Olustee Battlefield

The Battle of Olustee took place on February
22, 1864, in the open pine woods of
northeast Florida.

Union forces marching west along the
railroad from Jacksonville planned to seize
the strategic junction at Lake City and then
take control of the Suwannee River bridges to
prevent their use by Confederate forces they
expected to rally against them. Thanks
largely to the quick thinking of General P.G.T.
Beauregard in Charleston, however, the
Confederates were one step ahead and had
flooded troops to Lake City from as far away
as South Carolina.

The Southern forces were constructing a line
of fortifications at Olustee Station when the
Federals advanced, but instead of waiting for
them General Joseph Finegan ordered
forward Colonel A.H. Colquitt to meet them.

The two forces, of about equal size, collided
on open ground but Colquitt quickly
developed a tactical advantage by deploying
his men to overlap both flanks of the unwary
Union column. By the end of the day the
Federals were in full retreat, having suffered
almost twice as many casualties as the
Confederates. Finegan, however, failed to
aggressively pursue his defeated enemy so
the stunning victory at Olustee did not have
the wide ranging consequences that were
possible.

Olustee Battlefield is located on
U.S. Highway 90 east of Lake City.
It can also be accessed from
Interstate 10, which passes a few
miles north of the park. The park
includes a small museum,
monuments, cannon, walking trails
through the battlefield, exhibits and
a picnic area.

For more information on the battle,
please follow this link: