Customer Reviews

Confederate Florida: The Road to Olustee

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for all of us laymen to see. If you're interested in Civil War history, Confederate history, or Florida history, this complete account of the events leading up to the Battle of Olustee in February 1864 will satisfy; Nulty, a former Marine Lt. Col. and current high school teacher, really gets down deep into the political and social undercurrents of the time, and sheds light on the complex circumstances of the fateful Union campaign. Particularly of interest are the great chapters on the blockade and raid strategy of the Federal forces, and Nulty's final deconstruction of the apocalyptic four-hour battle itself.

William Nulty takes what seems to be a battle book, transforms it into a campaign study and a quick history of Confederate Florida. While doing this, he grabs our attention and holds it with a combination of excellent writing and solid facts.

This very readable book, gives us a quick history of Civil War Florida and the position it assumes in the CSA. Without missing a step, we jump to the Union side covering the history of efforts to retake Florida. This leads us into a logical discussion of the objectives of what becomes the Olustee Campaign. The author debunks the standard political objective with facts and documents. Yes, Lincoln would like a restored Florida but that was not the reason for the campaign. The reasons vary from disrupting the movement of cattle to preventing the stripping of rails for use elsewhere to hopes of recruiting more blacks to fill the ranks of the USCT. When the troops arrive at Jacksonville, the reader understands the reasons and problems of both sides.

This ability to switch sides without disrupting the story provides an outstanding account of the battle. The reader is treated to a combination of personal experience, professional judgments and historical fact that produces a complete picture of the battle. Together this produces a complete account coupled with an intelligent summary of the campaign.

The CSA was more upset by the invasion and willing to commit more resources than the Union. While this may have been a sideshow in Washington, Florida's logistical support was vital to Richmond. The South's scrambled to put together a force to respond to the invasion is a story within the story. Badly short of men, officers and logistics they strip other areas to counter the threat.

Olustee is one of the battles where the USCT is a major force on the field. This adds an interest to the battle and is fully explored in the book. Both USCT's actions on the field, treatment after the battle and the commanding general's responses are covered. This coverage is factual and well supported with documentation making it even more convincing.

An excellent book about Florida's largest and most important Civil War battle.

First things first,if the union general hadn't taken the Henry rifles from one unit and had them given to a unit that ended up taking no real part in the battle,the outcome would have surely been different-a little thing.My father died a couple weeks ago.One of his earliest memories was going to the battle site with his father & grandfather,Thaddeus A.Hill,who,along with brothers and cousins were present and firing at the invaders in blue.The old gentleman walked and pointed with his cane to the various sites and movements of troops.T.A.Hill's father,James Hamilton Hill was a surgeon with the con.army who had the singular honor to be court martialed for ignoring orders and taking too much time caring for the wounded.trying to save limbs rather than just chopping them off w/o a thought.His case went to the supreme court in Richmond where the case was thrown out on the technical reason that a civilian could not be court martialed.He went back to work.The war destroyed his health and he died young in 1869.A lot has been made,rightly so,of the use of black troops in the battle and their valor.What the history does not tell is that there were dozens,or more,blacks fighting on the confederate side,some slave,some free.I even know the names of two.I won't reveal them,for the sake of their great-great grandchildren.The ugly truth is not all blacks regarded the union troops as liberators.Being pressed into work gangs by the blues wasn't the thrill it might first sound like.The details of the book show what the war was like down on ground level.the everday trials and tragedies.The spunk of Mrs.Canova in Sanderson,telling the yanks they'd soon be heading back defeated,show that the war had all kinds of bravery.Diana Greene Canova went on to many great things.Ck the Thomas Canova family org web site.Read her testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,the joining of which caused the murder of her husband and the near death of his brother-in-law,one T.A.Hill.Mrs Canova,being a blood relative,I take great pride in her spirit on both occasions.As the battle is joined,the factors leading to it taking place where and when it did,the troop movements and leadership on both sides are accidents of history and the blind leading the el stupido.Yeh,the darn yankees lost,but it could have gone either way.It was a really compelling book.I loved it.

Nulty did an excellent job of presenting the small but bloody battle of Olustee/Ocean Pond. He also did a fine job educating this reader about Florida's role in the war effort, its demographics, and the limitations the sparsely populated state faced. Nulty's product appears to be well researched and balanced and is recommended to anyone interested in the Civil War.

The battle was poorly fought by the two commanders, but in the case of the CSA forces, the subordinate experienced officer, Col. Colquitt, did fine work deploying the regiments and extending the line as his superior sent regiments to him. He never allowed the Union forces to fully deploy and gained the victory.

There were three U.S. Colored regiments in the battle. As in so many other battles involving negro troops where rebels were in control of the field following the battle, a number of wounded black soldiers and/or captives were apparently killed on a spontaneous basis (but not by officers' orders.)

I've not yet been to the battle site, but the terrain of the time seems to have been somewhat unusual compared to most other ACW battles--an open pine forest free of undergrowth with good visibility according to some participants. It was bordered by marshy areas.

The accompanying maps for the battle are well rendered at regimental level and placed appropriately with the text. Strategic maps are also present and well conceived and executed.

A weakness is that there is no unified order of battle and casualty breakdown in tabular form. The order of battle with regimental strengths is presented apart within a chapter of the text for the CSA forces, but is a bit more hidden in a paragraph for the Union (and lacks strengths.)

Note: I believe that in George Hill's review he was referring to Spencers rather than Henrys. There was indeed an exchange of Spencers for Springfields for an infantry regiment prior to Olustee.

A tremendously informative book by a former Marine, which strongly points to poor generalship by the Union's invasion commander Brigadier General Truman Seymour of Vermont as the main reason for the Confederate victory. Seymour was rash and unprepared for the rebel force he was to encounter at Olustee. Nulty even accused him of using outdated Napoleonic tactics in the placement of the Union's artillery batteries that were inappropriate following the invention of rifled firearms and conoidal bullets. This book is a very interesting appraisal of Seymour as a battlefield general--negative.