Civil War Beginning and Battle of Olustee.

[Spearit]

Just passing Time: Since I am no longer posting plays in college basketball- (but if I were- I would be fading the majority) I thought I might indulged myself in a little history.

I went to the Battle of Olustee in Lake City this weekend.
On the next page I placed the beginnings of the battle and the battle itself. I realize only a few may read this but thats cool.

But first- Something I learned this past weekend- that I wish to share.

Many of you don't know the real reason for the Civil War to occur in the first place. it was not directly the slavery issue but rather the feelings of the North -that the South would be getting a ton more votes in the election processes due to ever-growing population of slaves. Once the Nebraska territory (includes Kansas) went from free to slave - the north started worrying big-time. Many Southerners had jumped into the elections in the Nebraska and Kansas to vote it becoming a slave state.
Since Slaves were counted in the population --this would give the South a hugh advantage in the election process of officials due to populace.

Read on:
The Compromise of 1850 brought relative calm to the nation. Though most blacks and abolitionists strongly opposed the Compromise, the majority of Americans embraced it, believing that it offered a final, workable solution to the slavery question. Most importantly, it saved the Union from the terrible split that many had feared. People were all too ready to leave the slavery controversy behind them and move on. But the feeling of relief that spread throughout the country would prove to be the calm before the storm.

On December 14, 1853, Augustus C. Dodge of Iowa introduced a bill in the Senate. The bill proposed organizing the Nebraska territory, which also included an area that would become the state of Kansas. His bill was referred to the Committee of the Territories, which was chaired by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

Douglas had entered politics early and had advanced quickly; at 21 he was Illinois state's attorney, and by age 35 he was a U.S. Senator. He strongly endorsed the idea of popular sovereignty, which allowed the settlers in a territory to decide for themselves whether or not to have slavery. Douglas was also a fervent advocate of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States had the God-given right and obligation to take over as much land as possible and to spread its "civilizing" influence. And he was not alone. A Philadelphia newspaper expounded Manifest Destiny when it proclaimed the United States to be a nation rightfully bound on the "East by sunrise, West by sunset, North by the Arctic Expedition, and South as far as we darn please."

To fulfill its Manifest Destiny, especially following the discovery of gold in California, America was making plans to build a transcontinental railroad from east to west. The big question was where to locate the eastern terminal -- to the north, in Chicago, or to the south, in St. Louis. Douglas was firmly committed to ensuring that the terminal would be in Chicago, but he knew that it could not be unless the Nebraska territory was organized.

Organization of Nebraska would require the removal of the territory's Native Americans, for Douglas regarded the Indians as savages, and saw their reservations as "barriers of barbarism." In his view, Manifest Destiny required the removal of those who stood in the way of American, Christian progress, and the Native American presence was a minor obstacle to his plans. But there was another, larger problem.

In order to get the votes he needed, Douglas had to please Southerners. He therefore bowed to Southern wishes and proposed a bill for organizing Nebraska-Kansas which stated that the slavery question would be decided by popular sovereignty. He assumed that settlers there would never choose slavery, but did not anticipate the vehemence of the Northern response. This bill, if made into law, would repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which said that slavery could not extend above the 36' 30" line. It would open the North to slavery. Northerners were outraged; Southerners were overjoyed.

Douglas was stubborn. Ignoring the anger of his own party, he got President Pierce's approval and pushed his bill through both houses of Congress. The bill became law on May 30, 1854.

Nebraska was so far north that its future as a free state was never in question. But Kansas was next to the slave state of Missouri. In an era that would come to be known as "Bleeding Kansas," the territory would become a battleground over the slavery question.

The reaction from the North was immediate. Eli Thayer organized the New England Emigrant Aid Company, which sent settlers to Kansas to secure it as a free territory. By the summer of 1855, approximately 1,200 New Englanders had made the journey to the new territory, armed to fight for freedom. The abolitionist minister Henry Ward Beecher furnished settlers with Sharps rifles, which came to be known as "Beecher's Bibles."

Rumors had spread through the South that 20,000 Northerners were descending on Kansas, and in November 1854, thousands of armed Southerners, mostly from Missouri, poured over the line to vote for a proslavery congressional delegate. Only half the ballots were cast by registered voters, and at one location, only 20 of over 600 voters were legal residents. The proslavery forces won the election.

On March 30, 1855, another election was held to choose members of the territorial legislature. The Missourians, or "Border Ruffians," as they were called, again poured over the line. This time, they swelled the numbers from 2,905 registered voters to 6,307 actual ballots cast. Only 791 voted against slavery.

The new state legislature enacted what Northerners called the "Bogus Laws," which incorporated the Missouri slave code. These laws levelled severe penalties against anyone who spoke or wrote against slaveholding; those who assisted fugitives would be put to death or sentenced to ten years hard labor. (Statutes of Kansas) The Northerners were outraged, and set up their own Free State legislature at Topeka. Now there were two governments established in Kansas, each outlawing the other. President Pierce only recognized the proslavery legislature.

Most settlers who had come to Kansas from the North and the South only wanted to homestead in peace. They were not interested in the conflict over slavery, but they found themselves in the midst of a battleground. Violence erupted throughout the territory. Southerners were driven by the rhetoric of leaders such as David Atchison, a Missouri senator. Atchison proclaimed the Northerners to be "negro thieves" and "abolitionist tyrants." He encouraged Missourians to defend their institution "with the bayonet and with blood" and, if necessary, "to kill every God-damned abolitionist in the district."

The northerners, however, were not all abolitionists as Atchison claimed. In fact, abolitionists were in the minority. Most of the Free State settlers were part of a movement called Free Soil, which demanded free territory for free white people. They hated slavery, but not out of concern for the slaves themselves. They hated it because plantations took over the land and prevented white working people from having their own homesteads. They hated it because it brought large numbers of black people wherever it went. The Free Staters voted 1,287 to 453 to outlaw black people, slave or free, from Kansas. Their territory would be white.

As the two factions struggled for control of the territory, tensions increased. In 1856 the proslavery territorial capital was moved to Lecompton, a town only 12 miles from Lawrence, a Free State stronghold. In April of that year a three-man congressional investigating committee arrived in Lecompton to look into the Kansas troubles. The majority report of the committee found the elections to be fraudulent, and said that the free state government represented the will of the majority. The federal government refused to follow its recommendations, however, and continued to recognized the proslavery legislature as the legitimate government of Kansas.

There had been several attacks during this time, primarily of proslavery against Free State men. People were tarred and feathered, kidnapped, killed. But now the violence escalated. On May 21, 1856, a group of proslavery men entered Lawrence, where they burned the Free State Hotel, destroyed two printing presses, and ransacked homes and stores. In retaliation, the fiery abolitionist John Brown led a group of men on an attack at Pottawatomie Creek. The group, which included four of Brown's sons, dragged five proslavery men from their homes and hacked them to death.

The violence had now escalated, and the confrontations continued. John Brown reappeared in Osawatomie to join the fighting there. Violence also erupted in Congress itself. The abolitionist senator Charles Sumner delivered a fiery speech called "The Crime Against Kansas," in which he accused proslavery senators, particularly Atchison and Andrew Butler of South Carolina, of [cavorting with the] "harlot, Slavery." In retaliation, Butler's nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner at his Senate desk and beat him senseless with a cane.

In September of 1856, a new territorial governor, John W. Geary, arrived in Kansas and began to restore order. The last major outbreak of violence was the Marais des Cynges massacre, in which Border Ruffians killed five Free State men. In all, approximately 55 people died in "Bleeding Kansas."

Several attempts were made to draft a constitution which Kansas could use to apply for statehood. Some versions were proslavery, others free state. Finally, a fourth convention met at Wyandotte in July 1859, and adopted a free state constitution.

Kansas applied for admittance to the Union. However, the proslavery forces in the Senate strongly opposed its free state status, and stalled its admission. Only in 1861, after the Confederate states seceded, did the constitution gain approval and Kansas become a state.

[Spearit]

I presented this battle during the Civil War that the Union lost 2-1 ratio of its men and could not take Lake City to cut off supplies in the area to and from Florida.


Events Leading up to the Battle of Olustee
On February 20,1864, two armies clashed in the virgin pine flatwoods of north-central Florida, near a railroad station named Olustee about fifteen miles east of Lake City. The battle raged for four hours. When it ended, the Union Army had suffered a stinging defeat. Of the more than 5000 Federals that had entered the battle, nearly 2000 were killed, wounded, or captured. The Confederate forces, which also numbered just over 5000, suffered less than 1000 casualties. The Battle of Olustee, known also as Ocean Pond, was the largest battle fought in Florida during the Civil War. Today the site of the battlefield is preserved as a state park, and it is the scene of one of the largest annual battle reenactments in the southeastern United States.

The historical background to the Battle of Olustee began with Florida's secession from the Union in January, 1861. Despite its small population and lack of resources, Florida was an enthusiastic member of the Confederacy, at least in the early stages of the war. The state provided some 15,000 men to the Confederate armies, with perhaps 5,000 failing to return. Most Florida regiments served outside of the state, with the Florida Brigades in both the Army of Tennessee and the Army of Northern Virginia earning accolades for their valor.

Florida itself was not considered of strategic importance by either side during the war. The state was underpopulated, had no industry worthy of note, and was isolated from the other states of the Confederacy. As the war progressed, however, Florida did become valuable to the Confederacy as a source of much-needed beef, leather and salt. Extensive salt works were established along Florida's coast, with seawater being boiled down for its valuable content. The Union navy mounted numerous expeditions to destroy these works, but the industry continued until the end of the war. The ranges of central and south Florida, meanwhile, provided tens of thousands of cattle, desperately needed by the main Confederate armies. The demand for Florida beef became even more critical in 1863, following the Confederate defeat at Vicksburg which cut off supplies from Texas and Arkansas.

While no major battles on the scale of those fought in Virginia and elsewhere occurred in the state, Florida was the scene of a surprising amount of military activity. Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Fort Taylor at Key West, and Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas remained in Union hands throughout the war, and northern forces permanently occupied Fernandina and St. Augustine early in 1862. Jacksonville was destined to be occupied four separate times by Federal forces. Key West was an important supply station for the ships on the blockade, and the coastal areas held by union troops served as bases for raids into the interior. As the war progressed and hopes for a southern victory faded many Floridians displayed a growing anti-war or pro-union sentiment. By 1864 large sections of the state. were essentially a no man's land, under the control of neither Confederate nor Union forces. Florida became a haven for Confederate deserters and those avoiding conscription. Ultimately, two regiments of Union cavalry were organized in Florida from these disaffected elements of the population.

In early 1864, Union forces mounted their largest military operation in Florida, an expedition that culminated in the Battle of Olustee. Both political and military considerations played a role in the campaign. 1864 was a presidential year, and various factions within the Republican Party hoped to organize a loyal Florida government in time to send delegates to the Republican nominating convention. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase was particularly intrigued with this possibility. Chase's protege Lyman D. Stickney, the Union Tax Commissioner for Florida, lobbied hard for an increased Federal military presence in the state. President Lincoln became aware of Chase and Stickney's machinations, and Lincoln himself hoped to see a loyal Florida government returned to the Union under the terms of his December, 1863 Reconstruction Proclamation.

In addition to the political objectives, legitimate military concerns also played a role in the decision to occupy East Florida. Major General Quincy Gillmore, commander of the Union Army's Department of the South, wrote in a January 31, 1864 letter that the expedition was designed, in addition to the political objectives:

"First: To procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, Timber, Turpentine, and the other products of the State. Second: To cut off one of the enemy's sources of commissary supplies. He now draws largely upon the herds of Florida for his beef... Third: To obtain recruits for my colored regiments...."

By early February, 1864 General Gillmore had received approval from Washington regarding his plans to occupy Jacksonville with a large force and to extend Federal operations over much of northeast Florida. About 6,000 troops from Gillmore's Department of the South were selected for the operation. Most of these men were presently stationed along the South Carolina coast as part of the Union operations against Charleston. Gillmore placed Brigadier General Truman Seymour in actual command of the expedition.

The Union troops landed at Jacksonville on February 7, and quickly gained control of the town. On the evening of February 8, the Federals attacked and captured the Confederate positions at Camp Finegan and Ten Mile Run, located west of Jacksonville. Over the next several days, Union mounted forces advanced as far west as the outskirts of Lake City, some fifty miles from Jacksonville. Another smaller raid was made southward to Gainesville. Meanwhile John Hay, President Lincoln's private secretary, arrived in Florida to begin taking oaths of allegiance from Florida unionists as a preliminary step in organizing a loyal state government. To this point, the Union occupation of East Florida seemed to be progressing according to plan.

The Confederate troops in Florida had few resources with which to stop the Union invasion. Following Union successes in Tennessee in early 1862, the majority of the southern forces in Florida had been withdrawn from the state and sent to more vital theaters of the war. Only a few units, mostly poorly equipped and with little combat experience, remained in Florida by early 1864. The Confederate commander of the District of East Florida was Brigadier General Joseph Finegan, a native of Ireland who had served in the pre-war U.S. Army as an enlisted man, and who had been prominent in Florida politics and the railroad industry before secession. At the time of the Federal landings, Finegan only had about 1,500 troops to defend his District, which included the portion of Florida east of the Suwannee River. He immediately called for reinforcements from General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, the flamboyant but competent commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. From his headquarters at Charleston, Beauregard directed the transfer of troops to Florida from both South Carolina and Georgia. The Confederate movements were hampered by the fact that no direct rail link existed between Florida and the other states of the Confederacy. Southern soldiers had to disembark from trains in South Georgia, and then march overland until they reached Lake City, Madison, or other collection points along the railroads of Florida.

While Beauregard sent reinforcements to his aid, Finegan did what he could to hinder the Federal advance. A Confederate rearguard fought several skirmishes in an attempt to delay the invaders and Finegan concentrated the few troops he had at Lake City. By February 11, Finegan had assembled about 600 troops at that location, enough to repel a minor Union cavalry raid that was made against the town. Over the next week larger numbers of Confederate reinforcements arrived. Among them were Brigadier General Alfred H. Colquitt and his brigade of battle-hardened Georgians, which had been serving in South Carolina. Colonel George Harrision also arrived with additional troops. By the time of the main Union advance on February 20, the Confederate force facing them numbered more than 5,000.


While the Confederates were being reinforced, the Federal commanders were bickering over their next movement. Apparently, no firm decision had been made as to how far westward the Union advance should be undertaken. Some argued that it would be necessary to occupy Lake City, and perhaps to advance all the way to the Suwannee River to destroy the railroad bridge at that location. Even Tallahassee itself was mentioned as a possible target for a Union raid. Truman Seymour wrote a pessimistic letter to Gillmore on February 11, stating that he was "convinced that a movement upon Lake City is not in the present condition of transportation, admissible." He further argued that Unionist sentiment in Florida was less than the Federals had been led to believe, and that "...the desire of Florida to come back [into the Union] now is a delusion." Seymour recommended withdrawing all troops from the interior of the state and maintaining garrisons only at Jacksonville and perhaps, Palatka. Upon receipt of Seymour's correspondence, Gillmore ordered that Seymour concentrate his forces at Baldwin "without delay."

The two Union generals met in Jacksonville on February 14, to discuss future operations. Gillmore ordered that defensive works be constructed at Jacksonville, Baldwin, and Barber's Plantation, and that no advance be made without his consent. Gillmore left Florida the next day, returning to his headquarters at Hilton Head, South Carolina. He appointed Seymour commander of the newly-created District of Florida.

Within several days after Gillmore's departure, Seymour's confidence about the expedition seems to have returned. Seymour informed his superior that he now intended to advance to the Suwannee River to destroy the railroad bridge there. "By the time you receive this I shall be in motion," he declared to his shocked superior. Gillmore dispatched an officer to stop Seymour, but the Battle of Olustee occurred before he reached Florida. It is not known exactly why Seymour suddenly reached the decision to advance, but by February 19 he had assembled his troops at Barbers in preparation for a movement westward the next day.

[Spearit]

The Battle of Olustee

Early in the morning of February 20, 1864, General Seymour's army left Barbers' Station and moved westward towards Lake City. Because of the necessity of posting garrisons at Jacksonville and elsewhere, the Union force consisted of between 5,000 and 5,500 men. The small army was divided into three brigades of infantry, one brigade of mounted troops, and supporting artillery.

The Federals advanced in three columns along the Lake City and Jacksonville Road, which ran roughly parallel to the Florida Atlantic and Gulf-Central Railroad. The Federal cavalry was in the vanguard, followed by the slower-moving infantry. By mid-day the Federals had reached Sanderson, where they briefly stopped for lunch. While it Sanderson, Seymour and his staff were warned by a defiant southern woman: "'You will come back faster than you go."' The Union officers were amused at her boldness.

In the early afternoon of February 20, a few miles west of Sanderson, the advance elements of the Union cavalry began skirmishing with a few southern horsemen that appeared to their front. This skirmishing was maintained for several miles, with the Federals driving the Confederates westward towards the railroad station at Olustee, about ten miles east of Lake City. Southern resistance intensified as the Federals neared Olustee.

In the days since the February 11 skirmish at Lake City, General Finegan had moved his force to Olustee Station, located about ten miles east of Lake City There the Confederates found one of the few defensible locations in the area where the railroad passed through a narrow corridor for dry ground that was bordered by impassable swamps and bays to the south and a large body of water known as Ocean Pond to the north. The Southerners built strong earthworks and awaited the Federal advance. When Finegan learned of the enemy's approach on February 20, he ordered his cavalry forward to skirmish with the Federals and to drive them towards his main line. Unfortunately for Finegan, the fighting east of his main line intensified, forcing him to send out additional troops to help those already deployed. A major engagement soon developed about two miles in front of the Confederate line.

As the skirmishing intensified, both Finegan and Seymour fed additional troops into the battle. Finegan advanced first the 64th Georgia and part of the 32nd Georgia, followed by the 6th, 19th and 28th Georgia Regiments, and Gamble's Florida Artillery. General Colquitt commanded the detached units, while Finegan remained behind with the main body. General Seymour brought forward the 7th Connecticut, followed by the remainder of Hawley's Brigade, the 7th New Hampshire and the 8th United States. By midafternoon the skirmishing has escalated into a major battle.



The battle threatened to turn rapidly into a rout for the Federals. While Colonel Hawley was positioning the 7th New Hampshire, a wrong command was given and the unit fell into confusion. The 7th soon collapsed, with some men running to the rear and others milling about in a disorganized mob.

The collapse of the 7th New Hampshire directed southern attention towards the 8th United States Colored Infantry, which occupied the left of the Union line. The 8th was an untried unit, having been organized only several months before. Prior to Olustee the regiment had seen no combat, and in fact the men were not even completely trained. Colonel Charles Fribley tried to steady his men, but he soon fell mortally wounded. The raw troops of the 8th held their ground for a time, suffering more than 300 casualties. Finally, however, they retreated in some confusion, leaving the Confederates in virtual command of the battlefield.

With the dissolution of Hawley's Brigade, General Colquitt ordered the Confederate forces to advance. Since the beginning of the engagement Finegan had sent additional units (the 6th Florida Battalion; the 1st, 23rd, 27th, and the remainder of the 32nd Georgia Regiments, and the Chatham Artillery) to Colquitt's support, so by now the Confederate lines stretched for about one mile, north to south. Colonel Harrison commanded the Confederate left, and Colquitt the right, although the units of their brigades were somewhat intermingled.

To stop the southern advance, General Seymour hastily ordered forward Colonel William Barton's Brigade of the 47th, 48th and 115th New York. The New Yorkers stopped the Confederate advance, and the battle lines stabilized for a time . The Union commander would later be criticized for reacting slowly to an increasingly dangerous situation, and for deploying his forces piecemeal into the battle. In fairness to Seymour, the battlefield's terrain somewhat limited his options. The Federals lines were bordered by swamps on both flanks so there was little room to maneuver, and the field itself was an open pine barren with little cover.

The fighting during this middle period of the battle was particularly severe, with each side suffering heavy casualties. During this seesaw combat, the Confederates captured several Union artillery pieces and threatened to overwhelm the Federal infantry. Although the Yankees were under intense pressure, at a critical moment the surging Confederates began running low on ammunition. Men searched the pockets and cartridge boxes of their wounded and dead comrades to obtain additional rounds, but still the southern fire slackened. Several regiments held their place in line despite being completely out of ammunition. After what seemed to be an interminable delay, ammunition was brought forward from Olustee, along with the remaining reserves: the 1st Florida Battalion and Bonaud's Battalion. General Finegan also reached the battlefield at about this time.

With the arrival of these reinforcements, the Confederates again began advancing . By late afternoon, General Seymour had realized the battle was lost. To prevent a rout and to cover his retreat, he sent forward his last reserves, Colonel James Montgomery's Brigade, which consisted of the 35th United States Colored Troops and the famous 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. Montgomery's Brigade stopped the Confederates for a brief time, enabling Seymour to begin withdrawing his other forces. One white veteran of the battle states: " The colored troops went in grandly, and they fought like devils"

By dusk, the Union forces had begun their long retreat back to Jacksonville. The 54th Massachusetts, the Federal cavalry, and part of the 7th Connecticut covered the withdrawal. Many wounded and a large amount of equipment had to be abandoned in the hasty retreat. Fortunately for the Federals, the Confederate pursuit was poorly conducted, enabling most of the Yankees to escape. The southern cavalry, led by Colonel Caraway Smith, was particularly criticized for its lackluster performance. That night the Federals retreated all the way back to Barbers, where they had begun the day. By February 22, Seymour's battered army was back in Jacksonville.

