Battle of Ocheesee - Calhoun and Liberty Counties, Florida

From either Torreya State Park in Liberty County or Ocheesee Landing across the Apalachicola River in Gadsden County, it is possible to obtain a good view of the site of one of the most important battles of the First Seminole War.

The Battle of Ocheesee, Florida, was fought December 15-20, 1817, between a force of hundreds of Seminole and Creek warriors and a small force of U.S. troops escorting a flotilla of supply boats up the Apalachicola River.

The warriors were flush from dramatic victories over U.S. and allied Indian forces at Scott's Massacre (November 30, 1817) and the Battle of Blunt's Town (December 13, 1817) and hoped to surprise, halt and possibly even capture the supply vessels then slowly making their way up the river to Fort Scott in what is now Decatur County, Georgia. Taking up positions on both banks of the river, they ambushed the vessels on December 15, 1817, killing 2 soldiers and wounding another 13.

The fighting became so severe that the soldiers could not even show their heads above the bulwarks of their boats to fire back without risking death or serious injury. Pinned down and unable to move, Major Peter Muhlenburg was forced to drop anchor in mid-stream. Heavy firing continued for days until on November 19th, a specially fitted boat arrived from Fort Scott carrying materials that the soldiers were able to better fortify the supply boats. Slowly, in the days that followed, they were able to again make progress and break free of the attack.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ocheese1.

Letchworth-Love Mounds - North Florida

A park just off U.S. 90 between Tallahassee and Monticello may be the home of the largest surviving Indian mound in Florida.

Letchworth-Love Mounds Archaeological State Park is a relatively new state park that preserves the site of a major Native American chiefdom thought to date from the Weeden Island Period. Artifacts discovered in the park have been dated to the years 300 - 900 A.D.

The mounds marked the capital of an important chiefdom that thrived in the swamps and wetlands around beautiful Lake Miccosukee, a noteworthy body of water just west of Monticello. Researchers believe that the site once included as many as 15 mounds, but only four remain today. Of these, one is the magnificent mound once known as the Miccosukee Indian Mound. It rises 46 feet into the air and is 300 feet across the base. At the time of its use, it was probably even much taller.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/letchworth.

Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park - Jacksonville, Florida

At Dame's Point point on the north shore of the St. Johns River, an all but forgotten Florida state park preserves the earthwork remains of Yellow Bluff Fort, built by Southern forces in 1862 to defend Jacksonville from Union attack.

Yellow Bluff Fort Historic State Park was established in the 1950s, but remains largely undeveloped. A monument and a few corroded iron cannon dot the grounds, which consist of a few acres surrounding the earthen battery built by Confederate troops in September of 1862. The important east coast ports of Fernandina and St. Augustine had fallen that month, but the South determined to wage a stronger fight for control of Jacksonville and the vital St. Johns River. Major fortifications were built on St. Johns Bluff near today's Fort Caroline National Memorial and at Yellow Bluff, which commanded a sweeping bend of the St. Johns and an important anchorage.

Although Southern engineers planned to place seven pieces of heavy artillery at Yellow Bluff, the fort was armed only with light field pieces when the Union attack on the St. Johns was launched in early October. Although the garrison at St. Johns Bluff threw back the initial attacks, the commander there evacuated his works before the main Union attack could place. The controversial move gave Federal forces control of the important position and rendered the unfinished fort at Yellow Bluff untenable. The site was evacuated by Confederate forces and the U.S. flag was raised over the earthworks on October 5, 1862. Held by Union troops off and on for the rest of the war, it was used as a camp and signal station.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/yellowblufffort.