October 17th, 2006
Federal Cavalry Enlistment from Civil War Microfilm's Florida Research BundleCivil War Microfilm is a new website which allows anyone with a web browser and an Internet connection to access hundreds of thousands of important historical documents which have previously only been available on microfilm in the National Archives and at select libraries and universities.
The complete and unabridged Compiled Service Records of Florida's Civil War military units (Confederate AND Union) are currently available, as are Florida's military unit CSRs and the Presidential "Amnesty Papers" of Floridians. Subscriptions to these important publications may be purchased for as little as $9.95 / month.
The Compiled Service Records are transcriptions of the original muster rolls and returns created during the Civil War. They contain some of the most detailed information available about individual Civil War soldiers and show enlistment dates and ranks, woundings, captures, imprisonments, hospitalizations, and more. Often, they also include original Civil War documents such as pay vouchers, requisitions, discharge certificates, and paroles. Though traditionally they've only been available on microfilm, Civil War Microfilm now gives you online access to the CSRs. This is a MUST if you're researching a specific soldier or working on a genealogy project about a Civil War ancestor!
September 1st, 2006Robert K. Krick is doing an update of his classic book "Lee's Colonels." He
needs some help with three of our Florida officers. They are: Thomas Erskine Clark (8th Florida Infantry), Benjamin F. Davis (5th Florida Infantry), and John M. Pons (8th Florida Infantry). Specifically, Mr. Krick has requested:
February 21st, 2006Damage to the 11th Massachusetts Infantry Monument at the Emmitsburg Road, GNMP (National Park Service / GNMP)As many of you are already aware, three monuments were severely vandalized last Wednesday evening at Gettysbug National Military Park. The monuments commemorating the 114th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry and the 11th Massachusetts Infantry on the Emmitsburg Road as well as the 4th New York Battery monument in Devil's Den suffered damage which is estimated to be $75,000 at this point. This senseless attack on our nation's heritage and sacred ground cannot be overlooked, nor should it go unpunished.
The 11th Massachusetts Infantry was one of the regiments of Carr's Brigade, Humphreys' Division, Sickles' III Corps of the Army of the Potomac directly engaged with troops from Perry's Florida Brigade on July 2, 1863 at Gettysburg. As the Florida Brigade advanced from the Northeast Corner of Spangler's Woods towards the Emmitsburg Road, their assault was contested first by the 1st Massachusetts Infantry's skirmish line (see 1st Massachusetts Infantry Skirmish Line Marker) and eventually by the main line of Carr's Brigade at the road itself. The 11th Massachusetts Infantry was stationed just south of the current location of the large diamond-shaped 1st Massachusetts Infantry Monument in the immediate vicinity of the Rogers House, which is no longer standing. 1st Lt. Henry Nichols Blake of Co. K. wrote,
"At this crisis, the soldiers in gray and butternut, yelling and waving the 'stars and bars,' were doublequicking towards the Rogers' house and Emmitsburg Road. A harmless snake rustling through the grass was dispatched by men who were not unbalanced by the perils before them . . . The Regiment was withholding its fire until the Confederates reached and attempted to climb a fence obstructing their progress. A kitten mewing piteously ran from the Rogers' house and jumped on the shoulders of a soldier."1Anderson's Division's assault outflanked Sickles' line and the Florida regiments hit Carr's Brigade at an angle, forcing the Federals to effect a fighting retreat towards Cemetery Ridge. They were closely pursued by Lang's Floridians.
"'Go to the rear,' 'Hurry up,' 'Go to the rear, boys,' were the orders reiterated to the uninjured Confederates, and leaving guns, ammunition, and equipments, and frequently without a guard they wended their way. Prisoners whose reason was dethroned temporarily implored the soldiers not to kill them. I saw a boy, about sixteen years old, who was wounded and crying hysterically and saying, 'Gen. Lee always puts the Fifth Florida in the front.'"2When it was over, the Army of the Potomac still held Cemetery Ridge, setting the stage for Pickett's Charge the next day.
