Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1913 — WAR REMINISCENCES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR REMINISCENCES

HARD BATTLE AT OOLUSTEE

Brief History of Struggles at Marian, na and Oolustee In Which Many - Were Killed and Wounded. i ■ In response to a request the editor of the National Tribune gives the following brief history of the battles at Marianna and Oolustee: Not being able to make any progress in the operations against Charleston, General Gillmore decided to mak® an expedition into Florida, and on January 13, 1864, General Seymour embarked on 20 steamers and eight schooners for the mouth of the St. John’s river. Jacksonville was easily occupied, with only a few shot® fired, and February 6 our troops / moved out along the railroad to surprise General Finnegan, in camp eight miles distant. Col. Guy V. Henry, in command of the cavalry, made a successful dash into Finnegan’s camp, capturing four guns, a large amount of equipage and commissary stores. he captured another gun, three cars and >500,000 worth of provisions and ammunition. He pushed on to Sanderson, 40 miles from Jacksonville, where he captured and destroyed much property, and struck Finnegan in position near the city. • Henry/fell back before the strong infantry force, and telegraphed Seymour, who had come to Sanderson with Infantry and artillery, for orders. Seymour had been ordered to concentrate his force at Baldwin, but Instead of this, and againsy the orders of his commanding officer he pushed forward with about 6,00 ft men straight into the country where the Confederates could concentrate an overwhelming force against him from Georgia and Alabama. Finding that he was marching out, Finnegan set a trap into which Seymour ran headlong. Our men, faint with hunger and a hard march of 16 miles over sandy ground, reached a point where the railroad runs through a long cypress swamp. In this swamp Finnegan had stationed his men, with hl® flanks thoroughly protected by the swamp on one side and Ocean Pond on the other. Before they knew it our men were in the trap, with a Are opening from both sides upon them. The artillery was rushed up to help them out, but the rebel skirmishers shot down the horses almost at once. Hamilton’s battery went into action 150 yards from the rebel front, and in 20 minutes lost 40 out of 50 horses and 45 out of 82 men. The whole thing was absolutely mismanaged, since if we had formed a line a half mile to the rear, we could, with the assistance of our artillery, have beaten back the entire Confederate forces. Colonel Hawley, with the Seventh Connecticut, was in the advance, and suffered severely, when the Seventh New York rushed to its support with three batteries of artillery. Next the Eighth United States colored troop, under Col. Charles W. Fribley was brought up on the double-quick. It was a new regiment, and had never been under Are before. In an hour and a half it lost 350 killed or wounded, with Colonel Fribley falling with a mortal hurt. Barton’s brigade—the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth and One Hundred and Fifteenth New York—went into the battle and received fearful punishment. The commands were put in at intervals and whipped by detail. The last to go in was Colonel Montgomery with the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts and First North Carolina, both colored. Their charge, however, saved the army from fearful loss and prevented the advance of the Confederates. General Seymour showed reckless valor to atone for his mismanagement, and finally re-estab-lished what remained of his batteries farthest to the rear, where he protected the withdrawal of his men by heavy volleys of canister. The Seventh Connecticut covered the retreat, which was made deliberately, and the Confederates attempted no ’pursuit. We brought off about I,ooft our wounded and left in the Confederate hands about 250 more. The Confederates admitted a loss of 80 killed and 650 wounded, but beyond all doubt it was much greater. In his retreat Seymour burned up provisions worth >1,000,000.