Confederate States Period
See also: St. Augustine in the American Civil WarIn January 1861, Florida seceded from the United States in the opening months of the American Civil War. Union troops had withdrawn from the fort, leaving only one man behind as caretaker. In January 1861, Confederate troops marched on the fort. The Union soldier manning the fort refused to surrender it unless he was given a receipt for it from the Confederacy. He was given the receipt and the fort was taken by the Confederacy without a shot. Most of the artillery in the fort was sent to other forts, leaving only five cannons in the water battery to defend the fort.
The Saint Augustine Blues a militia unit formed in St Augustine were enrolled into the Confederate Army at Ft. Marion on August 5, 1861. They were assigned to the recently organized Third Florida Infantry as its Company B. More than a dozen former members of the St. Augustine Blues are buried in a row at the city's Tolomato Cemetery.
The fort along with the rest of the city of St Augustine was reoccupied by Union troops after acting mayor Cristobal Bravo officially surrendered the city to Union Navy fleet commander C.R.P Rodgers on March 11, 1862. The Confederate forces left the city the previous evening in anticipation of the arrival of the Union fleet under the command of Commodore Dupont.
Read more about this topic: Castillo De San Marcos
Famous quotes containing the words confederate states, confederate, states and/or period:
“Figure a man’s only good for one oath at a time. I took mine to the Confederate States of America.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Well, you Yankees and your holy principle about savin’ the Union. You’re plunderin’ pirates that’s what. Well, you think there’s no Confederate army where you’re goin’. You think our boys are asleep down here. Well, they’ll catch up to you and they’ll cut you to pieces you, you nameless, fatherless scum. I wish I could be there to see it.”
—John Lee Mahin (1902–1984)
“I do seriously believe that if we can measure among the States the benefits resulting from the preservation of the Union, the rebellious States have the larger share. It destroyed an institution that was their destruction. It opened the way for a commercial life that, if they will only embrace it and face the light, means to them a development that shall rival the best attainments of the greatest of our States.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“Not only do our wives need support, but our children need our deep involvement in their lives. If this period [the early years] of primitive needs and primitive caretaking passes without us, it is lost forever. We can be involved in other ways, but never again on this profoundly intimate level.”
—Augustus Y. Napier (20th century)