February 17th, 2006
Blood Moon Rider by Zack Waters Rome, GA-based Zack Waters, a fifth-generation Floridian and the author of many important pieces of research on Florida's Civil War Soldiers, has a new book available: Blood Moon Rider. It is a work of historical fiction set in Florida cattle country during the opening months of World War II and should be quite a treat for anyone with an interest in Florida history. The book is available on Amazon.com as well. From Zack's website:
Harley Wallace has suffered through an incredible run of bad luck.
His father died fighting in the Pacific during World War II, his stepmother abandoned him, and he celebrated his fourteenth birthday as a prisoner in a hick jail. As if that were not bad enough, Harley is placed in the custody of his scarred, bitter grandfather.
As Harley and his grandfather struggle to establish a family relationship and make peace with the demons of the past, the murder of Grandfather Wallace’s cowman and best friend leads them to suspect that a monstrous evil may have taken root on the old man’s sprawling cattle ranch.
When his grandfather disappears, Harley’s simple life is shattered. He and his new friend Beth are thrust into a web of danger which reaches far beyond the swamps of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Riding into the marshes under the harsh glow of a "blood moon," they discover danger, new friends, ruthless enemies, and the true meaning of family.
"Zack Waters takes his readers on a wonderful odyssey via a full panorama of suspense and emotion. With just the right blend of colorful prose and believable dialogue, this is the best book I’ve read about Florida since Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. A stellar achievement." — John Koblas, author of J. J. Dickison: Swamp Fox of the Confederacy
"A first-rate novel for the young reader that is historically accurate, exciting, and wonderfully told. Blood Moon Rider demonstrates how Florida remained one of America’s last frontiers well into the twentieth century. It will be especially welcomed by educators looking to inspire their students in a spectacular format." — J. Mark Akerman, author of Jacob Summerlin: King of the Crackers (2005 Carlton Tebeau Book Award Winner)
January 10th, 2006Florida Monument Commission at Devil's Den, Gettysburg, PA (Gettysburg National Military Park)As of tonight, you can now add transcriptions of letters to Civil War Florida. As an example, I've uploaded two amazing, unpublished letters from soon-to-be-Colonel Walter Raleigh Moore, of Company C, 2nd Florida Infantry to his future wife Elizabeth Ann Peeples. The first letter was written in camp at Winchester, VA after Sharpsburg and mentions Colonel Hately's recovery from his terrible wound at the Bloody Lane, while the second letter offers an interesting glimpse into the personality of a young Lieutenant from Tampa, Thomas Wilkes Givens, who would later prove his bravery at Gettysburg. I received my copies of these letters from one of Colonel Moore's descendants, Brenda Tillman, who gave me permission to share them on the site. Thanks Brenda for these wonderful letters, and I'm sorry it took so long to get them posted!
In addition to being able to add new letters to this site, Civil War Florida users can also relate letters to Locations or Soldiers which are already in the database. This is particularly handy for letters which mention more than one soldier or place. Related letters show up in Location and Soldier entries.
Please respect copyright laws by either obtaining permission of the letter's publisher / owner or by only posting letters which are in the public domain.
January 1st, 2006 
Jim at work on the site I'd like to take a minute to thank all of the people who contributed to this website in 2005 and helped Civil War Florida continue to grow into a great resource. Here are a few numbers I'm proud to share with my fellow Florida researchers:
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October 17th, 2005John Milton, Fifth Governor of Florida (1807 - 1865) (Florida State Archives)
(5 comments) A Florida State Archives researcher is working on a project related to one of Florida's Civil War Governors and needs our help! He is interested in corresponding with folks in possession of any of Governor John Milton's surviving papers, most of which were unfortunately destroyed in a fire at his Marianna plantation "Sylvania" in the early 1900s.
More specifically, however, the researcher is looking for a copy of the October 12, 1861 issue of Tallahassee's Floridian and Journal newspaper. It is believed that the speech was printed in this issue, which was the first issue of the paper run after Milton's October 7th inauguration. Governor Milton's inaugural speech in the only such gubernatorial address of which the Florida State Archives does not have a copy, and it is an important missing piece in the puzzle of Florida's Civil War history.
If you have any information on Governor John Milton, access to any of his papers, or know the whereabouts of the above issue of the Floridian and Journal, please email us. Thanks!
