Confederate Army

Confederate Army. . “Colonel Scott proceeded to place the troops in line… In the early dawn the enemy advanced in force across the pass, firing rapidly, but after a short contest were driven back by a mingled fire of musketry and canister.”, ”During the whole morning, until 11 o’clock, a desultory fire was kept up by the skirmishers on our front, and at 11 o’clock the enemy advanced in full force, and opened from his artillery. The firing was now rapid and continuous and four successive efforts were made to pass the narrow defile formed by the sinking and rising of the river. The fact that the fire of our whole line could be concentrated on this point rendered the attack of the enemy hopeless.” , , from Confederate General William Miller’s battle report, Cadets from the West Florida Seminary (now Florida State University) were stationed just to the left of Houstoun’s battery and acted as an artillery guard. The young soldiers had orders not to fire unless a charge was made on the battery. During the battle they watched the bark fly from trees and sand kick up as bullets struck around their position., ”…no doubt many of the cadets would have been struck if our teachers had not watched us constantly and made us keep behind cover.” , , Cadet 2nd Lt. Byrd Coles , West Florida Seminary , (Florida Military Institute), ”I suppose you have seen or heard long before this reaches you that the Yankees had received another good drubbing down here…”, ”By ten o’clock we reached the field of battle, about seven miles from the camp and about twelve miles from Tallahassee. Our forces skirmished with them all morning. We had several killed and wounded, and at eleven o’clock it began in earnest. The fight lasted three hours and a half.”, ”It was a warm place for the number of men engaged. Three guns of our battery and two guns of Captain Houstoun’s battery were there. The enemy had a narrow defile to pass through of about forty yards, and all the gun played on this point. We played havoc amongst them, you may be sure. It was mostly an artillery fight.” , , Jacob Gardner , Company A , Milton Light Artillery