John Jackson Dickison John Jackson Dickison ( March 28 , 1816 – August 20 , 1902 ) was an officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Dickison is mostly remembered as being the person who led the attack which resulted in the capture of the Union warship USS " Columbine " in the " Battle of Horse Landing " . This was one of the few instances in which a Union warship was captured by land - based Confederate forces during the Civil War and the only known incident in U . S . history where a cavalry unit sank an enemy gunboat . Dickison and his men were victorious in all of his raids against the Union troops in Florida , including his raid in Gainesville what is known as the Battle of Gainesville . Tragedy struck Dickison , when one of his sons , both of whom served under his command , was killed during a raid . Early years . Dickison was born in Monroe County , Virginia ( Now part of West Virginia ) and was raised in South Carolina . There Dickison received his primary and secondary education . He lived in Georgetown , where he became a successful businessman as a cotton merchant . Dickison joined the South Carolina Militia where he received his military training and was commissioned an officer in the cavalry . In 1845 , he married Mary Elizabeth Ling and had two sons ; Charles and R . L . Dickison . In 1857 , Dickison moved to the Ocala , Florida where he purchased a plantation which he named " Sunnyside " . His plantation was very successful and he became a wealthy businessman . American Civil War . On December 12 , 1861 , Dickison was asked by the Confederate southern commanders if he would join them in their quest upon the outbreak of the American Civil War and he accepted . He was commissioned a Lieutenant under Captain John M . Martin and served in the Marion Light Artillery in Fort Clinch . On July 2 , 1862 , he was promoted to Captain and ordered to create and command a new cavalry unit . The unit which Dickison commanded was Company H of the Second Florida Cavalry . Dickison had returned from a successful raid and received the following recognition from Major General Sam Jones , his Commanding officer : " I directed Captain Dickison , of the Second Florida Cavalry , who had just returned from a most successful raid east of the Saint John ’ s , to endeavor to get in the rear , and concentrated on a large a force as I could at Newnansville . The enemy meetings , perhaps , more opposition than they had anticipated , fell back and were followed by Captain Dickison , who attacked them on the mainland , near Cedar Keys ; and though his force was outnumbered five to one , the enemy retreated to Cedar Keys , after a sharp skirmish , leaving a portion of their dead on the field . Captain Dickison reports that he killed and wounded between sixty and seventy , and captured a few , with very slight loss on his part . I have heretofore frequently had occasion to report the gallant and valuable services of Captain Dickison and his command , and to present the captain , as I do now , to the favorable notice of the Government . " " The Battle of Horse Landing " . Lola Sánchez was a Confederate spy , whose residence , on the banks of the $ 3 opposite Palatka , Florida , was occupied by Union officers after her father was falsely accused of being a spy and imprisoned . On May 21 , 1864 , she overheard three Union officers discuss the plans that their unit had for a raid against the Confederate forces . The plan was to go into effect the next morning and consisted of a surprise attack on the Confederates while they slept with the aim of proceeding towards St . Augustine to " liberate " supplies for the Union Army . She decided that it was of utmost importance to notify Captain Dickison at Camp Davis , just a mile and a half from her home . Her sisters agreed to help by covering up her absence . Sánchez left her house that night and traveled , through the forest , alone on horseback . She reached the ferry and the ferryman minded her horse while she crossed the river . She came upon a Confederate picket and told him what she heard , however the picket was unable to leave his post and lent her his horse . She then proceeded to the camp where she met with Capt . Dickison . After the meeting she returned home , the whole event took an hour and a half , and her absence went unnoticed by the Union soldiers in her residence . That night Dickison and his men crossed the St . Johns River and set a trap . They waited for the arrival of the Union transport and gunboat . On the morning of May 22 , the Union forces plans were foiled when they were ambushed upon their arrival . At the exact moment necessary to succeed , Dickison raised his saber signaling his men to attack . The Confederate forces had placed artillery guns on the banks of the river and opened fire on the approaching Union gunboats . The skirmish which followed , officially known as