September 12th, 2005The Confederate Memorial Hall of New Orleans needs our help! It is home to many significant Civil War artifacts including the battle flag of the 1st Florida Infantry. Please give what you can.
To: Friends and Members, Confederate Memorial Hall Museum
From: Sam Hood, Board of Directors
A special fund has been established for support of Confederate Memorial Hall Museum, recently affected by Hurricane Katrina. The extent of damage to the building and artifacts has yet to be determined, but the impact of the damage to the City of New Orleans will be a severe blow to the welfare of the museum. Relying solely on donations and visitor admission charges, revenue to the museum will be nonexistent over the next few months, and greatly diminished for many months thereafter. Your financial support will be the lifeblood of the museum during the coming difficult months.
Tax deductible contributions may be sent to:
Memorial Hall Museum Relief Fund
Suite 180, Box 278
6658 Youree Drive
Shreveport LA 71105
August 21st, 2005Dr. Henry S. Skinner and wife Kate in 1870 (Henry F. Skinner)
Civil War Interactive, one of the larger Civil War portals on the Web, has selected Civil War Florida to receive one of its coveted Editor's Choice Awards.
Meanwhile, content continues to be added to Civil War Florida. One of our latest additions is Dr. Henry Smith Skinner, a soldier in Company C, 3rd Battalion Florida Cavalry whose entry was submitted by one of his descendants along with the great picture shown here. If you're descended from a Florida Civil War soldier and don't see them already listed on this site, please add them! You may also add images, links to related websites, additional events in a soldier's timeline, you name it -- after about a year and a half of hard work, Civil War Florida's soldier entry tools are fully operational!
June 21st, 2005
I’m pleased to announce that Family Tree Magazine has selected the Civil War Florida website as one of the 101 Best Undiscovered Web Sites of 2005. This site was one of only a handful of state-centric websites to make the list which is not run by a state government, university, archive / library or genealogical society. Thanks to all of our users who are helping to build Civil War Florida into a great resource!
About Family Tree Magazine: Family Tree Magazine, America's #1 family history magazine, is the first mass-market, beginner-friendly genealogy magazine. It covers all areas of potential interest to family history enthusiasts, reaching beyond strict genealogy research to include ethnic heritage, family reunions, memoirs, oral history, scrapbooking, historical travel and other ways that families connect with their pasts. Family Tree Magazine strives to give readers all the resources they need to discover, preserve and celebrate their family histories—and to provide engaging, easy-to-understand instruction that empowers readers to take the next steps in the quest for their pasts.
Beginner-friendly doesn't necessarily mean "for novices"—it means we approach each article as if the reader is a beginner in that topic, so genealogists at every level will learn from it.
Family Tree Magazine is a division of F+W Publications, Inc. Headquartered in Cincinnati, F+W has 1,000 employees worldwide and operates offices in Devon, England; Boston; Denver; New York City; Savannah, Ga.; and Iola, Wis. The company's publishing targets hobbyists and enthusiasts in categories such as writing, fine art, genealogy, crafts, antiques, various collectibles, coins, stamps and the outdoors.
F+W publishes nearly 60 magazines, and has an equally deep book-publishing program across 15 different imprints in complementary, special-interest fields. In addition, the company owns and operates conferences and book clubs in the United States and United Kingdom.
July 4th, 2004Private John F. Leggett, CSA, and wife Candace (courtesy of Jim Leggett)Happy 4th of July! We're celebrating the holiday by releasing new tools which allow Civil War Florida users to add JPEG image files of soldiers and locations to the database! If you've got an image of an ancestor on your computer, and that soldier is already in our database, simply click on the "Edit this Soldier" link on that soldier's entry and follow the directions. We'll be adding more online help about how to do this soon, but in the mean time you can check out our Help for Adding Images to Soldiers page. Locations work the same way: click the "Edit this Location" link, and then scroll down and click the "Add a new Image to this Location" link and follow the directions. Of course, you've got to be a Civil War Florida user and be logged in to do this!
