THE BATTLE OF OLUSTEE.

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Sanderson’s or the St. Mary’s. But how was he toadvance at all without risking a repulse, seeinghat there was an enemy in his path i Nor could' e remain at Sanderson’s with entire safety, for‘feymour reported that Sanderson’s could not hemortified to advantage or the troops supplied there.YUlmore then directed him to concentrate withoutdelay a t Baldwin, hut that point offered scarcelyln °re advantages of strength than Sanderson’s, and!^ as > besides, twenty miles from his supplies atacksonville, and he had but little transportation.Whilst General Gillmore was at his headquar-at Hilton Head and the army in the interior°i Florida was beyond the reach of telegraphiccommunication, much of necessity was left to. discretion of General Seymour. Having ob-ained reliable information that the strength ofth euem y i’ 1 his front did not exceed his own,e excellent character of his own troops, as her eport s to his chief, forbade any doubt as to theP r °Priety of a conflict on equal terms. Aceord-lll gly he resolved to carry out the general planWhich he supposed the occupation and con-1 '°1 of east Florida had been based, by marchingonce to the Suwanee River and destroying theJudges and railroad, thus breaking up communi-cation between east and west Florida . On thecceipt of Seymour’s letter communicating his de-amination Gillmore promptly returned a sharpu d einp] la ti c disapproval; hut it was too late.

On the landing of Seymour’s expedition at Jack-°nvill e; Brigadier-General Joseph Finegan, thea . 0l ^ e h e rate commander of east Florida , immedi-Oy telegraphed to Savannah and Charleston forlp e “*- oree ments, and by February 10th had col-c ®d at Lake City 490 infantry, 110 cavalry, andWo field-pieces of his own widely scattered force.^ l at night he placed the men in position two and^ la lf miles east of that town, and reenforcementser e sent to him from Charleston and Savannah .e «ionstrations were made by the Union eom-Ve ai p^ ers at these points, but they failed to pre-the departure of reenforcements for Florida .i „ ^ the 13th a Confederate force of about 4000"■n ail ^ r y’ ®00 cavalry, and three field-batteries (12^ u s) was concentrated near Lake City. This forceq ? °. r S an ized into two brigades; the first, A. H.

made up of the Oth, 10th, 23d, 27th, andQ] 1 Borgia regiments, the Oth Florida, and thefiri 4 . j battery of Georgia artillery. The secondVol 6 Was com P ose< i °f the 32d and 04th Georgia jn ''hteers, 1st Regiment Georgia Regulars, 1sta , a ^ a ttalion, Bonaud’s Battalion of Infantry,jj . Kerai 'd’s Light Battery. Colonel George P.brig! 1! ) 011 ’ ^ r -)°£the 32d Georgia , commanded theQ a <lt e ' flie cavalry was commanded by Colonelhnatt^ au( f Florida light artillery was

her e 1 ac ^ e ^ and in reserve. The whole force num-ust a ^ ou ^ t>400 men at Ocean Pond on theTh 66 ’ ^ east °f Lake City.

Rive ? Countr .y along the railroad from the Suwaneer eas tward is low and flat, without streams to

’’’Isade was poniposod of tlie 7t.li Con-R kirp r, ’ Ca Ptain Skinner commanding; 7th NewHamp-Troons r,° , W' 1 J - c - Alihott; and 8tli United States Colored’ Lol °uel Charles W. Frihley. Barton’s, of the 47th

01

delay the march of an army, and covered with openpine forests unobstructed by undergrowth. Theonly natural features which could serve any pur-poses of defense were the lakes and ponds scat-tered over the country. The position at OceanPond offered these advantages. From the 13tlito the 2Oth some defensive works were begun, butlittle progress was made toward completing them,on a line extending from Ocean Pond on the left,a sheet of water of about four miles in length byfrom two to two and a half miles in width, to an-other pond about two miles long, on the rightand to the south of the railroad. A short distancein front of the left was another pond, and in frontof the right a bay or jungle, passable only withintwo hundred yards to the right or south of therailroad. The position possessed strength pro-vided the enemy would attack it directly in front,but could be readily turned.

Early on the morning of February 20tli, Sey-mour marched westward from his camp on thesouth fork of the St. Mary’s River, to engage theenemy near Olustee, about eighteen miles distant.The country over which he marched was open andlevel, presenting no strategic points, and theground was firm, offering no difficulty to the marchof troops of any amount. Colonel Henry was inadvance with his small brigade of cavalry andElder’s Horse Artillery (Battery B, First U. S. Artil-lery). Though there was no lack of general officersin General Gillmore ’s command, on this expeditionthe three infantry brigades were commanded bycolonels. Colonel (afterward General and UnitedStates Senator) J. R. Hawley led in three parallelcolumns, marching by flank, the center one on theroad, the other two dressing on it. Colonels W.B. Barton’s and James Montgomery’s brigades fol-lowed in the same order of march. Captain JohnHamilton’s Light Battery “E,” 3d United StatesArtillery, and Captain L. L. Langdon’s “ M,” 1stUnited States Artillery, and a section of RhodeIsland Artillery, under Lieutenant Metcalf, fol-lowed. One regiment, the 55th Massachusetts , wasleft in camp, winch, with other regiments detached,reduced the force engaged to about 5500 men,with 1G field-pieces. )

General Finegan had thrown forward ColonelSmith’s cavalry, supported by the 64th and twocompanies of the 32d Georgia regiments, to skir-mish with the advancing enemy and endeavor todraw them on to attack in the selected position.Apprehending, however, that the Union com-mander would be too cautious to attack a rela-tively strong position which could be so easilyturned, he ordered forward General Colquitt withthree of his regiments and a section of Gamble’sartillery to assume command of all the troops infront. About two miles east of Olustee Colquittfound the enemy, who had driven in the pickets,advancing rapidly.

The colonel of the 64tli Georgia , a new regi-ment, never before in action, supposing that only

New York, Colonel nonvy Moore; 48tli New York , MajorW. B. Conn ; and 115th New York , Colonel Simeon Salo-mon. Montgomery’s, of the 54tli Mass., Colonel E. N. Hal-lowell; anil 1st North Carolina , Lieut.-Col. W. N. Eeed.