Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-02
Ecopyright, 1904. by G. L. Kilmer.l

 1864. The famous axiom which is so 1 attractive in the vernacular of west ] ern soldier that the art of war con- sists in "gettin' thar fust with the mostest men'' was not fully adhered to l in this instance. The Confederates ''got there'' first, but the numbers in 1 the fight were about equal, so it was a fair stand up encounter, fought to a finish.
 i Florida escaped the ravages of war 1 for three years, but the state was heart l fly with the Confederates and sent her quota of troops and provisions to the southern camps. Almost ct the elev- 1 enth hour the United States govern nent conceived the plan of cutting the rich peninsula off from Georgia by an armed expedition inland and at the same time organizing party there hostile to the Confederacy. Lincoln ap- pointed one of his private secretaries, John Hay, the present secretary of state, to the office of major in the army and sent him down to arrange the po- litical details while the Federal army besieging Charleston was ordered to back up the enterprise with bayonets. The armed expedition was headed by 1 General Truman Seymour, one of the gallant defenders of Fort Sumter in April. 1861. He believed that the move was a useless one, but on reaching Jacksonvi'le early in February pushed westward inland until he struck Bald win, twenty miles from the coast Some Federal cavalry under Colonel Guy V. Henry, a regular from the plains, stirred up few Confederates while scouting along St. Mary's river and chased them toward Lake City Seymour moved out and halted his col umn at Barber's plantation, on the St. Mary's, where he pitched camp
 The Federal plan was to strike a ] quick blow. to get force on the ground first at some point of vantage well in- to the interior of the state. They re- lied upon an old single track railroad to carry forward supplies for the troops, but there was only one engine on the road and that sadly in need of repair. From the chief of the army Seymour first got orders to advance di- rectly to Lake City, but on his pro- testing against the venture as risking too much was told to wait on the St. Mary's.
 Meanwhile the other side had not been idle. There were but few Con- | federate troops in east Florida when Seymour landed at Jacksonville, but that event aroused to action the Con federate commander, General Joseph Finnegan, who at once telegraphed to Savannah and Charleston for re-en- forcements and marched with 800 men to Lake City. He was there when Henry rode up to the outpests with his troopers in blue and in a few days had an army of $500 men, with twelve pieces of field artillery, at command Marching eastward on the 18th of Feb. ruary, Finnegan arrived at Ocean Pond on the Olustee, the same day and be. gan to intrenoh for battle He chose for his position stretch of land be. tween two ponds, with another pond and bay or jungle in front of either flank.
 Possibly the Confederates had been the direction to be taken. If not they were good guessers and decided to lie in wait on their own ground for the invading column to advance. Mean while confusion reigned in the Fedora councils. Seymour received definite or ders not to risk defeat, but to fall back nearer to Jacksonville. Learning, how ever, that the force in his front was not superior in numbers to his own, he re solved to go ahead and carry out the original plan of cutting off east Flor ida from the Confederacy. After the column had marched forward, into the presence of the enemy Seymour receiv ed Q dispatch from his chief at Jack sonville sharply condemning the ad vance. But 1t was too late. Finnegar had sent forward a brigade of infan try and a few sQuadrons of cavalry te skirmish with the Federals and draw them on to an attack in his chosen posi- tion.
 The combatants met in thin wood land about two miles east of Ocear Pond. One of the Confederate regi ments was new to battle and immedi ately formed square, according to the manual, on sighting the Federal troop CTS. One of Seynour's batteries in stantly began to play upon the square with shells. Seeing, with soldier: trained eye. that the square would be demolished. the Confederate brigadier General A. II. Colquitt, quickly rushed two regiments to the front on botf sides of the square, with two canno, in the center, and advanced boldly oI the Federa1s. Seymour's line yielded stubbornly. and Colquitt. supposins that he had to contend with the mair body of Federals, prepared to fight ant sent back to Finnegan asking for re endorsements. Tn short order a secont Confederate brigade lined up on tht left of Colquitt's. and in this accidenta way the battlefield was fixed on tht level ground of an open forest. o6erin: equal advantages to both sides.
 At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the bat tie broke out fiercely with an artiller! duel. Seymour massed his guns in tn center, with a demi-brigade of infantry on either flank and held two full bri gades ready for grand charge the no ment the eneny's line was shaken. 4