The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society holds a meeting on the third Tuesday of each month at 6pm. You are invited to attend any meeting and maybe become part of our group. The meetings usually have a few minutes of business, followed by a guest who speaks on some aspect of local history. We then adjourn for a pot-luck dinner. Our society’s meeting this month will be a bit special as Judson Cardin, one of our members who is a Civil War buff, will speak on relics that he has found in connection with the last days of the war in our area. To many, the history of the War Between the States in Escambia County disappears after the Confederate withdrawal of Pensacola in 1862.
But Judson will present items of a lesser known history of that war along the Escambia River that occurred in 1865. The following is a brief account of this history.
In 1864 Mobile, Alabama, was the last major Confederate stronghold on the eastern Gulf Coast. During that year the Union set out on a plan to take the city and began by gaining control of the forts at the mouth of Mobile Bay and the bay itself. By the end of the year, the bay was in Union hands; now what to do?
The city of Mobile had suffered little during the war. It was a successful Union blockade running port with active railways from Central Mississippi and Alabama reaching the city. The town was fat and happy. With much slave labor during the war years, the city had been ringed with several defensive lines facing the south and west, making that approach dangerous for Union success.
A decision was made by Union commanders to take the city’s main defenses of heavy guns on the upper bay and the high ground of Baldwin County, and then take the city from the bay. Unknown to the Union Army at that time, the vast majority of Rebel troops had been moved to other areas, leaving perhaps only 10,000 soldiers in South Alabama and West Florida. By February 1865 about 45,000 Union troops had been readied at Forts Gaines, Morgan, and Barrancas to begin the Mobile Overland Campaign.
On March 16, General Canby, commander of Union forces, heads north from Fort Morgan. His march is soon delayed while he waits for troops from Fort Gaines to join him. Later, with 32,000 troops he reaches the outer defenses of the first Confederate fortress around old Spanish Fort on March 26. It will take thirteen days of heavy bombardment to drive the Rebels out.
As Canby leaves Fort Morgan, he orders General Steele with 13,000 troops near Pensacola at Fort Barrancas to destroy the railroad at Evergreen, Alabama, and seize the Confederate supply base at Pollard, Alabama. Due to bad weather, Steele delays until March 20. Two units then travel north. From Milton about 1,000 mounted troops are routed through Santa Rosa County to take Andalusia and Evergreen while Steele marches his army along the Escambia River road to Pollard.
On March 25, Steele’s advance units of the First Louisiana Cavalry are near the northern end of the Escambia County. This unit would later report that resistance was seen early that morning by a hundred or so Rebel troops at Cotton Creek. A little farther north, it is reported that Rebels burn the bridge at Mitchell Creek, fire on northern troops and temporarily stop the Union march.
While the northern army is delayed, a couple of miles to the north, Confederate reinforcements of about 1600 men arrived from Canoe Station, Alabama are making ready. This is Clanton’s Brigade, made up largely of the 6th and 8th Alabama Cavalry, and is the only sizeable southern unit left in the district. They are dismounted and have formed a line of battle near the town of Bluff Springs. It is 11 in the morning when gunfire between pickets begin.
U.S. commander Col. Badger arrives with a regiment of almost 2,000 men. He quickly orders Company A to slip around the right flank and attack the end of the Confederate line. He then charges the bulk of his infantry under Captain Freeman across the creek and up the hill into the Rebel line. Within minutes the firing on both sides is heavy. Now alarmed, Badger charges with his own dismounted First Louisiana Cavalry. As his cavalry wave hits, Company A also hits the end of the southern line. With overwhelming fire from two directions, the Confederate defense collapses. Fighting will continue along the road for several miles however, as the Rebels flee, reorganize, retreat, stand and flee again. The pursuit ends at a burned out bridge on Big Escambia Creek, captured are 111 men, 18 officers, and Brigadier General Clanton. Today the confrontation is most well-known as The Battle of Pringle’s Creek, the last battle in North West Florida.
With little further resistance, Steele’s forces would take the Alabama towns, and later march to McCullough, Alabama to cut off movement along the old Federal Road before moving to join General Canby. As Steele arrived at Stockton near the first of April, he realized that Canby was still at Spanish Fort and had not reached Baldwin County’s second fortress at Blakeley. Steele moved on the town with his troops and after days of heavy fighting, overran the Confederates. Within a month Mobile would also fall, ending the Confederacy on the Gulf Coast.
