"Captures in rich detail the competition between the
Confederates and Unionists, blacks and whites, and civilians and
soldiers in the region. A fascinating and illuminating story told
through compelling and persuasive prose."--Aaron Sheehan-Dean,
author of "Why Confederates Fought"
"A fast-paced social history of the Civil War in northeastern
Florida."--John David Smith, editor of "Black Soldiers in Blue"
When the Civil War finally came to North Florida, it did so with
an intermittent fury that destroyed much of Jacksonville and
scattered its residents. The city was taken four separate times by
Federal forces but abandoned after each of the first three
occupations. During the fourth occupation, it was used as a staging
ground for the ill-fated Union invasion of the Florida interior,
which ended in the bloody Battle of Olustee in February 1864. This
late Confederate victory, along with the deadly use of underwater
mines against the U.S. Navy along the St. Johns, nearly succeeded
in ending the fourth Union occupation of Jacksonville.
Writing in clear, engaging prose, Daniel Schafer sheds light on
this oft-forgotten theatre of war and details the dynamic racial
and cultural factors that led to Florida's engagement on behalf of
the South. He investigates how fears about the black population
increased and held sway over whites, seeking out the true motives
behind both the state and federal initiatives that drove freed
blacks from the cities back to the plantations even before the
war's end.
From the Missouri Compromise to Reconstruction, "Thunder on the
River" offers the history of a city and a region precariously
situated as a major center of commerce on the brink of frontier
Florida. Historians and Civil War aficionados alike will not want
to miss this important addition to the literature.
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