Natural Bridge is the site of the second largest Civil War battle in Florida, and where the St. Marks River drops into a sinkhole and flows underground for one-quarter of a mile before reemerging.

In March 1865, a Union force of approximately 1,000 troops, including two regiments of U.S. Colored Troops, under the command of Brigadier General John Newton, landed in the vicinity of the St. Marks Lighthouse for an expedition against the blockade running port of St. Marks and Fort Ward which protected it.

Union commanders likely hoped that a victory there would lead in turn to the capture of Tallahassee and possibly Thomasville, Georgia. The Union advance was halted at the Battle of Natural Bridge near Woodville, about 10 miles south of Tallahassee, by a hastily assembled Confederate force of some1,000 men.

The Confederate troops were a mixture of active duty troops and state militia, under the overall command of Major General Samuel Jones and on the battlefield by Brigadier General William Miller. Included among the Confederate troops was a small company of cadets from the West Florida Seminary, the

predecessor to today's Florida State University.

After their repulse by the Confederates, the Union troops retreated back to the coast for evacuation to their vessels.

In 1911, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) established a committee to acquire title to the Natural Bridge Battlefield, and a land survey was commissioned. A portion of the battlefield was subsequently donated to the UDC which constituted the initial area of the present-day Natural Bridge

Battlefield Historic State Park.

In 1921, the Florida Legislature appropriated funding to assist the UDC in the construction of a monument at the site, and in 1922 a dedication ceremony was held at the completed monument.

In 2000, a granite marker was installed behind the monument which lists the Confederate and Union soldiers who were killed in the battle or later died from their wounds. The UDC managed the property until 1950, when title to the six-acre site was transferred to the State of Florida. In 1970, the state acquired adjacent property of three more acres, and in 2009 an additional 55-acre parcel of the battlefield was acquired.

Interpretive signage at the site describes the battle events. The Battle of Natural Bridge Reenactment, one of the largest such events in Florida, is held annually at the park in early March.

www.floridastateparks.org/naturalbridge

Information Provided by the Florida Department of State.