By the way. we've already gotten our first image upload from a user. Jim Leggett submitted this beautiful portrait of his great-great-grandfather, Private John Franklin Leggett, and his wife Candace. Private Leggett, who was wounded and captured at Gettysburg 141 years ago this past week, survived his wounding and two subsequent years of Federal prison and lived into the 1920s. Thanks Jim!
Coming soon: we'll be rolling out the ability to add new letters to the database. Got an old letter from great-great-great-granddaddy who fought for Florida during the Civil War? In the near future, you'll be able to add it to the site and share it with everybody.
May 25th, 2004Perry's Brigade War Department tablet, Emmitsburg Road, Gettysburg, PA (Jim Studnicki)We've just rolled out more new features, again mostly focusing on Locations. For the first time, logged-in users can actually add new Locations or edit Locations already in the database! Check out the Questions about Adding / Editing Locations in the FAQ for all the details, and please contact us right away with any questions or comments.
We've also built a new Detailed Map section, which features our own custom front-end to the massive TerraServer database. Want to know exactly where those monuments are? Our new mapper now shows aerial photographs of all Civil War Florida Locations with latitude / longitude coordinates. Some metro areas have detailed natural-color aerial photo data available down to .25 meters / pixel -- clear enough to pick out people walking down the street! Again, see the FAQ for more details.
We've also added lots of miscellaneous goodies to the site -- too many to list here, so click around and explore. Also, many new images have been added to the database.
Coming soon -- users will have the ability to add images of Soldiers and Locations to the database! It should be available within the next month or so.
March 17th, 2004Grave of Captain Frederick C. Worth, CSA (Jim Studnicki)We are up and running again after having been knocked out for about 48 hours. Our hosting company had problems with the machine that runs this website and had to reinstall everything from scratch. Needless to say, we are back!
This past weekend, after getting a heads-up from a descendant, I took a short drive out to Durant, FL ( in eastern Hillsborough County) to visit the obscure Worth Cemetery. This small burial ground was almost destroyed some years back when a developer built a subdivision on the surrounding land and tried to turn the cemetery into a building lot! Fortunately, the Hillsborough County UDC Chapter and some other history-minded folks intervened, and in the end, the cemetery was saved. One of the folks buried there is none other than Frederick C. Worth, originally a bugler in Turner's Mounted Volunteers who eventually attained the rank of Captain and led Company K, 8th Florida Infantry at Gettysburg.
March 4th, 2004Old NPS Boundary Marker at NE Corner of Spangler's Woods, Gettysburg, PA (Jim Studnicki)I've added a few neat pictures of an old NPS boundary marker at the Northeast Corner of Spangler's Woods at Gettsyburg. It is in the approximate location of the left flank of the 2nd Florida Infantry prior to its advance and subsequent assault on Cemetery Ridge on July 2.
Closeup of NPS Old Boundary Marker at NE Corner of Spangler's Woods, Gettysburg, PA (Jim Studnicki)Last night, we rolled out a huge update with completely revised soldier and location detail pages, email notification when somone replies to a comment you've made, the ability to search comments, lots of new maps, a new Browse Locations feature, and more. I've also added a lot of new images and sources to the database -- new letters, newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. Check out Colonel David Lang's entry for an idea of what's changed. A lot of other things were fixed -- little annoying bugs such as login problems when using the Message Board.
Very soon, you will be able to add new locations to the databse from your account, as well as submit changes (like fixing incorrect info or submitting geographic coordinates) to us for review. These new features are basically done; we just want to take the time to test them completely to make sure everything works! After the location features are rolled out, we plan to follow through with all of the other database items -- soldiers, soldier events, images, letters, newspaper articles, etc.
January 21st, 20041st Massachusetts Infantry Skirmish Line Marker, 2004, Gettysburg, PA (Jim Studnicki)I have returned from Maryland once again, and there are several interesting changes at Gettysburg which affect the ground on which the Florida Brigade fought:
December 16th, 2003Jim at spot where photo of Florida Monument Commission was taken, Devil's Den, Gettysburg, PA (Cindy Marinak)
(1 comment) As of this morning, our new portal, CivilWarFlorida.com, is live! We've been hard at work on this major upgrade of the site for most of the past year. The biggest thing you'll notice immediately is our new look and name (to reflect the fact that we're striving to be THE source on the 'Net for info on Civil War Florida), but there are many important *features* we've added as well.
