by Zach C. Waters
Macon, Ga: Mercer University Press, 2023. Pp. xii, 259.
Illus., maps, notes, biblio., index. $39.00. ISBN: 0881468819
Florida, the Neglected Theatre of the Civil War
In retirement Zach C. Waters, a former attorney, teacher, and college professor, has churned out a number of insightful works, mostly on the Civil War. In this new he work looks at a very neglected episode in that struggle in Florida, perhaps the most neglected theatre of the war, characterized by widespread guerrilla fighting between Confederate partisans and Union forces, which included large contingents of the United States Colored Troops.
Waters makes a number of important points. He asserts that there were surprisingly deep divisions among the people of the state, “The majority of Floridians seemingly favored secession: a minority were willing to fight for the Union; while a number simply wanted to be left alone,” especially in the interior of the state.
These divisions were exacerbated early in the war when Robert E. Lee, commanding the Confederacy’s southeastern theatre, ordered most of the 15,000 troops in the state withdrawn northwards, virtually conceding it to the Union. This suggested to Governor John Milton and others that the state was of no importance to the Southern cause, despite being an important source of cattle and other foodstuffs. This decision further weakened the state’s commitment to the Confederacy and convinced many residents to support the Union. Waters adds that the withdrawal of most troops from the state made the resort to guerrilla resistance necessary, and that these relatively small forces tied down rather substantial numbers of Union troops.
Among those troops were many African-Americans of the U.S.C.T., who played a vital role in operations in Florida, doing well in numerous actions, most notably the Battle of Olustee, during the final two years of the war, despite persistent shabby treatment by the Army.
Waters also shows how runaway slaves made a useful contribution to the Union effort to control the state, depriving planters of their work force, while working for the Union Army, and often joining its ranks.
Waters investigation concludes that despite many handicaps – Union interference, an inadequate railroad net, declining support for the war – Governor Milton was able to send substantial quantities of beef and salted fish to the Confederate armies in Virginia and Tennessee, and also had a role in supporting blockade runners making use of Florida’s many small ports and rivers, aided by the state’s proximity to the neutral Bahamas.
An insightful, readable study, A Wilderness of Destruction is recommended for anyone interested in the state during the war, as well those interested the logistics of the war, economic warfare, guerilla warfare, and naval operations.
Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include Navigating Liberty: Black Refugees and Antislavery Reformers in the Civil War South, Gettysburg In Color, Vol 1, "The Bullets Flew Like Hail", John Brown's Raid, Searching For Irvin McDowell, A House Built by Slaves, They Came Only To Die, General Grant and the Verdict of History, Gettysburg In Color, Vol 2, Man of Fire, To the Last Extremity, Hood's Defeat Near Fox's Gap, "If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania", Vol. 2, Outwitting Forrest, All That Can Be Expected, Force of a Cyclone, Lincoln and Native Americans, Detour to Disaster, and Lincoln in Lists .
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