Located near the mouth of the St. Johns River, this site was an important military position during the Civil War, allowing access to the inland areas of Florida's east coast. There was never an actual fort on Yellow Bluff, but an encampment that was fortified and equipped with large guns for protection.

Construction of a Confederate fortification at this site began in the summer of 1862 as part of General Robert E. Lee's coastal defense network for the Confederacy. The Yellow Bluff fort served a key role in defending Jacksonville from Union forces, as did the fortification at St. Johns Bluff across the St. Johns River (near present-day Fort Caroline National Memorial).

The fortifications at Yellow Bluff consisted of earthworks and an artillery battery. In October 1862, a major Federal expedition against Jacksonville of more than 1,500 soldiers, backed by several gunboats, resulted in Union troops occupying both Yellow Bluff and St. Johns Bluff, after the forced evacuation of the sites by the outnumbered Confederates.

As the Union troops evacuated Jacksonville after several days, and then returned again in 1863 and 1864, the Yellow Bluff fort changed hands several times. During the final Union occupation of Jacksonville beginning in February 1864, and lasting until the end of the war, a signal tower was erected by the U.S. Army Signal Corps at the Yellow Bluff fort and various regiments of U.S. Colored Troops prepared the site against possible Confederate attack.

A commemorative monument to the Confederate defenders of Jacksonville, erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1950, is located at the site.

www.floridastateparks.org/yellowbluff

Image Courtesy William Lees, Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN)

Information provided by the Florida Division of Historical Resources.