The Apalachicola Arsenal, Historic Landmark in Chattahoochee

Officer's Quarters

I've posted some in the past about the Apalachicola Arsenal, a 19th century military post that later formed the core of what is today the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee.

January 6th marked the 150th anniversary of the capture of the facility by the Colonel William Gunn and the Quincy Young Guards. It was the first military encounter of the Civil War in Florida and was done under the direct orders of Governor Madison S. Perry. Because of this distinction, the arsenal holds a unique place in the history of both Florida and the nation. Please click here to read a detailed account of the seizure.

Although some key portions of the original complex still survive, large portions of the main arsenal compound were demolished years ago. This has led to some misunderstanding over the years as to the nature of the 19th century facility.

Armory Building and Tower

Built between 1834-1839, the Apalachicola Arsenal was a large complex that included what some accounts of the time described as some of the finest buildings in Florida. Brick for the facility had been manufactured nearby in the Mosquito Creek bottoms. Granite, slate, window glass and other materials had been shipped down from the north and brought up the Apalachicola River by steamboat.

When completed, the facility consisted of an array of buildings arranged around the outsides of a compound that covered four square acres. These structures were connected by a wall that stood 9 feet high and measured 30 inches thick. There were gates on the east and west sides of the quadrangle.

On the south side and occupying much of the south wall stood the main armory building, which was fronted by an octagonal tower that one impressed 19th century writer said reached to a "dizzying height." It was likely the tallest building in Florida in the antebellum era.

The west wall connected a series of buildings, the most impressive of which was the Officer's Quarters which still survives. A beautiful structure surrounded by wide verandas that continued both inside and outside of the wall, it had been designed to provide luxurious accommodations for the commanding officer and his family.

Modern Building built over Arsenal Structure

Adjoining this structure was a guard room, which also still stands today. Parts of other buildings appear to be incorporated into modern structures. The building directly across Main Street from the Officer's Quarters, for example, clearly incorporates an original arsenal structure as its ground floor. This may also be true of other modern buildings on the arsenal complex.

At the time of its seizure by the Young Guards, this main complex was considered by most people to be the "arsenal." The structures included, in addition to the armory, tower, officer's quarters and guard room, a barracks for enlisted men, workshops, storage buildings and other buildings.

In addition to this main compound, the arsenal also had three external buildings located down the hill and a short distance away. One of these, an external magazine, survives today and is called "the arsenal" by many local residents, even though it was actually located outside the main compound. The other two structures - a second powder magazine and a building that served unknown purposes - no longer exist.

Despite the demolition of many of its buildings during the mid-20th century, the arsenal remains a landmark of Florida history. The Officer's Quarters, guard room and external magazine survive, as do portions of the original wall and parts of some of the other structures.

If you would like to learn more about the arsenal and its history, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/arsenal1.

New Website on Scott's Massacre of 1817

I've launched a new web page on Scott's Massacre of 1817, the battle that took place on the Apalachicola River at present-day Chattahoochee during the First Seminole War.

The battle took place when Creek and Seminole warriors, outraged over an unprovoked attack by U.S. soldiers on the Creek village of Fowltown (in today's Decatur County, Georgia) swarmed to the Apalachicola River seeking to stop supply boats from reaching Fort Scott. The fort stood on the Flint River arm of today's Lake Seminole near Wingate's Restaurant.

Seeking to speed up the movement of the boats, General E.P. Gaines at Fort Scott sent down 40 men down the river in a boat under Lieutenant Richard W. Scott of the 7th U.S. Infantry. Scott reached the supply flotilla, but was ordered back up to the fort with 20 sick soldiers, 7 women and 4 children. The women and children were the wives and children of soldiers at Fort Scott. He had only around 20 able bodied men.

As Scott's boat rounded the sharp bend of the river between the railroad and U.S. 90 bridges at Chattahoochee, the strong current forced the men to navigate close to the east or Gadsden County shore. As the boat neared the short just south of today's Chattahoochee Landing, several hundred warriors opened fire.

Lieutenant Scott and most of his able bodied men fell in the first volley. The warriors quickly waded into the river and stormed the boat. By the time the fighting was over, only six of Scott's men and one woman survived.

