Customer Reviews

Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Daneil L. Schafer wrote a rarity in today's history field - an engaging, readable, yet scholarly book on a topic that has not been well covered in the Civil War field. I can add little that hasn't been said in the previous reviews, but will state that the breadth and scope of research combined many sources, from the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion to hard-to-find contemporary journals, diaries, and accounts, is quite impressive. I did find a bias toward the Unionist perspective with a focus on emancipation of African Americans, Union troop movements and actions, and a little less on the Confederate or southern perspective. This does not detract from the presentation of information, and I found myself learning even more about a topic that I had a good foundation on to begin with. Those who want only the southern perspective will not appreciate this book, but those who want to learn or increase their knowledge of the Civil War in northeast Florida should have this book on their shelves as required reading.

Daniel L. Schafer (distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, University of North Florida) presents Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida, a well-researched and solidly presented accounting of how the American Civil War impacted Florida. From the forces that pushed Florida to battle on behalf of the South (including widespread of the black population among Florida's whites), to the three times Union forces claimed Jacksonville and then abandoned it - followed by a fourth attempt in which Jacksonville was used to stage an ill-advised Union invasion of interior Florida - to the use of underwater mines against the U.S. Navy along the St. Johns, Thunder on the River vividly captures the turbulent events of history. Accessible to lay readers and historians alike, Thunder on the River is a superb addition to American Civil War collections and college library reference shelves.

Thunder on the River: The Civil War in Northeast Florida is serious history. Professor Daniel L. Schafer caps his career at the University of North Florida with a rich narrative covering the little-noticed war that came to northeast Florida after the opening shots at Fort Sumter. The Civil War experience of Jacksonville, Florida was a harbinger of the next hundred years as African Americans struggled for a more meaningful freedom. Escaping slaves, called "Contraband," fled north and Union soldiers marched south into the frontiers of Florida. During four Union occupations of Northeast Florida, proper New Englanders came to teach African Americans to read and write. Theirs was a thankless job except for the children and adults who were hungry for the education so long denied to them. They comingled in Jacksonville, Fernandina, and St. Augustine. Carpetbaggers jockeyed for power and riches. Soldiers longed to be home. Whites took their slaves and fled to the interior of Florida. Confederates, seriously depleted, conducted quick strikes and disappeared into the Pinewoods.

All-white Union officers commanded all-black enlisted soldiers, formed into the new units of "United States Colored Troops." Although some of these same soldiers had fought well at Battery Wagner outside of Charleston a year earlier, Brigadier General Truman Seymour boated them down the Atlantic and over the sand bars of the St. John's to Jacksonville. Within weeks Seymour marched them into an impromptu Rebel trap at Ocean Pond (Olustee), west of Jacksonville. They suffered great casualties in one brisk afternoon battle that sent them staggering back to Jacksonville. Had the Confederate officers fully appreciated the disorganization of the retreating bluecoats, they might have driven the Union army right into the St. John's River, then and there. They did not, but the February 20, 1864 encounter effectively ended President Lincoln's dream of bringing Florida back into the Union apart from the South's defeat as a whole.

For the rest of the war the occupying troops in Jacksonville skirmished with the enemy and even skirmished with each other as discipline lagged. Restive black troops and white officers tangled as they performed the difficult task of keeping order as garrison soldiers in a town where most white civilians wanted only that the occupiers go home, and recently-liberated, freedmen feared what might happen if they did. In the last months of 1865 General Grant cleared most of the occupying USCT out of Jacksonville but not before hot lead flew and military firing squads executed six black soldiers who had defied the tortuous traditions of corporal punishment in the army. It is all carefully researched and true, and for historians who wish to read it the way it was, it a welcome, documented addition to one's Civil War library.

A must-see for Civil War collectors! Not much is known on the campaigns that were done in Florida, except the foothold of Federal troops on Fort Pickens, despite the call for their surrender by Confederate military authorities. This book dives deep into the swamps of Florida, the multiple occupations of Jacksonville, and the famous battle fought in February, 1864 that was claimed as a Confederate victory. I believe the infamous African-American 54th Massachusetts Regiment was there after it's blood was shed at Battery Wagner in 1863. When I read the other reviews about this book, I KNEW I had to get this book! The reviews were all true and the book is simply awesome! Not to mention the delivery was very fast and brief.