Thunder on the River

The Civil War in Northeast Florida

Daniel L Schafer

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2010
• eBook ISBN: 9780813047027
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

When the Civil War finally came to North Florida, it did so with an intermittent fury that destroyed much of Jacksonville and scattered its residents. The city was taken four separate times by Federal forces but abandoned after each of the first three occupations. During the fourth occupation, it was used as a staging ground for the ill-fated Union invasion of the Florida interior, which ended in the bloody Battle of Olustee in February 1864. This late Confederate victory, along with the deadly use of underwater mines against the U.S. Navy along the St. Johns, nearly succeeded in ending the fourth Union occupation of Jacksonville.

Writing in clear, engaging prose, Daniel Schafer sheds light on this oft-forgotten theatre of war and details the dynamic racial and cultural factors that led to Florida's engagement on behalf of the South. He investigates how fears about the black population increased and held sway over whites, seeking out the true motives behind both the state and federal initiatives that drove freed blacks from the cities back to the plantations even before the war's end.

From the Missouri Compromise to Reconstruction, Thunder on the River offers the history of a city and a region precariously situated as a major center of commerce on the brink of frontier Florida. Historians and Civil War aficionados alike will not want to miss this important addition to the literature.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. “Raise the Banner of Secession”: Sectional Debates in Jacksonville, 1845–1861
• 2. Jacksonville Prepares for War
• 3. A Pathway into the Heart of East Florida
• 4. The First Occupation of Jacksonville
• 5. Freedom Was as Close as the River
• 6. Debacle at St. Johns Bluff, and the Second Occupation of Jacksonville
• 7. Unionists in Exile
• 8. “These Are United States Troops and They Will Not Dishonor the Flag”: The Third Occupation of Jacksonville
• 9. “To Redeem Florida from the Rebels”: The Fourth Occupation of Jacksonville
• 10. Thunder on the River: Torpedo Warfare and the Struggle for Control of Northeast Florida
• 11. The Struggle for Allegiance of Florida Residents
• 12. “The Storm Has Ceased”: Life for Jacksonville’s White Residents during the Federal Occupation
• 13. A Troubled Transition to Freedom: Life for Jacksonville’s Black Residents during the Federal Occupation
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index