The six soldiers, four of whom were wounded, escaped by leaping overboard and swimming away underwater to the Jackson County shore. The female survivor, Elizabeth Stewart, was captured by the warriors and carried away as a prisoner. She spent next five months working as a slave, cooking and doing other chores. She was rescued by troops under Andrew Jackson the following spring at the Battle of Econfina Natural Bridge east of Tallahassee. The rest of the soldiers and women were killed and mutilated. The four children were killed by having their heads beaten against the sides of the boat.

Please click here to visit the new website: www.exploresouthernhistory.com/scottsmassacre1.

Wreck of the C.S.S. Chattahoochee

Resting in an honored spot in the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus, Georgia, is an artifact that holds a significant place in the history of Gadsden County.

The C.S.S. Chattahoochee was a Confederate warship completed at Saffold, Georgia (near today's U.S. Highway 84 crossing between Dothan and Donalsonville) in 1863. Built of green timber by craftsmen who had never constructed a warship, the Chattahoochee was a massive gunboat with both masts and steam propulsion. Mounting a number of heavy guns, she was manned by a crew of more than 100 men. Her original captain, Lieutenant Catesby ap R. Jones, fully expected to steam her into action against the Union blockade ships in Apalachicola Bay.

Damaged on her initial trip down the river from Saffold to Chattahoochee, the gunboat was repaired in a makeshift facility at Chattahoochee Landing. Once the repairs were completed, the Chattahoochee became a fully operational Confederate warship. With Chattahoochee Landing as her home port, the boat steamed up and down the Apalachicola River and conducted artillery drills.

The high hopes of the Confederate Navy for the ship, however, were never realized. The assignment of Lieutenant Jones to command the vessel was a clear indication she was intended for combat. He was a Southern hero at the time, having commanded the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia during the second half of her monumental battle with the U.S.S. Monitor. The Confederate army, however, placed obstructions in the Apalachicola River before the Chattahoochee became operation. The barrier prevented Union warships from coming upstream, but also prevented the Chattahoochee from going down to the Gulf.

In May of 1863, while responding to a report of a Union raid up the river, the Chattahoochee sank in an accidental explosion at Blountstown. The dead from the accident were brought up to Chattahoochee and buried, while the wounded were taken upriver to Columbus, Georgia, as soon as they could be moved. Several others died and are buried there.

The Chattahoochee itself was raised, taken to Columbus and repaired. By the end of the war she was again ready for action and was awaiting the completion of the ironclad C.S.S. Jackson in anticipation of an attack on the blockade vessels at Apalachicola. Union troops captured Columbus before the Jackson was finished, however, and the crew of the Chattahoochee took her downstream a few miles and set her on fire. She burned to the waterline and sank in the Chattahoochee RIver.

The boat's stern section was raised by the snagboat Montgomery during the 1960s and now is preserved at the Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus. To learn more about the museum, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/navymuseum. The story of the Chattahoochee is told in much more detail in my 2008 book, The Early History of Gadsden County.

Anniversary of the Seizure of the U.S. Arsenal at Chattahoochee

Today marks the 148th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. Arsenal at Chattahoochee by the Quincy Young Guards at the beginning of the Civil War.

The incident was the first armed encounter of the Civil War in Florida and the anniversary marks a major date in the history of Gadsden County.

To commemorate the event, I began a series of posts today on our sister site at http://civilwarflorida.blogspot.com/.

Over the next few days I will be posting excerpts from my recent book, The Early History of Gadsden County. If you are interested in learning more, please follow the link above to read the excerpts or consider purchasing a copy of the book by following the link in this paragraph.

Purchases benefit the West Gadsden Historical Society in its effort to protect and preserve the history and historic sites of Gadsden County.

More on Ellicott's Observatory

This is a second excerpt from The Early History of Gadsden County about Ellicott's Observatory, the little known 1799 scientific camp established on the site of Chattahoochee. The story picks up as Ellicott prepared to leave a similar observatory established in neighboring Jackson County at the point where the Chattahoochee River intersected with the Florida-Alabama line:

The work at the Jackson County camp was completed and the surveyors prepared to drop down the Chattahoochee River to its confluence with the flint when they suddenly received alarming news:

One or two days before we left our position on the Chattahocha for the mouth of Flint river, Mr. Burgess, who had lately been one of our deputy agents, and interpreters, and who had agreeably to the Creek custom intermarried with several of their females, who then lived with him, informed me confidentially, that a plan was laid to plunder us on our way to the St. Mary’s, and requested me to write to Col. Hawkins, to join us at the mouth of Flint river immediately, as his influence would effect our safety, if it was in the power of any man to do it.

