Letters to the Editor
Originally published March 2023 · pp. 6
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I was interested to read the article in the February 2023 Civil War News about the Battle of Olustee. If any of your readers are interested in a more detailed description of the battle, I suggest reading Mark Boyd: The Federal Campaign of 1864 in East Florida and L. Schmidt: The Civil War in Florida, Vol II, The Battle of Olustee. My interest in the battle lies with two members of the West Point Class of 1862. I spent three days on the battlefield at Olustee while conducting research for my book: For Brotherhood and Duty: The Civil War History of the West Point Class of 1862. A chapter in that book is devoted to the Battle at Olustee. Lt. Col. James Barrow, 64th Georgia Inf., was killed early in the battle. He had resigned from the West Point Class of 1862 to join the Confederacy during 1861, was wounded during the Peninsula Campaign, and reassigned to the 64th Georgia as its second-in-command, and posted to Quincy, Fla. His unit was sent to Olustee by General Beauregard and it became part of Col. Harrison’s Brigade. A detachment of the 64th under Barrow’s command was sent forward to engage the Union forces and entice them to attack the fortifications near Ocean Pond. The second member of the class, 1st Lt. Tully McCrea, Captain Langdon’s Battery M, 1st US Artillery, was reassigned to that unit after serving with the
Army of the Potomac from 1862 to late 1863, during which time, he participated in the battles at Antietam, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Battery M and its six guns was assigned to Col. Barton’s Brigade as the battle unfolded. Readers might find his experience during the battle and its aftermath interesting. Around 2 p.m., near the first rail road crossing two to three miles east of Olustee, Lt. Col. Barrow’s 64th Georgia engaged the lead elements of Col. Hawley’s Brigade; Barrow was killed during that encounter. Meanwhile, Capt. Langdon’s Battery M was ordered to move forward as quickly as possible along the forest road. When it reached the site of the unfolding battle, Langdon deployed two sections left of the road to assist artillery already engaged; McCrea took his two gun section to the right. Firing quickly shifted to canister and then double canister as the fighting came closer and closer. McCrea later wrote that the artillery fire was greater than he experienced at Antietam or Gettysburg. During the ensuing fight, now around 4-5 p.m., McCrea’s section came under heavy fire. He withdrew one gun, but was wounded when a musket ball broke his left leg and lodged in his right. The crew picked him up and moved him to the rear, but were unable to withdraw his second gun and it was overrun. Shortly thereafter, the four guns in Capt. Langdon’s Battery M were also overrun. The loss of the cannon was mentioned in the General Jones article. What was not mentioned in any detail was the Union retreat that evening. The wounded were put on any vehicle that could move along the road, first to Sanderson and then Baldwin, bouncing over ruts and holes eliciting cries from the wounded. It was wet and cold
during the march as the Union forces retreated. No Confederate forces chased them. At Baldwin, McCrea was placed on a rail car and sent to Jacksonville. At Jacksonville, the more seriously wounded were quickly loaded aboard the hospital ship Cosmopolitan. Tully McCrea was sent to General Hospital Number 7 in Beaufort, S.C., where his wounds were dressed. His left leg was not amputated, but placed in a wooden frame and packed with sandbags. He spent the next four months in bed before being released to return home to Ohio. In September, he was ordered to West Point to teach mathematics and arrived on crutches. Over the next few months, he scattered cadets and people with his flying crutches on his way to classes in the academic building. Infection in his right leg caused him to be frequently bed ridden until a drastic surgery cleared a patch of cloth from the wound in his right leg. McCrea remained in the Army for 41 years, last serving during the Spanish American War. He retired as a Brigadier General in 1903, then spent the remainder of his years at West Point where he died in 1918. He is buried in the post cemetery. His letters to his family and cousins reside in the archives at the West Point library. Bibliography Olustee •
• •
•
for
Battle
• • •
• • • •
Citizens Support Organization, Renaissance Printing, Gainesville, FL, 1995. Dickison, J.J., The Olustee Campaign, Confederate Military History, 1899. Foote, Shelby., Volume 2, pp. 898-903 Hillhouse, D. and John Thrush, The Union Roll of Honor Union Casualties at the Battle of Olustee, Olustee Battlefield Citizens Support Organization, 2004. Jones, S., The Battle of Olustee, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. 4. McMurray, Richard, The Battle of Olustee. Civil War Times, Jan 1978 Morgan, Michael, Surprise at Ocean Pond, America’s Civil War, March 2006 Schmidt, L., The Civil War in Florida, Vol. II, The Battle of
• • •
Olustee, Allentown, PA, 1989. Official Records Volumes 27, 35, Series 1 Olustee Battlefield Historic Site: website http://battleofolustee. org/index.html. Taylor, Paul, Discovering the Civil War in Florida, Pineapple Press, Sarasota, FL, 2001.
Brian McEnany Vienna, VA
Boyd, Mark, The Federal Campaign of 1864 in East Florida – Florida Historical Quarterly, July 1950. Broadwater, Robert, The Battle of Olustee, 1864, McFarland and Co., Jefferson, NC, 1958. Coles, David, Far From Fields of Glory: Military Operations in Florida during Civil War – Doctoral Dissertation (FSU1996), Florida Heritage Collection. Coles, David, Men and Arms: Sketches of the commanders and Units of the Olustee Campaign, Olustee Battlefield