Augustine on the Atlantic coast and Pensacola on the western end of the panhandle. The population at the time was quite small, with most residents concentrated in the towns of St. Florida was formally readmitted to the United States in 1868.įurther information: History of slavery in Floridaįlorida had been a Spanish territory for 300 years before being transferred to the United States in 1821. By the following month, United States control of Florida had been re-established, slavery had been abolished, and Florida's Confederate governor John Milton had committed suicide by gunshot. Deserters from both sides took refuge in the Florida wilderness, often attacking Confederate units and looting farms. Wartime conditions made it easier for enslaved people to escape, and many became useful informants to Union commanders. Fighting in Florida was largely limited to small skirmishes with the exception of the Battle of Olustee, fought near Lake City in February 1864, when a Confederate army of over 5000 repelled a Union attempt to disrupt Florida's food-producing region. As the war progressed and southern resources dwindled, forts and towns along the coast were increasingly left undefended, allowing Union forces to occupy them with little or no resistance. The Confederate strategy was to defend the vital farms in the interior of Florida at the expense of coastal areas. The state's chief importance was as a source of cattle and other food supplies for the Confederacy, and as an entry and exit location for blockade-runners who used its many bays and small inlets to evade the Union Navy.Īt the outbreak of war, the Confederate government seized many United States facilities in the state, though the Union retained control of Key West, Fort Jefferson, and Fort Pickens for the duration of the conflict. ![]() As such, Florida sent around 15,000 troops to the Confederate army, the vast majority of which were deployed elsewhere during the war. It was one of the initial seven slave states which formed the Confederacy on February 8, 1861, in advance of the American Civil War.įlorida had by far the smallest population of the Confederate states with about 140,000 residents, nearly half of them enslaved people. ![]() In January 1861, Florida became the third Southern state to secede from the Union after the November 1860 presidential election victory of Abraham Lincoln. It had been admitted to the United States as a slave state in 1845. Florida participated in the American Civil War as a member of the Confederate States of America.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |