Camp Milton Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, Florida

Camp Milton Historic Preserve is a City of Jacksonville preservation park at 1225 Halsema Road North, Jacksonville, FL 32220, built around Civil War earthworks on McGirts Creek.

The City of Jacksonville describes the preserve as located in west Jacksonville and says it acquired significance during the American Civil War that lasted from April 1861 to May 1865. JaxParks lists it among the city's preservation parks, a group that on the same JaxParks menu includes Cedar Point Preserve, Reddie Point Preserve, Cecil Field Conservation Corridor, Julington Durbin Creek Preserve and the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rails to Trails corridor.

The City's amenity list for Camp Milton names benches, bike racks, a bike trail, car parking, a drinking fountain, equestrian use, a hiking trail, restrooms, a scenic overlook and wheelchair access, and the park page states that the trail is wheelchair accessible. The Camp Milton page itself does not post opening hours; the City's general MyJax line, (904) 630-CITY (2489), appears on every JaxParks page for questions.

The City of Jacksonville says the McGirts Creek works were built as the first line of defense against the Union forces in Jacksonville.

According to the JaxParks history of the preserve, three miles of earth and timber fortifications were erected along the west bank of McGirts Creek in February/March 1864, as over 8,000 troops arrived at the site. Those months match the largest fight of the war in Florida, which took place west of Jacksonville.

The Florida Park Service's history of Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park states that the Battle of Olustee took place on February 20, 1864, between Union troops advancing west from Jacksonville and Confederate forces from Florida and Georgia, and that after several hours of battle the Confederate troops forced a Union retreat to Jacksonville. The Olustee Battlefield park page adds that more than 10,000 cavalry, infantry and artillery troops fought a five-hour battle in a pine forest near Olustee, that it ended with 2,807 casualties, and that Union troops stayed in Jacksonville until the war's end just 14 months later.

The Park Service also records that one of the Union regiments at Olustee was the African-American 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first black units formed during the Civil War. Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, at 5815 Battlefield Trail Road, Sanderson, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with no entrance fee, and its museum has been closed since July 16, 2026, according to the state park page.

The camp was named in honor of John Milton, Florida's governor during most of the Civil War, according to the City of Jacksonville.

The Florida Department of State lists John Milton as the fifth governor of Florida, serving from October 7, 1861 to April 1, 1865. The Department's biography says he was born near Louisville, Georgia, on April 20, 1807, and practiced law first in Georgia and Alabama communities and later in New Orleans, coming to Florida in 1846 and later serving as a presidential elector in 1848.

The same biography describes Milton as a vigorous states-righter who encouraged the early secession of Florida from the Union, and says that as governor he stressed Florida's ability to serve as an important source of food and salt for the Confederate war effort. His term ended on April 1, 1865; the JaxParks summary of the Camp Milton site gives his life dates as 1807 to 1865, and the City dates the war itself from April 1861 to May 1865.

A surviving portion of the earthworks was discovered in 1973, which started the effort to acquire the land, the City of Jacksonville says.

The City of Jacksonville states that the State of Florida purchased the initial tract in 1981 and later leased it to the City, which acquired additional acreage through the work of Preservation Project Jacksonville and its non-profit partners. The major development project was completed in the summer of 2006, and the new preserve opened to the public that September. The key dates on the two JaxParks pages for the preserve and the adjoining rail trail line up as follows.

Camp Milton is contiguous with the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail and serves as its mid-point trailhead, according to the City of Jacksonville.

The JaxParks rail trail page describes the trail as a 100 foot wide right-of-way currently extending approximately 14.5 miles from Imeson Road in Jacksonville to the Town of Baldwin. A 12 foot wide paved trail serves hikers, bikers and roller-bladers, and an equestrian trail parallels it. The City says the right-of-way is flat and passes through rural areas with abundant plant life, wildlife and trees, that the trail is part of a nation-wide, federally initiated Rails to Trails program, and that it is open from sunrise until sundown.

The City also counts approximately 8.5 miles of spur trails on the Jacksonville Rail Trail Buffer Properties, designated for unpaved day hiking and equestrian use. Its trailhead list, below, puts Camp Milton on Halsema Road between Imeson Road and the Baldwin end of the line; the City's prose names five other trailheads while its address list adds a Livestock Farm stop on Halsema Road.

Camp Milton appears in the park list of the Timucuan Parks Foundation and among the American Battlefield Trust's Civil War heritage sites, alongside the City's own JaxParks listing.

The Timucuan Parks Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, includes Camp Milton Historic Preserve in a park list that runs from Alimacani Park and Big Talbot Island State Park to Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park and Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park, and its Camp Milton listing directs readers to JaxParks for closures and changes to rentals and fees. The American Battlefield Trust lists the preserve among its Civil War heritage sites as a self-guided tour,.

The two land-saving names on the JaxParks page are the same organization. The Timucuan Parks Foundation history says it was also named Preservation Project Jacksonville and that its role from 1999 to approximately 2009 was to be the intermediary between the landowners and the government agencies; in January 2010 it became the Timucuan Trail Parks Foundation, and in 2015 the name was simplified to Timucuan Parks Foundation. The City of Jacksonville credits Preservation Project Jacksonville and its non-profit partners with the added Camp Milton acreage.

The two Olustee figures and the City's troop figure come from different agencies describing different places: the Florida Park Service counts more than 10,000 troops at the battle, and the City counts over 8,000 arriving at McGirts Creek, so the numbers are not a conflict. Last verified: October 18, 2026, with the JaxParks pages for Camp Milton and the Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, the Florida Department of State biography of Governor John Milton, and both Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park pages re-read that day.