Standing in front of the Old Capitol building, this monument is dedicated to those from the…read morevicinity who lost their lives fighting in the Civil War. While Florida was part of the Confederacy and was the third to secede from the Union after the 1860 presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, it was then the smallest of the Confederate states. As such, Florida only sent 15,000 troops to the Confederate army.
Fighting in Florida was largely limited to small skirmishes with the exception of the Battle of Olustee (north Florida, between Jacksonville and Gainesville), fought near Lake City in February 1864, when a Confederate army of over 5000 repelled a Union attempt to disrupt Florida's food producing region. Wartime conditions made it easier for enslaved people to escape, and many became useful informants to Union commanders. Deserters from both sides took refuge in the Florida wilderness, often attacking Confederate units and looting farms.
Perhaps because this monument does not specifically call out those who fought for the Confederacy is why it still stands. The monument reads, "To rescue from oblivion and perpetuate in the memory of succeeding generations the heroic patriotism of the men of Leon County who perished in the Civil War of 1861-1865. This monument is raised by their country women." It also lists the Florida battles of Pensacola, Olusteee and Natural Bridge on one side, Virginia battles on another, including Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Richmond, Cold Harbor, Manassas, Sharpesburg, Fredericksburg, Gettisburgh [sic], Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Yorktown and , Western battles on the final, including Shiloh, Chickamauga and others.
There is no mention of the Confederacy.
[Review 14090 overall, 1412 of 2020, number 1151 in Florida.]