Heroes are dead men by that fact;
Fame haunts our grave-yards, sighing,
‘Alas! that man’s divinest act
Should be the act of dying.’”
CHAPTER XXIX—BATTLE OF OLUSTEE, FLORIDA.
The Union Troops decoyed into a Swamp.—They are outnumbered.—Their great Bravery.—The Heroism of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts.—Death of Col. Fribley.
The battle of Olustee was fought in a swamp situated thirty-five miles west of Jacksonville, and four miles from Sanderson, in the State of Florida. The expedition was under the immediate command of Gen. C. Seymour, and consisted of the Seventh New Hampshire, Seventh Connecticut (armed with Spencer rifles, which fire eight times without loading), Eighth United-States (colored) Battery, Third United-States Artillery, Fifty-fourth Massachusetts (colored), and First North-Carolina (colored). The command having rested on the night of the 19th of February, 1884, at Barbour’s Ford, on the St. Mary’s River, took up its line of march on the morning of the 20th, and proceeded to Sanderson, nine miles to the west, which was reached at one o’clock, p.m., without interruption; but, about three miles beyond, the advance drove in the enemy’s pickets. The Seventh Connecticut, being deployed as skirmishers, fell in with the enemy’s force in the swamp, strengthened still more by rifle-pits. Here they were met by cannon and musketry; but our troops, with their Spencer rifles, played great havoc with the enemy, making an attempt to take one of his pieces of artillery, but failed. However, they hold their ground nobly for three-quarters of an hour, and were just about retiring as the main body of our troops came up.