To start with, you can now create a user account on CivilWarFlorida. This means you can login to the site and enter infomation about yourself and your Floridian Civil War ancestors. Eventually, you'll also be able to add new soldiers, upload new images, letters, etc. Expect that to show up early next year.
The other big addition is our new discussion boards. Essentially, you can now attach a comment to almost anything in the database -- an image, a news item (like this one), an event, etc. Anyone can comment on news items and our Message Board (complete with the old FloridaBrigade messages) without registration, but only logged in CivilWarFlorida users can comment on other places on the site. Very soon, comments will be indexed and searchable as well. Sometimes they contain new information that's almost as valuable as primary sources!
In other news, we were able to swing by Gettysburg over the Thanksgiving holiday. I got a fairly good picture of myself standing pretty close to where Lang, Moore and Ballantine were when they had their picture taken at Devil's Den. There are a few noticible differences to the location, such as a few rocks and a tree stump that are missing, and the path through the 'Den is now paved with stone steps, etc., but it's pretty remarkable that you can stand *exactly* where these men stood in 1895!
We hope you enjoy our new features and that you find them valuable. Please contact us about any problems you encounter, or just to let us know what you think!
October 1st, 2003Florida Monument Commission at Devil's Den, Gettysburg, PA (Gettysburg National Military Park)What a find! FloridaBrigade is pleased to present the only known image of the Florida Monument Commission at Gettysburg, PA, on July 6, 1895. Pictured left to right are Floridians Colonel Walter Raleigh Moore, 2nd Florida Infantry, Colonel David Lang, 8th Florida Infantry, and Captain William Duncan Ballantine, Company A, 2nd Florida Infantry along with Major William M. Robbins and Colonel John P. Nicholson of the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission. The photo is also of note in that it is the only known image of Colonel Moore (who is shown with a watch chain which he carried throughout the War and which is now in possession of his descendants). I had long suspected that a photo like this existed, and it finally turned up after years of "keeping my ears open." Special thanks to John Heiser and Greg Goodell from GNMP and Brenda Tillman for assistance with this image.
Work on the new site continues . . . we are in the process of revising user registration functionality and screens which will allow folks to become members of FloridaBrigade so they can log into the site and actually start uploading content (descendant information, soldiers, pictures, etc.) instead of having to email things through a person (me!) to get them to show up on the site. It's a lot of work, but will eventually allow us to capture much more content than one person could ever keep up with. More news soon . . .
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August 5th, 2003We are back! We've have been hard at work on the next version of FloridaBrigade for the last several months. It will include a completely-redesigned search interface which will allow sorting by rank, name, regiment / unit, etc. There will also be lots of additional functionality . . . stay tuned.
I've managed to acquire a copy of the 1960s Florida Centennial Commission's "Florida A Hundred Years Ago" series. I will be scanning / OCRing them and posting them to the site, making them completely searchable as well as tying them to our "Today in History" front page feature.
A gentleman emailed me this morning purporting to know someone who has a Confederate $50 note taken from a Florida Colonel at Gettysburg. Seems that Major Moore of the 2nd Florida would be the most likely candidate . . . I'm still awaiting confirmation on this.
If you've submitted your ancestors over the last several months, rest assured -- I have received your submissions and am currently processing them now.
March 26th, 2003Private Walter Lloyd Bond, Company K, 5th Florida Infantry (Florida State Archives)We've added many new sources to the database, specifically links to Florida Pension Application files for every soldier we're already tracking, and lots of new letters as well. Now that we've finally got a decent way to track primary sources, we'll be posting several complete letter collections very soon, including the complete wartime letters of David Lang (with two which have never been published) and the Joel Clifton Blake letters originally published in Apalachee in 1962. We're also now tracking selected reports and correspondence from the Official Records, which appear in context for the appropriate battles analyzed by our Roster Generator.
