Battle of Saint John's Bluff

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Date	October 1, 1862 – October 3, 1862
Location	Duval County, Florida
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders

John Milton Brannan

Charles F. Hopkins

Strength

2 infantry regiments,
1 artillery battery,
1 cavalry company

1 artillery battery,
1 cavalry company

Casualties and losses

Unknown

v • d • e

Lower Seaboard Theater

Fort Sumter – Santa Rosa Island – Fort Pulaski – Forts Jackson and St. Philip – New Orleans – Secessionville – Simmon's Bluff – Tampa – Baton Rouge – 1st Donaldsonville – St. John's Bluff – Georgia Landing – 1st Fort McAllister – Fort Bisland – Irish Bend – Vermillion Bayou – 1st Charleston Harbor – 1st Fort Wagner – Grimball's Landing – 2nd Fort Wagner – 2nd Charleston Harbor – 2nd Fort Sumter – Plains Store – Port Hudson – LaFourche Crossing – 2nd Donaldsonville – Kock's Plantation – Stirling's Plantation – Fort Brooke – Gainesville – Olustee – Natural Bridge

Expedition to St. John's Bluff

St. John's Bluff

The Battle of Saint (or St.) John's Bluff (October 1-3, 1862) saw a Union detachment defeat Confederate forces in Duval County, Florida, forcing them to retire, and helped secure Federal control of the region, during the American Civil War.

Early in the war, Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Finnegan established a battery on St. John's Bluff near Jacksonville, Florida, to stop the movement of Federal ships up the St. Johns River. This was part of a series of Confederate defensive works that had been constructed near Fort Caroline. But once Union forces had occupied the town of Jacksonville, it became necessary for them to also reduce the enemy batteries along the St. Johns River to consolidate control of the general area.

Union Brig. Gen. John Milton Brannan embarked with about 1,500 infantry aboard the transports Boston, Ben DeFord, Cosmopolitan, and Neptune at Hilton Head, South Carolina, on September 30, 1862. The flotilla arrived at the mouth of the St. John's River on October 1, where Cdr. Charles Steedman's gunboats—Paul Jones, Cimarron, Uncas, Patroon, Hale, and Water Witch—joined them.

By midday, the gunboats approached the bluff, while Brannan began landing troops at Mayport Mills. Another Union infantry force landed at Mount Pleasant Creek, about five miles in the rear of the Confederate battery, and began marching overland on October 2. Outmaneuvered, Lt. Col. Charles F. Hopkins, the local Confederate commander, abandoned the position after dark. When the gunboats approached the bluff the next day, its guns were silent.

[edit] References

National Park Service battle description

[edit] External links

Fort Caroline National Memorial - official National Park Service website

v • d • e Florida in the American Civil War

1861	Fort Pickens · Fort Barrancas · Port of Apalachicola · Battle of Santa Rosa Island

1862	Battle of Tampa · Battle of Saint John's Bluff

1863	Battle of Fort Brooke

1864	Battle of Olustee · Battle of Gainesville · Battle of Marianna

1865	Sherman's Special Field Orders, No. 15 · Battle of Fort Myers · Battle of Natural Bridge