at the site that his company has discovered. The site was about two miles North of the mouth of the river. On June 2, 1862, three skiffs carrying thirteen sailors and a pilot from the USS KINGFISHER were seen coming up the Aucilla. In the ensuing battle, two of the Union sailors were killed and the others captured with only the pilot escaping in one of the skiffs.

Scott was also noted for his participation in a battle which took place the following year along the Ochlocknee River. Armed federal boats had gone up the river to capture the Confederate ship ONWARD. Scott heard the news and rushed to the scene. Despite the grape shot and shrapnel shells from a howitzer on one of the Union boats, Scott’s company managed to stop the attack and the battle ended with the Federal boats retreating with one dead and six wounded while Scott’s forces suffered no casualties.

Scott went on to gain further fame due to his success in another well publicized battle in 1865. In an effort to capture Tallahassee, Union forces had assembled a large invasion force offshore of the port of St. Marks. That force consisted of five steamers, three schooners, and five other ships, two of which were troop carriers. Although several of the ships ran aground when they moved up the river, an amphibious invasion was launched near St. Marks. Hopelessly outnumbered, Scott’s company fought a delaying action which eventually put them in Newport at the St. Marks River Bridge. They were able to set fire to the bridge and hold back the Union forces long enough to destroy the structure and prevent any crossing. This forced the invading forces upriver to the land bridge where Confederate troops held a strong defensive position. The ensuing Battle of Natural Bridge was a Confederate victory and assured that Tallahassee remained the only Confederate state capital not captured by Union forces.

In addition to Scott’s action along the Aucilla, another widely known Civil War incident along the river involved the burning of the railroad bridge across the river. That attack was directed by William Strickland, a local farmer. Strickland had enlisted as a private in Company I, 2nd Florida Cavalry, CSA after the Confederate Congress passed the Conscription Act in 1862. In December of that year, after learning that his wife was seriously ill, he asked for leave to care for her. After his request was denied, he left without authorization, returning the following March after his wife improved. On his return, he was arrested and subjected to harsh punishment which led to his desertion, this time for good, in June 1863.

Based on an excellent history of Taylor County by June Parker McLeod, Strickland then joined a number of other local deserters and took refuge on Snyder’s Island near the mouth of the Econfina River, surrounded by impassable marshes. There, they reportedly began raising crops and cattle to feed themselves and their families. The group established a guerrilla organization called the Independent Union Rangers of Taylor County. Members were required to take a loyalty oath to the Union and to obey orders of their elected officers. Strickland became the commander of the band which had frequent skirmishes with Confederate forces operating in the area.

In March 1865, when the Confederate forces became aware of the Union invasion at St, Marks, Troops were sent from the Madison area to shore up the Confederate defense. Strickland’s rangers were ordered to destroy the railroad bridge across the Aucilla River to stop the Confederate reinforcements. He and six men reached the site on March 3rd with orders to remove the track on the bridge to cause the Confederate troops from Madison to be dumped in the river. Nevertheless, Strickland decided to burn the trestle instead to give the train time to stop. This apparently was in an attempt to keep the troops, some of whom were former acquaintances, out of action without killing them. Reportedly, as the train rounded the curve and the engineer saw the trestle burning, he tried to apply the brakes. But then realizing that he could not stop in time, he applied full power to speed across the bridge. The bridge, not designed for that speed, collapsed as the last car made it across the bridge. As a result of the successful crossing, the troops continued on to St. Marks. And, the Confederate forces, reinforced with the arriving troops, defeated the Union troops at the Battle of Natural Bridge, thus saving the State Capital in Tallahassee.
But immediately after the bridge burning was reported to the Confederate forces, ten troopers and a pack of hounds were sent to the bridge area. The dogs picked up the scent, resulting in Strickland and his men being trapped in a stand of cypress. Three of his men were killed and Strickland and one other captured. Later, although considerable empathy for Strickland existed in the Taylor County area, he was executed. Nevertheless, remnants of the burnt bridge still stand along the Aucilla River today as evidence of his action.