The next unit which we're adding to the database is Company C, 8th Florida Infantry -- Lang's old outfit from Houston / Suwannee County. It's a pretty small one, so hopefully we'll have it buttoned up soon.
We've also reorganized the entire site, which should make it a lot easier to find things. A lot of pages have been moved, so please report any broken links you may find.
March 14th, 2003It's always been pretty easy to find out if a soldier was a member of a certain unit, but determining which soldiers were actually present for a specific battle took a lot of time searching through the Compiled Service Records, Pension Applications, letters, diaries, etc. . . . until now. We are pleased to announce that our first public version of the Roster Generator is up and running. It analyzes CSR and pension data to determine which men actually fought at a certain engagement, and then graphically displays casualties for the company in question, and presents a brief synopsis of select battles and outfits.
For a quick example of what's possible, click here for a roster of Company K, 8th Florida Infantry on July 2, 1863 -- the Florida Brigade's assault on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg.
February 7th, 2003We are proud to announce that we've finished loading another complete unit into the database -- Company A, 8th Florida Infantry. All 110 soldiers known to have ever been members of this unit are now part of FloridaBrigade.org.
Some interesting facts about Company A:
January 7th, 2003Happy New Year! We've posted the first three Tour Stops of our new feature, Florida at Gettysburg: a Guide to the Field. This presentation, our latest virtual tour, will initially focus on the Floridians' role in the pivotal second day of the largest battle in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Please regard this as a work in progress -- comments etc. are requested.
Please support this site. Now you can donate to FloridaBrigade.org with your credit card.
December 15th, 2002A very important group of artifacts related to Sergeant S. Hambilton Wright, Company F, 2nd Florida Infantry was auctioned on eBay this week. The group included several ambrotypes and four letters from the Peninsular Campaign. Relics related to the 2nd Florida Infantry on the Peninsula are extremely rare; we are in the process of transcribing scans of the letters from eBay as well as attempting to contact the new owner of the group to get complete transcriptions. Several other letters from Sergeant Wright were auctioned on eBay last year, and there may be others out there.
Please contact us if you have additional information about this soldier.
December 8th, 2002We are taking a well-earned holiday break for the rest of the year, short as it may be. Expect great new features, photos, unpublished sources and more starting early next month. Happy Holidays to everyone, especially the men and women of our military, and a special thanks to everyone who has contributed to FloridaBrigade.org this year!
October 14th, 2002Private Andrew Fraser Berry, CSA (postwar) (courtesy of Kem Brooks)We have been taking a short break, but now we're back. We're currently loading another company from the 8th Florida Infantry into the database -- it should be completed before the end of October. Also, expect to see some significant updates to the site soon, including automatic Roster Generation (complete with graphs of casualties per engagement) and the FloridaBrigade Store!
We've received another great picture from a descendant of one of the brave Floridians in Perry's Brigade. Kem Brooks of Zeeland, MI sent us a picture of his ancestor, Private Andrew Fraser Berry, of Company K, 5th Florida Infantry. Berry was a member of the Captain Gardner's "Dixie Yeomen" -- the first unit fully profiled here on FloridaBrigade.org.
He was captured along with most of the 'Yeomen on May 6, 1864 at the Battle of The Wilderness and he is mentioned in the Gramling diary. Kem was also kind enough to send us a copy of a postwar letter written by late-Private Berry to his niece. It describes Berry's wartime service and also shows his pride at being a Confederate veteran. Thanks Kem!
Information such as the Berry letter (which we'll be posting shortly) and picture are another chapter in the story of Florida's Confederate soldiers. We need you to help us tell the tale! Send us any information you may have related to your Confederate Floridian ancestor, including copies of letters, photos, diaries, etc.
August 1st, 2002Captain Thomas R. Love, CSA (Florida State Archives)We've added a Master Index to allow easy alphabetical access to every soldier in our database. We are approaching 500 unique soldier entries!
We've just finished loading our third complete unit into the database -- Company B, 8th Florida Infantry. The "Young Guards" from Quincy were originally Company G, 1st Florida Infantry. Once mustered out in April 1862, many of them reenlisted and were sent to Virginia with the rest of the 8th as Company B.
