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This exhibition looks at the three battles that occurred in
Florida, the largest being at Olustee on February 20, 1864, the
second being at Natural Bridge and the location nearest to
Citrus County being in Cedar Key.
This display of pictures, early maps and historic photographs,
and rare and unique artifacts is used to help relate the story
of Florida’s special role in the Civil War. This story is often
overlooked in the retelling of accounts of this great and tragic
era of American history. “The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum
plows new ground with the production of this exhibit – utilizing
its expanded capacity to develop exciting and information
presentations,” says Karl Seidman, long-time volunteer docent at
the Museum.
Florida is often considered the forgotten Confederate
state. One contemporary referred to the state as the “smallest
tadpole in the dirty pool of secession.” Nonetheless, Florida
played a vital role in the war with its approximately 1,300
miles of shoreline.
This
long coastline proved invaluable for the production of salt,
made by boiling sea water in large kettles or evaporating it
in man-made tidal pools. The exhibition also highlights the
importance of Florida cattle which provided much of the beef
for the main southern armies, particularly during the later
stages of the war.
With this large expanse of coastline, Floridians
recognized their vulnerability to invasion, blockade and
occupation, and actually started organizing new volunteer
military forces to defend the state even before the firing on
Fort Sumter, which marked the beginning of the Civil War. Many
of these “minute man” units became the companies that later
joined the Confederate forces. Citrus County had its own home
guard present here in 1861. Florida’s contribution to the war
grew to a total of 15,000 troops. These then were organized
into twelve infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, a few
artillery batteries, and a variety of smaller organizations.
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