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(Florida Expedition)

Florida Expedition

Over the winter of 1863-64 the Union cause seemed shaky.  Battlefield defeats in 1863 had not brought the Confederacy to her knees.  Certainly there was war-weariness in the South, but the North wasn't immune.  1864 was an election year, and if the Lincoln Administration couldn't show that it was winning the war the Democrats would probably be elected.

While Ulysses Grant was busy drawing up plans for major campaigns to smash the Confederate armies, there were smaller campaigns begun with smaller forces, but more political aims.  The Red River Campaign was one; the aim was to gain the rich Red River Valley in Louisiana for its produce, but also because that would allow creation of a pro-Union government in Louisiana, and deliver electoral votes for Lincoln. 
Similar plans were afoot for Florida.  In January 1864 the commander of the (Union) Department of the South, Major General Quincy Gillmore, wrote to Washington for authority to launch an expedition into Florida.  He outlined four goals:

 'First: To procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, Timber, Turpentine, and the other products of the State.
Second: To cut off one of the enemy's sources of commissary supplies. He now draws largely upon the herds of Florida for his beef...
Third: To obtain recruits for my colored regiments...'
Last, but arguably most important was to liberate enough of Florida to create a credible Unionist government, one that wouldn't be obviously based on coastal enclaves.

Because Gillmore proposed only a small expedition (he was talking about roughly 6,000 men) and the political and strategic gains were potentially high, he received permission almost immediately.  On February 7, 1864 Truman Seymour and his men disembarked at Jacksonville, and the next day began probing inland.  On the 8th they overran a small Confederate camp west of the city, capturing around 200 prisoners, 8 guns, and supplies - mainly food that the Federal troops promptly appropriated.

The mounted troops, supported by hard marching infantry, pushed westward along the rail lines and through the pine forests.  The area was sparsely settled, and communications routes were few: the Rebels were waiting behind the burned bridge at Barbers' Plantation, on the St. Mary's River.  A sharp skirmish drove them out, but the Union advanced guard was well ahead of the main body, and they halted shortly beyond Barbers, well short of Lake City, a key location because of roads down from Georgia.

The Confederates had not been idle while the Union had been moving.  In January they had detected signs of movement in the forces opposite Charleston and suspected something was afoot; plans were started to reinforce Florida's defenses.  Small forces that had been scattered along the coast to stop minor Union raids were to pull back and concentrate at Lake City; it was one of these bodies, the 2nd Florida Cavalry, that tangled with the Union advance guard at the St. Mary's River.  But concentrating small groups could only go so far: there were only about 1,500 soldiers in East Florida to concentrate, and Finegan, the District Commander, called for reinforcements.  Beauregard, his superior, agreed: by detaching troops from Charleston Gillmore had reduced the pressure there, and Beauregard could spare Colquitt's brigade of veteran Georgians and Harrison's mixed Georgia-Florida brigade was also dispatched.  But because the railroad system in the Confederacy was organized to take cotton to ports, not move goods or people between states, it would take time for the reinforcements to arrive.  Meanwhile, Finegan looked for a good defensive position, and found it a little east of Lake City.  Around Olustee the railroad ran between a large lake (Ocean Pond) on the north and a substantial swamp to the south: as troops arrived Finegan ordered them to begin entrenching.

The Confederates needed time to gather troops, and the Federals gave it to them.  Political and military objectives began to clash, and uncertainty took over.  The politicians needed time to round up pro-Union citizens (or those who would be pro-Union as long as there was an army around) and administer oaths of loyalty.  The fact that Lincoln's own private secretary arrived to speed this along must have weighed in Seymour's mind.  There was also military uncertainty: there was no plan how far inland to go, and now the decision needed to be made.  Lake City would probably do to cut the Confederate supply routes, but maybe the Federals needed to push as far as the Suwannee River and destroy railroad communications.  Also, the lack of resistance so far suggested they keep going - but surely the Confederates would react at some point.  Political goals (securing as much of the state as possible) and military (keeping lines of supply open) conflicted.

