Page 123 - a-history-of-columbia-county-florida-(1996)-edward-f-keuchel

A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 112/340

Events of the Civil War
Federals were repulsed.59 The victory buoyed the spirits of Fiori- .
dians and prevented the capture of the state’s capital, but most
Floridians knew the end was near. On April 1, 1865, Governor
Milton committed suicide, and on April 9, General Robert E. Lee
surrendered his forces in Virginia.
The first official announcement in Florida that the war was over
took place on April 30, when General Joseph E. Johnston notified
Acting Governor A. K. Allison that he had signed a convention
with Union General William Tecumseh Sherman which ended
hostilities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
General Isreal Vodges, the Federal commander at Jacksonville,
was placed in charge of the surrender of Confederate forces in
Florida. Vodges was to accept the surrender of all arms and public
stores with the exception of horses and officers pistols. Confederate
troops were to be paroled when they signed special parole forms.
In a mixup of orders Brigadier General Edward M. McCook
arrived in Tallahassee on May 10, and accepted the surrender of
all Confederate troops and property in the state. The Confederacy
in Florida surrendered 8,000 men, 40 cannon, 2,500 small arms,
450 cavalry sabers, 1,618 bayonets, 63,000 pounds of lead, 10,000
rounds of artillery ammunition, 121,900 rounds of small arms
ammunition, 170,000 pounds of bacon, 1,200 head of cattle, 7,000
bushels of corn, and other ordnance and supplies. Of the 8,000
troops in the state 7,200 traveled to Tallahassee for their surrender
and parole. The others went to St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and
other cities where the Federals were prepared to handle them.60
In describing his experiences, James M. Dancy related the
hectic conditions which prevailed in Lake City at the end of the
war. Dancy’s father headed the Confederate Commissary Depot in
Lake City, and Dancy, who had been in Dunham’s Artillery
Battery, went to Lake City when the official surrender was
f,!,Johns, Florida During the Civil War, pp. 202-05.
<*Ibid„ pp. 207-09.
109

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