Florida and the Civil War

This paper emphasizes Florida's role in the civil war and its position on slavery during the time after the Revolutionary War, leading up the the Civil War, and shortly after the ending of the Civil War. Although, Florida had only been a state for a seemingly short period of time they adopted the culture of the south and became prosperous and thrived because of it. Threatening to abolish slavery led them to take action and protect their way of life fighting alongside South Carolina, Georgia and others, those of which are Florida's sister states. The area of Pensacola, namely Fort Pickens and Pensacola Harbor, played the most important role in protecting their confederate soldiers. Not only men but women were also subject to the harsh nature of life during war and some women served as nurses in the infirmary, some of them were left to watch over plantations and slaves that were not directly apart of the war efforts. Florida was able to withstand the war efforts of the Union soldiers, more specifically at the Battle of Olustee which was the Union's last attempt to seize Florida, until the end of the war. Many people depict Florida to have played a small role in the Civil War but they actually played a role much larger than everyone suspected and examining that role is the highlight of this paper.

*The picture is of the Battle of Olustee.