To make matters worse, there was much less Unionist sentiment than expected.  All through the war Northerners believed that a majority in the South were really Unionists, just misled by the slave-owning elite.  All they needed was a little re-education and the removal of the Southern political class, and they would turn into 'normal' Americans.  But this theory failed almost everywhere, including Florida.  After only a week of operations Seymour reported pessimistically that Florida was not pro-Union; many people might be anti-Confederate, but all that meant was they didn't want to be taxed and conscripted.  Gillmore arrived for a conference, and they agreed to pull back to Jacksonville with some inland outposts.

Then Seymour changed his mind.  He would raid to the Suwannee, and gathered his forces (6,000 men less detachments to garrison his rear but plus the 8th US Colored Troops, a regiment formed from local ex-slaves, totaling about 5,000) at Barbers' plantation.  On February 20, 1864 they started moving west.

They ran into the combined Confederate force at OLUSTEE , and that afternoon fought a nasty little battle under the pine trees.  Evenly matched for numbers, veteran Confederates fought better than less-experienced Federals, and Seymour had to fall back.  His retreat was covered by two African-American regiments, including the 54th Massachusetts.  The Confederates won the battle, but couldn't pursue in the dark, and the Union forces were still to strong to overwhelm before the moved (and they moved fast) back to Jacksonville.

What had the Florida Expedition achieved?  Gillmore had outlined four objectives.  Clearly, he had failed completely to secure enough of Florida to organize a pro-Union government.  He had temporarily disrupted but failed to sever the Confederate supply routes; Florida beef and salt would continue to nourish the armies in Virginia and Georgia.  He did obtain African-American recruits, if not many.  (About 1,000 men joined the army during the course of the war, but more joined the navy.  The Union also raised two regiments of cavalry from anti-Confederate whites.)  The goal he listed first, opening markets for Florida's other produce, also fell short.  The North hardly needed the quantities Florida produced, and could obtain them elsewhere.  For these results Gillmore had lost about 2,000 casualties, losses that could have been avoided had he not pressed so far into the interior and fought at Olustee.

With the military, political, and economic failure of the expedition, the Yankees pulled back to Jacksonville, where they stayed for the rest of the war.  The city was a base for raids into the interior, trying to interrupt Confederate supplies.  (Thanks to the 2nd Florida Cavalry and its commander most of these raids were intercepted before they achieved much.)  The Navy would continue to blockade the coast and raid salt works, but there were no further serious land campaigns.

Order of Battle

Confederate
Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, Commander, District of East Florida
Colquitt's Brigade
6th, 19th, 23rd, 27th, 28th Georgia Infantry, 6th Florida Infantry Battalion
Chatham (Georgia) Artillery
Leon (Florida) Light Artillery
Harrison's Brigade
32nd, 64th Georgia Infantry, 1st Georgia Regular Infantry, 1st Florida Infantry Battalion
28th Georgia Artillery Battalion
Abell's (Florida) Artillery
Guerard's (Georgia) Artillery
Smith's Cavalry Brigade
4th Georgia Cavalry, 2nd Florida Cavalry, 5th Florida Cavalry Battalion

Union
Brig. Gen. Truman Seymour, Commander, District of Florida
Independent Massachusetts Cavalry Battalion

Barton's Brigade
47th, 48th, 115th New York Infantry
Hawley's Brigade
7th Connecticut, 7th New Hampshire, 8th US Colored Troops
Montgomery's Brigade
35th USCT, 54th Massachusetts Infantry, 40th Massachusetts Mounted Infantry
Artillery:
Batteries B and E, 1st U.S. Artillery
Battery E, 3rd U. S. Artillery
 Sections C and B, 3rd Rhode Island Artillery
Engineers: A and E Companies, 1st New York

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(Florida Expedition)