Try our new Grave Locator. It will show you exactly where (and how many) Confederate Floridian graves are located relative to a list of predefined cities and towns or any longitude / latitude point.
Speaking of graves, we've taken back-to-back weekend road trips around Florida. The first was around Polk County, including Socrum and Fort Meade. We made a stop at Fort Meade's Pleasant Grove Cemetery, final resting place of Edward Jackson Hilliard, who may very well have been the last surviving member of Perry's Brigade at the age of 101. The next weekend we drove from Tampa to St. Augustine for a few days, stopping at Pasco County's oldest cemetery, the Tucker Cemetery, but missing our chance to photograph Colonel Richard Ferdinand Floyd's final resting place at Green Cove Springs.
Additionally, we've added a lot of new photos to the database. You can now tell which soldiers in the database have images -- they're designated by our new Image icon ( 
). Likewise, soldier listings related to primary sources found in the database will have the Source icon ( 
) next to them and soldiers with descendants that have registered with FloridaBrigade.org are designated by the Descendant icon ( 
).
July 10th, 2002John Milton, Fifth Governor of Florida (1807 - 1865) (Florida State Archives)
(5 comments) I am back from a long road trip through the Southeast and up the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. I made stops in Tallahassee (at the Florida State Archives, Old City Cemetery, including David Lang's gravesite, and Miccosukee, among other places), Atlanta, Charlottesville, Harpers Ferry, Gettysburg, and elsewhere, generally managed to avoid the 4th of July traffic, and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I was able to pull a few extremely important letters out of the John Milton Letterbooks at the FSA. Among them I discovered several from Colonel Richard Ferdinand Floyd of the 8th Florida Infantry as he attempted to rejoin his regiment during Lee's first invasion of the North. I also discovered a few penned by Colonel (and then Brigadier General) Edward Aylesworth Perry just after the battles of Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg. His latter note describes the reception of a new battle flag for the "old Gallant Second" sewn by the ladies of Tallahassee and given to the regiment on the eve of battle at Fredericksburg.
Our first four descendants have registered themselves through the website! I've already contacted two of them and posted their ancestors to the database. They have provided fascinating additional information on Florida's Confederate soldiers. If you're a descendant, register yourself now and tell us what you know!
June 20th, 2002Edward Jackson Hilliard, CSA, at Gettysburg, PA in 1938 (Gettysburg National Military Park)Our second unit, Company K, 8th Florida Infantry, is completely loaded! This means that we are now tracking every known event for each of the 142 soldiers recorded as having served in this company. Event-based searching on this company has already revealed several interesting facts:
June 6th, 2002Please visit our new Descendant Registry and tell us about your Confederate Floridian ancestors!
June 1st, 2002I've just posted a major update which features a lot of enhanced functionality. There are too many specific details to list here but check out David Lang's record to get an idea of what's new. With this latest upgrade of the data model we are now hard at work entering soldiers from the next unit . . .
May 16th, 2002Colonel George T. Ward, 2nd Florida Infantry, CSA (Florida State Archives)Work on the Ward piece is progressing. It will be co-authored by myself and Tom McMahon, an historian whose area of expertise is the battle of Williamsburg. As Tom is in Virginia and I'm down here in Florida, we should be able to cover ground much more efficiently. I'm planning a trip up to Tallahasse in the next month or so, and Tom is heading to the Peninsula and Library of Congress. We certainly don't want to spoil the surprises, but here is a preview of a few choice tidbits:
March 24th, 2002Letter (front) describing lock of hair taken from Colonel George T. Ward, 2nd Florida Infantry (Jim Studnicki)It doesn't get any better than this! We've taken possession of a fascinating relic of one of Confederate Florida's most important personalities. It is a lock of Colonel George Taliaferro Ward's hair, taken after he was killed May 5, 1862 at Williamsburg, VA, along with a letter from the Federal Signal Corps officer who obtained it. Ward's death was one of the formative events of the 2nd Florida Infantry, and the story of the recovery of his body from between the lines of battle is an epic in Florida lore. George Tallifierro Ward was a true Florida citizen, statesman, and soldier, and in honor of the 2nd's first leader, we're putting together a special feature on the man who wanted it inscribed upon his tombstone that he "was the last man to give up the ship" -- look for it soon.
