The Civil War
1861-1865
Part Five
The Battle of Natural Bridge
As the U.S. troops rested at Tompkins’ Mills, more
Confederate reinforcements were steadily arriving by the trainloads to
Tallahassee, such as the 1st Florida Infantry Reserves, the cadets
from West Florida Seminary, and Home Guards from surrounding counties. These
troops did not stay long in the capitol city, as they were ordered to board the
Tallahassee-St. Marks train to Camp Randolph, a military encampment
along the railroad between Tallahassee and St. Marks, in the vicinity of
present-day Wakulla Station. They finally reached Camp Randolph at ten o’clock
on the night of March 5, after a slow moving four hour train ride from
Tallahassee. Colonel J.J. Daniel from the 1st Florida Reserves
commanded the men, and with a guide, the troops headed out for Natural Bridge.
The march that night was cold and miserable for a lot of troops like Joshua Frier who had not
had much sleep lately, and it is written that many men fell asleep while
marching and fell over onto the ground.[1]
On the morning of March 6, around
two o’clock, the Federals at Tompkins’ Mills began to mobilize and resumed
their march towards Natural Bridge under the watchful eyes of Scott’s cavalry.
While Newton was slowly marching towards Natural Bridge using the infrequently
traversed road along the east side of the St. Marks River, Scott and his
cavalry raced as fast as possible using the Plank Road along the western side of the river on
horseback, easily beating the Union force to secure Natural Bridge. Newton had
no idea that the Confederates were on to him, as he also vied to seize the natural crossing. At Natural Bridge, a very heavily wooded area, the St. Marks River bends to
the west at St. Marks Spring just before going underground forming the land
bridge. On the western side of the crossing there is a ridge that creates a
high ground overlooking the bridge in the shape of a semi-circle. Scott and the
Confederates beat Newton to the crossing and set up a line of defense along the
fifteen-foot ridge on the west side of the bridge. Scott ordered Lieutenant
Croom to the east side of the crossing and to fire upon the Federals once they
appeared thus warning the rest of the soldiers on the west side of the
approaching enemy. Soon after Scott and his dismounted cavalrymen took command
of the ridge, Colonel Daniel’s troops arrived.
With the arrival of Colonel Daniel, the
Confederates stretched out along the ridge using the Natural Bridge road as
the center and forming a semi-circle that curved towards the river on either
side of the crossing. The left flank on the north side of the bridge was held
by Lieutenant Colonel Girardeau and the 1st Florida Militia. The
center of the ridge was held by Lieutenant Colonel Barnes and the 1st
Florida Reserves, and the right flank, on the south side of the bridge, was
commanded by the dismounted cavalrymen of Major William H. Milton. Two cannons
were placed just south of the Natural Bridge road, aimed at the crossing
itself, which was only 170 yards away.[2]
Once lined up, many of the soldiers, exhausted from the day’s events, stacked
their muskets together and hoped to get some rest. But just as soon as many of them
closed their eyes Lieutenant Croom and his men on the eastern bank of the
river fired at the head of the approaching Federal column, and retreated back
across Natural Bridge to the western side of the crossing. The Federals had finally arrived.
Colonel J.J. Daniel was the overall
commander at this time with Colonel Scott as his second. About four o’clock in
the morning of March 6, 1865, Newton sent forward Companies B and G of the 2nd
U.S. Colored Infantry to charge the bridge and take it from any Confederates
posted there. The Federals were not aware of the numbers of Confederates
guarding the crossing when they first tried to advance across the bridge and
were repulsed by southern cannon fire. The Federals retreated back into the
woods and prepared for another attempt to take the crossing. About twenty
minutes after the first attempt the Union made their second, more determined
attempt but was also repulsed. However, during the second attempt, Colonel
Daniel’s horse was startled and threw the colonel into a tree, injuring him and
removing him from battle.
Around the time of the second Union
retreat, General Sam Jones arrived on the battlefield and took overall command. It is believed
Jones had a hand in placing the Confederate artillery. Six cannons were placed
along the elevated ridge in a semi-circle ready to tear down the enemy if they
tried to take the bridge. General Miller said he placed the cannons where they
were, but that was untrue, as they were already placed before Miller even
arrived on the field of battle. Miller was still in Newport at the start of
the fighting, keeping Major Weeks and the 2nd Florida U.S. Cavalry
from repairing the bridge and crossing at Newport. Once they heard the
commotion coming from Natural Bridge they began their march along the Plank Road.
After abandoning Newport Miller risked the possibility that Major Weeks and
his men would repair the bridge, so he placed local volunteers to
man the trenches and make Major Weeks believe the Confederates never left. One of
these volunteers was none other than Daniel Ladd himself, who took random shots at the
Federals to keep them at bay.
