Page 116 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 105/340

Events of the Civil War

pieces of artillery to oppose Henry’s mounted force of some 1,400.
Defensive positions were prepared in an area about two and a half
miles east of Lake City. Henry did not plan to take Lake City at
that time, but rather move as far westward towards Lake City as
he could safely go. On the morning of February 12, Henry’s force
skirmished with Finegan’s defenders for several hours. The
Federal force made no concerted effort to overrun the position, and
withdrew to defensive positions on the St. Marys River.40 Since
Henry had a much larger force, Lake City might have been taken
at that time if that had been the intention of the Federal force.
Over the next several days the Federals prepared their de­
fenses on the St. Marys and conducted raids against Gainesville,
Callahan, and other areas before their next thrust to the West.
General Finegan, reinforced with troops from Georgia and South
Carolina, prepared defenses at Olustee which he regarded as the
most defensible position between the St. Marys and Lake City.41 In
her diary Susan Bradford Eppes of Tallahassee wrote “two more
Georgia regiments passed through today en route for Lake City. I
am afraid that means a fight. God Help Us.”42
Finegan’s choice was excellent. The site was along the tracks
of the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, and it was an
easy matter for supplies and reinforcements to reach the area.
Moreover, a large cypress swamp lay to the south and the large
lake, Ocean Pond, lay to the north. Any large force moving toward
Lake City would have to come through the funnel between those
two obstacles where Finegan had concentrated his forces.
Finegan formed his units as follows. The First Brigade under
Brigadier General Alfred H. Colquitt contained the Sixth, Nine­
teenth, Twenty-third, Twenty-seventh, and Twenty-eighth Geor-

Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. XXXV, pt. 1 pp. 252, 282-83, 331.
"Ibid., pp. 331, 338-39.
•*2Susan Bradford Eppes, Through Some Eventful Years, fascimile reproduction
of 1926 edition (Gainesville, 1968), p. 231.
103

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