St . Augustine in the American Civil War During most of the American Civil War the Florida city of St . Augustine was under Union control . Its Confederate history was exceedingly brief . One Union general and one Confederate general were natives of the Ancient City . Many officers on both sides ( including Union General William T . Sherman and Confederate General Braxton Bragg ) had previous military experience in St . Augustine , particularly during the Second Seminole War . The city ' s historic ( and endangered ) Sea Wall was built in the 1830s , 1840s and 1850s by West Point engineers who went on to design military fortifications for both sides in the Civil War . Many black Union soldiers either came from St . Augustine , or settled there after the war , providing a leadership cadre for the community known as Lincolnville that was established in 1866 . Many of the city ' s old cemeteries feature the distinctive marble tombstones marked " USCT " - - United States Colored Troops . Florida state militia took the fort at St . Augustine from a small U . S . Army garrison ( one soldier ) on January 7 , 1861 . Three days later the state of Florida seceded from the United States . Union troops reoccupied the city on March 11 , 1862 , putting St . Augustine under Union control . The city was never retaken by Confederate forces . Early war . After the assault on Harper ' s Ferry by John Brown in 1859 , " St . Augustine Examiner " owner Matthias Andreu devised the motto " Equality in the Union and Nothing Else " , feeding a sense of mistrust towards the federal government that the paper promised could lead to war between the states . Once Abraham Lincoln was elected United States president solely by Northern states ( not a single vote for Lincoln was recorded in the entire state of Florida ) , Andreu saw no hope in the south remaining with the north , and promoted secession , lest " violent abolitionists " incite slaves to riot . On January 7 , 1861 , at least 25 militiamen from the town of Fernandina came to capture Fort Marion , a coquina fort built by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695 . The lone United States army sergeant guarding the fort gave the Southerners the keys without complaint . Many of the fort ' s cannons was sent to Fernandina . When news reached St . Augustine on January 12 , 1861 that Florida had seceded , the city celebrated with ceremonial flag raisings , church bells , and musket volleys , followed that night by torchlight parade and bonfires . The following Lent saw greater passion in following the restrictions than previous years . Meanwhile , the " Examiner " led an effort to proclaim anything that spoke against secession as treasonous . Initial support for the war waned when taxes were increased for the war effort and revenues derived from the new tourist trade came to a standstill . Although situated 150 miles away , the residents of St . Augustine heard of the Battle of Port Royal on November 7 , 1861 . Troops on a Union ship just upwind from the battle saw flashes of light , but often heard nothing . The majority of Confederate forces from St . Augustine consisted of a company called the St . Augustine Blues . When they left the city in March 1862 their number ranged between eighty to a hundred men . As part of the Third Florida Regiment , they lost many of their men at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky in October 1862 . By the time of the Battle of Murfreesboro , only ten of the original Blues remained . At the war ' s end in 1865 , only eight were officially captured . However , only seventeen were confirmed killed during the war . Fort Marion and St . Augustine were seized by Union Marines and sailors landing unopposed on March 11 , 1862 . The " USS Wabash " and " USS Mohican " were spotted entering the bay on March 9 by the occupying Confederate forces . Knowing they could not adequately defend the city , the Confederate forces withdrew on March 10 at 10 pm . Late war . Other notable contributions to the Confederate war effort were at least three generals : Edmund Kirby - Smith , Francis A . Shoup and William Wing Loring , although only Kirby - Smith was born there . During the war , St . Augustinian Stephen Vincent Benet , grandfather of American author Stephen Vincent Benet , continued to serve in the U . S . Army as an instructor at West Point with the rank of captain , eventually rising to the rank of Brigadier General . His younger brother James served in the Confederate Army — one of many examples of families divided in their loyalty during the war . Edmund Jackson Davis , while born in St . Augustine , moved to Galveston , Texas , as a child . After the war began , he crossed over to Mexico where he raised the 1st Texas Cavalry ( USA ) , served as its colonel , and was later promoted to Brigadier General of U . S . Volunteers . In 1869 , he was elected governor of Texas and served as such for four years . Unlike nearby Jacksonville , which had four separate control changes , the Confederates did not attempt retaking St . Augustine . Confederate general Robert E . Lee , well familiar with the area after having charted the coastline years before , said that the city " serves only as an invitation for an attack " . Union forces strengthened the fort during the war , in case of attack . A heavy presence of U . S . Army forces would remain through Reconstruction and until the end of the Spanish - American War , always as an important part of the local economy and social life . Many Union soldiers settled permanently in St . Augustine and intermarried with local families . Several served as mayors of the city . Lieutenant Foster , a Union officer , married Miss Sanchez , from a family of Confederate firebrands , and their son , General J . Clifford R . Foster , served as Adjutant General of Florida for most of the first quarter of the twentieth century . Union forces enjoyed the city . The Seventh New Hampshire Volunteer s ' historian said that living in St . Augustine was good for the health of his fellow soldiers , and regretted when ordered to leave the city . Another benefit from the Union presence was that Sam A . Cooley , an official photographer of the U . S . Army ' s Department of the South , undertook the first major effort to take pictures of many of the city ' s buildings , which proved valuable a century later when efforts were made to restore many of St . Augustine ' s historic buildings . Among the interesting Union soldiers to serve in St . Augustine were Joseph Hawley , later governor and senator from Connecticut , Francis Wayland Parker , pioneer of progressive education in the United States , Joseph C . Abbott , later senator from North Carolina , and Anthony Comstock , who became the nation ' s most notorious bookburner and anti - pornography crusader . On January 1 , 1863 , Abraham Lincoln ' s Emancipation Proclamation came into effect for slaves in areas still under Confederate control . A bell and marker on the grounds of Old St . Augustine Village celebrates the event , and for many generations , Emancipation Day , on January 1 , was a major celebration in the black community of the Ancient City . On March 9 , 1863 , a small skirmish occurred when 80 Confederate troops attacked an advanced picket guard just north of St . Augustine . They were driven off by 120 men from the 7th New Hampshire Volunteers . Post - war . For many decades after the war , St . Augustine had two chapters of the Grand Army of the Republic — one black and one white . In the Flagler era , two prominent Union generals , John McAllister Schofield and Martin D . Hardin retired , sequentially , to the same house at 20 Valencia Street . Saved by public protest from a demolition attempt by Flagler College in the 1980s , the building has come to be known as " The Union Generals House . " Hardin , a protégé of Abraham Lincoln , was one of the last surviving generals on either side when he died in St . Augustine on December 12 , 1923 . He is buried at the U . S . National Cemetery on Marine Street under a large cross , and a marker on the La Leche Chapel on the grounds of the Mission of Nombre de Dios notes that the building was restored in General Hardin ' s honor by his widow .