Meanwhile at Natural Bridge, there
was a lack of activity between the two opposing forces, besides the occasional
erratic musket and cannon fire. The Union was not attempting another charge of
the crossing just yet, while they again were looking for an alternate route. The
Confederates could not see what the Federals were doing behind the trees so
they sent forward men from the center and left flank of the Confederate line of
defense. The men went forward into the woods between the Confederate line and
Natural Bridge. They did not see much action at first, until they were attacked
by a Union sniper who shot a Confederate soldier in the stomach. It was during
this skirmishing that General William Miller arrived from Newport with
reinforcements, around eight o’clock in the morning. These new men bolstered the
ranks of the already well-defended Confederate line. The young cadets from West
Florida Seminary, including young militiamen like John Wesley Adams from Sopchoppy, were placed in
the center of the line just to the left of the Natural Bridge road.
About an hour
later Captain Dunham from the Milton Light Artillery arrived on the scene with
three more cannons, placing one on the left flank and the other two on the
right. By eleven o’clock, the Confederate line of defense was fully shaped and
dug in behind breastworks. The Confederates had placed six cannons equally
distributed along the crescent shaped line, aimed to mow down any Union attempt
to take the crossing. Confederate commanders called the skirmishers from the 1st
Florida Reserves back to the line on the right flank. The line now looked as
follows: the far left flank was manned by Lieutenant Colonel Girardeau and his
force of home guards from Jefferson, Madison, Leon, Gadsden, and Wakulla
Counties, with an artillery piece under Captain Dunham. The left-center of the line had a breastwork
thrown up with the cadets placed behind it. The right-center of the line
were Houstoun’s cannons which were aimed directly at the crossing. A company of home guards
from Gadsden County reinforced Houstoun’s guns. The right flank consisted of
the 1st Florida Reserves under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
W.D. Barnes, and was joined by three companies of dismounted cavalrymen from
the 5th Florida Cavalry, as well as Captain Benjamin Chaires’ Leon
County home guards. Also somewhere in the line were sailors from the Spray, and artillerymen from Fort Ward,
both acting as infantrymen.
Around noon, though some records indicate an earlier
time, cannons from the Union breastwork began to open fire on the Confederate
line with most of the shells landing well behind it. The Confederates returned
cannon fire then both infantries began firing shortly thereafter. Suddenly, Federal
troops in their dark blue uniforms emerged from behind the trees and the fighting intensified. A Union
column traversed the crossing and advanced into positions on the west side of
the bridge, and attacked the Confederate’s right flank. Another column attacked
the center of the Confederate line. During this fierce attack the Confederates started suffering casualties. The Confederate right flank wavered a bit and the
Federals attempted to storm it, but was halted by an impassable sinkhole that
they could not see until they were right up on it and were forced retreat back
to the tree line.[3] It is said that General
Miller rode out to the right flank himself and hollered for the men to get the line back in order. The
two Federal columns and the Confederates on the ridge engaged in a severe
infantry battle that lasted for several hours. The Confederate’s Minie balls
tore through the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored Infantry,
wounding and killing dozens of soldiers.
The exchange of volley after volley continued for
hours, then reinforcements arrived in the form of dismounted men from the 2nd
Florida Cavalry. They had finally made it to the battle all the way from Lake
City. General Newton and the Federals were now outnumbered three to one by a
force with a superior position and artillery, and he knew it.[4]
Jones and Miller sent a detachment of home guards with a cannon back to Newport to reoccupy the trenches, which were currently being held by Daniel Ladd
and a handful of other unknown locals. After the Federals seized fire, believing they
were in retreat an order came in for two companies to push forward and drive
the Federals out. Men from the 5th Florida Cavalry and the 1st
Florida Reserves advanced forward. Walking past the mutilated corpses of men
from the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored Infantry, they found
an earthwork to the rear of the first line which held a force of Union
soldiers. It had been a trick. Newton had not withdrawn, but built a new line
of defense protected by earthworks and the cannon that they captured at the
East River bridge.
Once the Confederates
were in open view from the new Federal earthworks, they released canon and
musket fire. The Confederates made three attempts to take the entrenchments,
but were repelled by heavy fire. The rebels took refuge behind the Yankee’s
first entrenchments as it exchanged gunfire with the second. This fighting on
the east bank of the river caused the Confederates to suffer great casualties.
The Confederates retreated. Soon after, the Federals stopped firing and Colonel
Scott ordered men to move scout forward to ascertain the Union’s position. They
found that Newton was taking advantage of the momentary Confederate retreat to
withdraw his own force. The Confederates had won the battle, not allowing the Union force to cross the St. Marks River, and the victorious "rebel yell" bounced from tree to tree. Officers then organized their men for a pursuit of the
fleeing Union army.
Sources Used:
Joshua Hoyet Frier, Reminiscences of the War Between the States by a Boy in the Far South at Home and in the Rank of the Confederate Militia p.145-169,
Brig. Gen. John Newton, Report of March 19, 1865, Official Records, Series 1, Volume 49-1, pp.58-62
Cox, D. (2007). The Battle of Natural Bridge,
Florida: The Confederate Defense of Tallahassee. Fort Smith, Arkansas: Dale
Cox.
[1] Frier p.150
[2]
Cox, p.41
[3] Newton, p.60-61
[4] Ibid. p.61
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