Artifacts are starting to come out of the woodwork. Some lady here in Tampa found a bunch of old Civil War stuff in her garage over the weekend. They showed some of the items on the news tonight. A lot of it was typical garage / attic stuff, old baby dolls and table legs and things, but I also noticed an old UDC certificate (which looked like it was in OK shape -- a few holes in it) and what looked like some pins from a UCV reunion or convention. Who knows how well it's held up if it's been in a humid Florida attic for 100+ years? I'm going to get in touch with her this week and see what she's got, if she hasn't unloaded all of the good stuff already. Who knows, she might have a diary with the untold story of Company K, 8th Florida at Gettysburg . . .
March 2nd, 2002Fort Marion, St. Augustine, FL -- modern (Jim Studnicki)We've been travelling all around Florida lately! First of all, the big reenactment at Olustee a fews weeks back was a lot of fun. From our prime vantage point in the bleachers, we took some great pictures of the battle and I've posted them here. The reenactors and event staff, as usual, turned out a top-notch performance. It never ceases to amaze me how the same palmetto bush gets blown up year after year, only to show up fit for duty the following February. Nevertheless, it was pretty neat to see General Finegan leading the Floridians into the frey again after all these years.
Last weekend we took a road trip from Tampa to St. Augustine. It is a really pretty little town with a lot of Civil War history. We essentially got rained out on Saturday but on Sunday it cleared up enough for me to get some great pictures of the ancient city gates on St. George Street, Fort Marion (the present-day Castillo de San Marcos), and the Confederate Memorial. We also made a rather interesting discovery -- a flag that was supposedly captured from the 8th Florida Infantry at Fredericksburg! All in all, except for a nightmarish drive on I-4, we thoroughly enjoyed St. Augustine and will be visiting again.
From a site standpoint, things are starting to come together. I've been cleaning up a lot of the little bugs and finally got the search engine looking good in Netscape. I am re-doing how notes are tracked at the soldier level, and fixed things so that approximate dates now show up on the Event Timeline. You can also now drill down on individual events to view the details you can't see in the list. Soon, there will be a source shown for each event as well. I'll have another update in a few weeks.
February 9th, 20023rd Lieutenant Walter Richard Blake, CSA (Florida State Archives)We've finished loading our first complete unit, Company K, 5th Florida Infantry -- Captain Richmond N. Gardner's "Dixie Yeomen" of Leon County -- into the database. This means that all 133 soldiers who are known to have been in that company at one time or another are completely indexed and name- and event-based searching is now possible. This allows us to gain some interesting insights into the day-to-day activities of the Florida Brigade.
For example, search for all of the soldiers in Company K, 5th Florida Infantry who were captured at Frederick, MD -- you'll see that, in addition to the two men captured after Sharpsburg, five soldiers (undoubtedly stragglers) were captured on September 12, 1862 -- the day the Federal forces occupied the city on their way to South Mountain. This is firsthand evidence of the rampant straggling which plagued Lee's army throughout the campaign and contributed to McClellan's vast numerical superiority at Sharpsburg.
Some other interesting stats for this company:
October 13th, 2001The Florida / ANV Soldier Data Warehouse is now in alpha with a pilot number of soldiers in the database, mostly from the Pensacola Rifle Rangers (Company A, 2nd Florida Infantry) and the prestigious Dixie Yeomen (Company K, 5th Florida Infantry). Please report any bugs you encounter, and we welcome your comments, suggestions, etc.
October 7th, 2001Sorry for the long time between updates, but it has been with good reason. The main one is obvious -- FloridaBrigade.org has a new look and feel! We have redesigned and rehosted the site to allow for improved performance and more powerful searching. Over the next month, additional features will be coming online to enable our visitors to find what they're looking for a lot faster.
The second piece of good news is that I've relocated back to Tampa, which will certainly make researching Florida soldiers much easier! Additionally, one of the main areas of focus for this site will be Company K, 8th Florida Infantry -- the only company in Perry's Brigade orginating in Tampa.
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