the " Battle of Horse Landing " , occurred south of St . Augustine . Union Colonel William H . Noble , commander of the 17th Connecticut Infantry , was wounded in the ambush and taken prisoner . The rest of the Union soldiers were either captured or killed . Dickison and his men captured the USS " Columbine " a side - wheel steamer / gunboat under the command of Ensign Frank Sanborn . Sanborn made the following statement : " I could discover nothing suspicious until directly abreast the landing , " Sanborn said in his official report , " distant about 100 yards , when two pieces of artillery , concealed by the shrubbery and undergrowth , almost simultaneously opened fire upon me . I instantly gave orders to ' hook on , ' but unfortunately the second shot of the enemy cut my wheel chains , and at the same time the pilot abandoned the wheel and jumped over the bow . The vessel almost immediately went ashore upon a mud bank . " After removing all the supplies and armament possible , they disabled and set the ship on fire . Of the 148 men aboard the Columbine , only 66 survived and the rest were killed . This was one of the few instances in which a Union warship was captured by land - based Confederate forces during the Civil War and the only known incident in US history where a cavalry unit sank an enemy gunboat . The Confederates also captured a Union pontoon boat and renamed it " The Three Sisters " in honor of Lola Sanchez and her sisters . " The Battle of Gainesville " . During the months of June and July in 1864 , Dickison and his men , which included his son Sergeant Charles Dickison , participated in several skirmishes with a Union force which was headed towards Palatka . On August 2 , 1864 , Dickison intercepted the contingent and forced them to surrender . He was not aware that some of the prisoners had concealed weapons . Without warning the prisoners exposed their weapons and opened fire . Dickison ' s son Charles was shot through the heart and fell from his horse mortally wounded . On August 17 , 1864 , Dickison was told that members of the Union Army had arrived at the town of Starke and that they had burned Confederate train cars . Dickison and his men then proceeded to head towards Gainesville to fight against the invading enemy in what would be known as Battle of Gainesville ( not to be confused with the First Skirmish of Gainsville of February 14 , 1864 ) . Gainesville was held by the members of the Company B of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry . They were caught totally unprepared by Cpt . Dickison and his men . The Union force was dispersed , but before they scattered into the woods they suffered 28 killed , 5 wounded and more than 200 captured . The remaining Union forces in the north central Florida area withdrew to the garrisons at Jacksonville and St . Augustine . Gainesville would remain in Confederate control for the duration of the war . This however , did not keep some units from participating in minor raids . On October 24 , 1864 , a detachment of the 4th Massachusetts Cavalry returned to Gainesville to plunder . Dickison was alerted and made a swift attack which resulted in a 40 minute gunfight . Ten Union soldiers were killed and 23 were taken prisoners ( this included eight men that were wounded ) . Final years and legacy . Dickison was captured near the town of Waldo and imprisoned . He was promoted to Colonel in May 1865 , just a few days after the surrender of all CSA troops and paroled on May 20 , 1865 . Dickison helped Confederate Secretary of War John C . Breckinridge flee to Cuba . He provided Breckinridge with a boat ; a lifeboat taken from the USS Columbine . He continued to be active in CSA activities and was elected six times Commander of the Florida Division of United Confederate Veterans . In the late 1870s , he served as Florida ' s Adjutant General . Dickison wrote the Florida section of the 12 volume " Confederate Military History " . Dickison and his wife Mary Elizabeth Dickison lived at Bugg Spring , in the town of Okahumpka , Florida during the decades after the war . It was there that in 1889 , Mrs . Dickison completed her book , " Dickison and His Men : Reminiscences of the War in Florida " . In 1902 , Dickison died in his home in Bugg Spring and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery , Jacksonville , Florida . A marker was placed on the site where Dickison and his men captured the " USS Columbine by the Florida Confederation For The Preservation Of Historic Sites , Inc . Another marker was placed at 1st St . NE & 3rd St . in the town of Gainsville in the location where the " Battle of Gainsville " took place . There is also a marker in Waldo , Florida , where Camp Baker was located and where Dickison and his men bivouacked during the closing weeks of the conflict . The Dickison cottage in Bugg Spring still stands and is now a private guest house .