The “Mr. Burgess” mentioned by Ellicott was James Burgess, a white trader that lived among the Creeks and maintained trading posts and homes at Tomatley in Jackson County and “Burgess’ Town” on the Flint River (present-day Bainbridge, Georgia). Burgess had lived in the area for more than thirty years and his warning to Ellicott and Minor (who was also now on the scene) was delivered at considerable risk to his own life.

Ellicott wrote a letter to Colonel Hawkins on the night of August 22, 1799, requesting that he join the party at the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and the next day climbed into a canoe with Minor and paddled downstream to the site of present-day Chattahoochee in Gadsden County. A new camp was established and an astronomical observatory constructed from which the two men could conduct the necessary calculations for running the line east to the head of the St. Mary’s River.

The swampy ground at the mouth of the Flint River proved unsuitable for camping, so Ellicott related that the observatory was established on a nearby bluff:

The ground about the mouth of the Flint river not being fit for encamping on, in consequence thereof, we pitched on the nearest commanding eminence, from which with the least labour in falling the timber, the junction of the rivers might be discovered.

Work had been underway at the Chattahoochee observatory for about two weeks and went peacefully enough for Minor to dismiss his military escort. An escort of American soldiers remained. Things seemed to be going well when James Burgess suddenly appeared on the scene:

On the 9th Mr. Burgess paid us a visit. After dinner he took me into the observatory, and asked this question, “Did you write to Col. Hawkins while at the Upper Camp agreeably to my recommendation”? To which he was answered in the affirmative. “You have not”, says he, “written as pointedly as was necessary, or he would have been here before this: you must write to him immediately, and procure support from the Upper Creeks, which may be had, or you will positively be plundered on your way to St. Mary’s; you may think me a fool, but mark the end.”

Benjamin Hawkins reached the camp at Chattahoochee on September 14th, but just three days later the surveyors received another warning, this time from William Perryman, an important Native American leader that lived about fifteen miles upstream in Jackson County:

Early in the morning of the 17th, we received a message from Indian Willy, (a person of property,) who resides on the Chattahocha, a few miles above the mouth of the Flint river, to the following effect: “Gentleman, I have sent my Negro, to inform you that about twenty Indians lay near my place last night, they intend mischief; many more are behind: they say they are Chocktaws; but this is not true. Be on your guard, and remember I have nothing to do with it: my Negro goes at midnight."

The warnings were providential and caused the surveyors to tighten their guard....

(End of Excerpt)

The Confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers

This early photograph, taken before construction began on the Jim Woodruff Dam during the late 1940s, shows the confluence or "forks" of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers as it appeared before the completion of Lake Seminole.

This was an important intersection on one of the most significant early "super highways" in the United States.

The Chattahoochee, Flint and Apalachicola Rivers provided water access to the modern states of Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Used by Native Americans as well as early Spanish and English explorers, the "Tri-Rivers System" was vital to the history of Gadsden County and tens of thousands of square miles of adjoining country.

This view shows four counties and two states. The left bank of the river is Jackson County, Florida. The point of land visible in the distance between the mouths of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers is Seminole County, Georgia. The right bank includes a small section of Decatur County, Georgia, and Gadsden County, Florida.

The earliest descriptions of the confluence appear in the records of Spanish missionaries and soldiers. Bishop Gabriel Diaz Vara Calderon visited this point in 1675. Although he did not mention the Flint, he described both the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers as a single stream - the "Apalachicoli." He officiated at the dedication of a mission called La Encarnacion a la Santa Cruz de Sabacola on the point of land formed by the Chattahoochee (flowing in from the left) and Flint (flowing in from the right).

The area was also described in Spanish reports and journals dating from 1677, 1686 and 1693. In 1716, Lieutenant Diego Pena traveled to the confluence from St. Augustine and visited a village of Apalachicoli (Lower Creek) Indians living on the former site of the Sabacola mission. He described the combined Apalachicola/Chattahoochee Rivers as the Apalachicola and the Flint as the "Pedernales."

If you are interested in learning more, please consider purchasing a copy of The Early History of Gadsden County. The book is available in both paperback and hardcover and profits benefit the West Gadsden Historical Society. For more information, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/gadsden.