Battle of Olustee

Battle of Olustee by Kurz and Allison

Date	February 20, 1864 (1864-02-20)
Location	Baker County, Florida 30°12′51.24″N 82°23′18.92″W / 30.2142333°N 82.3885889°W / 30.2142333; -82.3885889Coordinates: 30°12′51.24″N 82°23′18.92″W / 30.2142333°N 82.3885889°W / 30.2142333; -82.3885889
Result	Confederate victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Truman Seymour

Joseph Finnegan

Units involved

District of Florida

District of East Florida

Strength

5,500

5,000

Casualties and losses

1,861
(203 killed
1,152 wounded
506 captured/missing)

946
(93 killed
847 wounded
6 captured/missing)

The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20, 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the only major battle fought in Florida during the war.

Union General Truman Seymour had landed troops at Jacksonville, aiming chiefly to disrupt Confederate food-supply. Meeting little resistance, he proceeded towards the state capital Tallahassee, against orders, assuming that he would face only the small Florida militia. But the Confederates in Charleston had sent reinforcements under General Alfred H. Colquitt, and the two armies collided at Ocean Pond, where the Union was repulsed. The fighting was so fierce that the Northern authorities placed a lower priority on defending their Florida enclaves.

In February 1864, Major General Quincy A. Gillmore, commander of the Union's Department of the South at Hilton Head, South Carolina, ordered an expedition into Florida to secure Union enclaves, sever Confederate supply routes (especially for beef and salt), and black soldiers. Brigadier General Truman Seymour, in command of the expedition, landed troops at Jacksonville, in an area already seized by the Union in March 1862. Seymour's forces then made several raids into northeast and north-central Florida. During these raids he met little resistance, seized several Confederate camps, captured small bands of troops and artillery pieces, liberated slaves, etc. However, Seymour was under orders from Gillmore not to advance deep into the state.

Seymour's preparations at Hilton Head had concerned the Confederate command in the key port city of Charleston, South Carolina. General P. G. T. Beauregard, correctly guessing Seymour's objective was Florida, felt these Union actions posed enough of a threat for him to detach reinforcements under Georgian Alfred H. Colquitt to bolster Florida's defenses and stop Seymour. Colquitt arrived in time to reinforce Florida troops under the command of Brigadier General Joseph Finnegan. As Colquitt's troops began arriving, Seymour, without Gillmore's knowledge, began a new drive across north Florida with the capture of Tallahassee as a possible objective.

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Wikipedia