Concluding the 1994 Survey of Olustee

Greetings, this week we analyze more of Daniel T. Penton's original comments about the Olustee battlefield in 1994 and add new first-hand accounts to the Olustee narrative.

Pictured: the site of the battle at Olustee. Photo courtesy of the Author, 2021.

The full reconnaissance level survey was a cumulative endeavor by Penton and the Olustee Battlefield Citizens Support Organization (CSO). Many historical documents from private collections, artifacts, funding, and relevant secondary sources stemmed from the members of the CSO. In fact, the CSO prides itself as the "watchdog" organization of Olustee; to both protect and improve for future generations.

As such, both Penton and Leigh sought to include whatever they could from the CSO when undertaking their massive field survey. One aspect of the project saw the archaeologists canvassing more than the "site" of the final battle (where the Park is today). Instead, they also included substantial subsurface testing of the Union Camp Beauregard and its earthworks, the Confederate Hospital at Berry Plantation, and the Farmstead as geographically referenced in many battle accounts. 

However, the archaeological finds failed to adequately produce a narrative of the battle. Subsurface pits did not recover very many tangible artifacts from the Civil War period. Yet, a second canvassing using metal detectors found 117 related items. While the data evinced from digging test pits (either at random or on a grid) does not necessarily support the metal-detector finds, both can be used to shed more light on the whereabouts of the battle as it progressed. 

"As archaeologists, it is unsettling to observe how limited the physical record can be. As human beings, it is even more disturbing to realize that an event of this magnitude would leave barely a trace after only 130 years." - Daniel T. Penton, Principal Archaeologist.

Some further avenues for research left open by the 1994 survey include a follow-up of the sawmill and lumber industry around Ocean Pond - which we now know attracted veterans from the battle of Olustee back to Florida - and a recommendation to continue archaeological projects at Barber's Plantation and the Union hospital sites. 

Pictured: Educational plaque on the Trampled Track at Ocean Pond, describing Russel and Eppinger. Photo courtesy of the Author.

This wooded and swampy landscape would bring fortune to a few veterans from Olustee. However, just like the nearby Turpentine factory, Olustee's battlefield continues to hide from its sordid past:

"The Rebels burnt everything we might take... Was up by 4 o'clock and most froze as laying on the wet ground is not all it is cracked up to be and I stayed cold well after breakfast." - Leonard Peck

"My regiment the 115th NY left Barber's Station 7 a.m. marched 16 miles to the Battle fought 2.5 hours, loosing half of our command, again without rest. We in ranks broken and demoralized began retreat to avoid capture." - Nicholas DeGraff

"Just before the order was given to retreat I received a bullet through my ankle, which obliged me to remain on the field. I managed to crawl into a bush, where I could see the rebels [CSA] come to our wounded, and take their money, watches and whatever they found on their persons; while they stripped the dead altogether. The wounded negroes they bayoneted without mercy." - Patrick Higgins

"I passed over the Battle Field of Olustee on our way (to Madison). It was still a horrible sight to see, here and there, the hand of a yankee sticking out of the Ground. In one place by a house that they used as a Hospital there was the skeletons of six or eight men. There was crowds of dead horses all over the field. The men were buried not far from the surface of the Ground, and in several cases they had been scratched up by the buzzards and all their bones could be seen!" - S.C. Roberts

It was then that each man, carrying an empty bag, would begin to gather all of the remains found about the field. These skulls, thigh bones, and ribcages were buried at Lt. Grossman's order in a mass grave. 

Indeed, the wisdom of the Union pursuing reconciliation with the rebellious Confederate states is debatable. The subsequent killing and looting of survivors, the targeting of "colored" troops... still, reading these accounts leaves me feeling uneasy (or enraged?). Is a mass grave filled with bags of bones considered a proper burial? War Department doctrine at the time stipulated that the victors of the battle (in this case the CSA) were in charge of the field and remains. This treachery was reserved for enemies the Confederates did not think deserved burial or whose bodies did not deserve respect.

But the black and white bodies of our Union troops should not be forgotten, by the People or by the Government, and deserve rest, respect, and the full disclosure of the facts moving forward at the Olustee State Park. While reburial may not be an option today, memorializing their sacrifice and teaching the full context of the battle will gird our posterity against the lies, dreams, and hopes of the Lost Cause.

 

 

 

Sources cited:

Degraff, Nicholas. (1864). Lieutenant, 115th New York Infantry, Diary Excerpt.

Ferry, Richard J. (1986). "The Battle of Olustee (or Ocean Pond), February 20, 1864". Blue and Gray, Vol. III, Issue 4, Columbus, Ohio.

Higgins, Patrick (1865). Company D, 48th New York Volunteers, A Voice from Rebel Prisons. Rand and Avery, Boston, Mass. 

Peck, Leonard (1986). 1864 Journal Excerpt quoted in Richard J. Ferry's article "The Battle of Olustee (or Ocean Pond), February 20, 1864". 

Roberts, S.C. (1864). Palmetto Guard Artillery, Company A, Manigautis Battalion, South Carolina Artillery, Letter to His Sister (original in the collection of Richard J. Ferry).