My day started with a surprise. I headed out of the hotel before 7 a.m. and briefly stopped to gas up. Back on the highway I glanced at the estimated arrival time on my GPS - 7 a.m. I was taken aback since it was already past 7 a.m. at that point, so I figured the GPS meant 8 a.m. Maybe a technical hiccup? Shortly before reaching Marianna though my car's clock changed to 6 a.m.-something. Once I stopped I checked my cell, and indeed, I was in another time zone! I had no idea that the western part of Florida is in another time zone. Learned something new today.
Anyway, the Civil War.
@rebel brit posted a great tour of the Battle of Marianna in my planning thread here:
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/planning-florida-trip-suggestions.162123/#post-2150693 (Many thanks, Ken!) I had that with me as an audio file and listened to it while walking the tour. It made it that much easier to envision what happened where. I unfortunately couldn't get into the church as it was locked so I strolled through the cemetery while listening. And when I stood in front of Jesse Robinson's grave and heard the story of the 15 years old boy it brought tears to my eyes.
Monument to the Battle of Marianna:
After returning to my car, I headed for the Riverside Cemetery where some of the Confederates that died in the Battle of Marianna are buried.
I also found
this blog post by Dale Cox about the Riverside Cemetery where he, among other things, talks about this Union soldier's grave and its connection to events during Reconstruction:
After that I already headed back to Tallahassee. Since I was too early for The Grove, I thought of hitting the State Capitol Museum first. After parking, though, I realized I was much closer to the Old City Cemetery so I headed there first.
Sections for Confederate and Union soldiers, at different ends of the cemetery:
There are several veterans buried throughout the cemetery, like these:
A notable grave is that of David Lang. He commanded the Florida brigade at Gettysburg and at the surrender at Appomattox. After the war, he was Adjutant General of the Florida State Militia in which position he established the Florida State Troops. He also served as private secretary to Governors Mitchell and Bloxham.
I then headed to The Grove, also known as the Call-Collins House. It was built in the 1830s by two times Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call who was a close friend of Andrew Jackson, having served with him in the War of 1812 and at the Battle of New Orleans. Call was an outspoken Unionist. When Florida seceded, people came over to The Grove from the Capitol and he apparently replied, "You have opened the gates of Hell, from which shall flow the curses of the damned which shall sink you to perdition!" Call died in 1862, just a few days after the Battle of Antietam.
The house remained in the family until Florida's 33rd governor LeRoy Collins. His wife was a direct descendant of Richard Keith Call through his youngest daughter. Today it houses a museum for all the family members who lived there, starting with the 19th century on the first floor, the 20th century on the second floor, and in the basement is an exhibition on Collins's political career especially focused on the Civil Rights Movement. But there are also some displays about the enslaved that built the house.
Most of the Calls as well as Mr. and Mrs. Collins are buried in the family cemetery on the grounds of the house.
I finally got to the State Capitol Museum where I had about 75 minutes to whiz through before they closed. There's very little on the Civil War so I didn't really have trouble with the time. I snapped a couple of pics of the Senate and House Chambers as well as the Supreme Court Chamber before leaving again.
Final stop of the day was the St. John's Episcopal Church Cemetery. Richard Keith Call was one of the church's founders. Unfortunately, the cemetery is not open for visitors.
What a bummer; I had been looking forward to take a pic of Call's son-in-law, Theodore W. Brevard who fought at the Siege of Yorktown as well as the Battle of Williamsburg before returning to Florida where in 1863 he skirmished at Jacksonville and fought at the Battle of Olustee, as well as of Patrick Houstoun who commanded artillery at the Battle of Natural Bridge. *sigh* I think this is not my trip of open doors...
Tomorrow's program: Tallahassee (part 2), Suwanee River State Park, probably also Olustee battlefield (depending on how I do timewise
)