The casualties at Olustee were staggering compared to the numbers that fought there. Each side had about 5,000 men present. Union casualties were 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing, a total of 1,861. Confederate losses were 93 killed, 847 wounded, and 6 missing, a total of 946. This works out to about 40% for the Federals and 20% for the Confederates. The 47th New York had 313 casualties and the 8th U.S.C.T. 310. Among the Confederate units, the 32nd Georgia lost 164 men and Bonaud's Battalion 107. For the North, the casualty percentage was among the highest of the war, and Olustee ranks as the third bloodiest for the Union when comparing the casualties to the number on men engaged. Letters and diaries from the men involved indicate that the battle was the equal of, if not worse than, the savage fighting a number of the veteran regiments had experienced in the campaigns in Virginia or the Western theater.

A regrettable episode in the aftermath of the battle was the apparent mistreatment of Union black soldiers by the Confederates. Contemporary sources, many from the Confederate side, indicate that a number of black soldiers were killed on the battlefield by roaming bands of southern troops following the close of the fighting.

The Olustee defeat ended Union efforts to organize a loyal Florida government in time for the 1864 election. The Federals were somewhat more successful in meeting the expedition's military objectives. Jacksonville remained in Union hands until the end of the war, open for trade with the north; the operation had undoubtedly disrupted the supply of Florida cattle and other foodstuffs to the rest of the Confederacy; and the increased area of Federal control made it easier for Florida blacks to reach Union lines and for recruits to fill the ranks of northern military units. Of course, all of these objectives could have been met simply by the occupation of Jacksonville and without the nearly 2,000 casualties suffered at Olustee.

Military operations continued in Northeast Florida throughout the remainder of the war. Union troops frequently raided out from Jacksonville to harass Confederate supply operations. Captain J.J. Dickison of the 2nd Florida Cavalry earned fame during the period as the "Swamp Fox" of Florida. In a series of minor yet spectacular victories, and with only a small force under his command, Dickison was able to thwart many of the Union drives into the interior of the state, although the Federals handed him a stinging defeat at the first "battle" of Gainesville. Despite Dickison's successes, by early 1865 it was obvious that the defeat of the Confederacy was near. In early March, 1865, the last military operation of any significance in Florida took place. At the Battle of Natural Bridge, a scratch force of Confederate militia and home guard units, along with a few regular troops, stopped a Union raid against St. Marks, on the coast south of Tallahassee. When Tallahassee was finally occupied by Northern troops in early May, it was the last Confederate capital east of the Mississippi to fall into Union hands.

[BettorsChat]

I didn't know it had anything to do with politics, but it doesn't suprise me as I view the majority of politics to be corrupt. The final issue was and is that slavery was wrong as well as what happened to the Nataive Americans.

[Kaptain]

you're 100% correct my man....This war was about potential election votes and territory disputes....Slavery was not the direct cause, rather the states that allowed slavery had powerful votes....

Did you also know that the Louisiana Purchase (Part II) incxluded lands as far up as Nebraska, and Louisiana Purchase (Part III) included parts of Canada.....

Us "Cajuns" damn near near bought out the US....go figure....

Nice write up---very en lightning---my wife is a "Civil War" Buff--and is constantly reading on this subject.....Thanks for sharing with us....kapt

[Tigger]

Very good Kaptain.....

The Louisiana Purchase has proven to be the #1 Bargain ever purchased in the history of the world. Over half of the United States for only $10 Million dollar to Napolean, what a deal we got. There is a story behind the men that made the offer to Napolean in France as well, I know that he needed the money badly due to the war that he was engaged in, but the men that made the offer were supposed to have left France a few days before the offer was made and if they had...... there would be no United States as we know it because there were other countries that were willing to purchase it as well.

Maybe the Kaptain knows more vivid details to this story, but it's very interesting how things in history play out.

~~~ Tigger