Distant Storm: Florida's Role in the Civil War

A Sesquicentennial Exhibit

Florida’s Role in the Civil War
Prologue: From the Yearbook Pages of a College Freshman

Portrait of John D. Pittman (on left) and a young man identified as Johnson.
Portrait of John D. Pittman (on left) and a young man identified as "Johnson." The photograph may have been taken upon their enlistment in the Confederate Army.

John D. Pittman’s first year of college was unusually dramatic. Traveling from his home in Marianna, Florida, to begin classes at the University of Virginia, Pittman arrived in Charlottesville in October 1860. A month later, Abraham Lincoln was elected president and on December 20, South Carolina seceded.

By the end of the school year in April 1861 the Civil War had begun and the home state of Pittman’s university, Virginia, had left the Union. Like other American college students before and since, Pittman asked his classmates to sign his yearbook.

Interspersed with the usual expressions of good luck and best wishes, some of the students wrote with expectation and apprehension about the recently opened war with the North.

"A Good Cause Calls You"

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"A Good Cause Calls You"

Dear Pittman.
My associations with you both as a Student and a friend, make me feel sad at your Departure. A good cause calls you: may you bear it boldly. Let your motto be—“take yer fote off of mi nek.”—and “never flicker”; but mind that you do not get in “the lion’s den.” Such Pittman would be a calamitious thing. Always stand to that tri-striped rag, called the Sou. Con. Flag. Do not let your epaulets make you forget the Happy hours of jollity and fun which have Relieved the monotony of our college life. . . .

Yours in the bonds of the E.X.

Harry St. John Dixon
Washington Co.
Mississippi
C. S. of A.


U. of V.
Apr 19th 1861.

"I’m Sorry That We Must Separate"

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I’m sorry that we must separate

Dear Pitt-;
I’m sorry that we must separate. But it is right & necessary that we should. Literary pursuits must, for a while, be abandoned; so that we may learn the tactics of military & be prepared to meet & repel the enemy, who have sworn that we shall no longer be freemen!!
Wherever your lot may be cast, Pittman, I beg you to remember that you have the best wishes of

Your friend & roommate.

Charles M. Richards

 

Moro,
Monroe Co.
Arkansas


U. of Va.
pril 19th,
1861

"Troublesome Times...Threaten the Destruction of Our Own Dear Country"

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Troublesome Times...Threaten the Destruction of Our Own Dear Country

Dear Pittman:

We are about to separate; each one going forth to try the realities of his future life, which at the present time presents a gloomy picture. Although you have begun your college course amid troublesome times, such as threaten the destruction of our own dear country, still may you live to honor the University by learning and justly acquired fame. May our associations often be renewed on earth and our friendship forever united in the Spirit Land.

Yours Truly


W. T. Davis
Lenoir Co.
NC


University April 21st
1861

"May You Ever Lead a Life Distinguished for Noble Deeds"

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May You Ever Lead a Life Distinguished for Noble Deeds

Dear Pittman

My earnest wish is for your happiness and prosperity, and may you ever lead a life distinguished for noble deeds, and true greatness, and may you ever be an earnest supporter of the glorious “Southern Confederacy.”

Truly your friend & fellow student

E. Pendleton Major
C.S.A.


University of Virginia 
April 19th 1861

Unfortunately, fate did not allow John Pittman to avoid “the lion’s den.” He journeyed home to Florida, enlisted in Marianna, and served in Company E of the Eighth Florida Infantry Regiment. On August 31, 1862, he was killed in the Battle of Second Manassas (Second Bull Run). He was 22 years old.

Pittman was one of some 5,000 Floridians who died serving the Confederacy during the Civil War (a total of 15,000 Floridians fought for the Confederate States). Many others died fighting for the Union. In addition to military deaths, civilian Floridians, black and white, died from illness, lack of food, and as a result of military action within the state. Although the smallest in terms of population of any of the Confederate States, Florida played an important role in the war as a supplier of beef and salt to Confederate forces and as a major area of operations for many of the Union’s African-American units.

Continue Reading — Before 1861: Florida’s Journey into Civil War »

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