Battle of Natural Bridge in Tallahassee, Florida

The Battle of Natural Bridge was a one-day fight on March 6, 1865, at a natural crossing of the St. Marks River south of Tallahassee, in which Confederate troops stopped a Union expedition moving inland from the Gulf coast.

The Museum of Florida History, run by the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee, says the Confederate victory ensured that Tallahassee would remain in southern hands for the rest of the war, the only southern capital east of the Mississippi River with that distinction. Florida State University, whose predecessor school sent cadets to the fight, puts it the same way in its own history: Tallahassee was the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not captured during the war.

The state historical marker for the Battle of Natural Bridge, placed in 1967 at the Natural Bridge Historic Site in Leon County, describes the battle as the site of a decisive repulse of Federal forces by Confederate militia during a joint U.S. Army and Navy operation to take St. Marks. Its inscription adds that the Federals' next objective would have been Tallahassee.

The Union expedition came ashore near the St. Marks lighthouse to take the town and fort of St. Marks, and Confederate commanders read its march inland as a threat to Tallahassee.

The Museum of Florida History records that in March 1865 a combined Union army and naval force assembled in the northern Gulf of Mexico off St. Marks. Almost 1,000 Union troops, including several hundred Florida soldiers of the 2nd Florida Union Cavalry, landed near the lighthouse and prepared to move inland. The museum says the initial targets appear to have been the town and fort of St. Marks, but with a large Union force moving inland, the Confederates saw a clear danger to Tallahassee.

The lighthouse still stands. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1931, is home to the St. Marks Lighthouse, whose current tower was built in 1842 and is still in use, and that the refuge's first parcel was the 53-acre Lighthouse Reservation at the mouth of the St. Marks River, next to Apalachee Bay. The refuge spreads across Wakulla, Jefferson and Taylor counties, south of Tallahassee.

The navy could not carry the attack upriver. The state marker says the Federal flotilla ran aground during its ascent of the river and never reached St. Marks, while the army landing was prevented from getting to the rear of St. Marks by Confederate opposition at Newport and at Natural Bridge.

The Union army tried to force the Natural Bridge crossing from dawn through the afternoon of March 6, 1865, failed, and withdrew to the coast.

After a skirmish at Newport bridge on the St. Marks River, the Museum of Florida History says, the Union commander, Brig. Gen. John Newton, chose a night march north to Natural Bridge in hopes of crossing unopposed. Confederate scouts reported the move, and the southern field commander, Brig. Gen. William Miller, redirected his forces to meet it. His troops were Florida cavalry and artillery soldiers, supplemented with young and old militia members and a small group of young cadets from the Florida Military Institute in Tallahassee.

Gunfire began at dawn at the Natural Bridge crossing. The first Union attempt to cross quickly was checked, both sides reinforced through the morning, and the Union troops searched without success for another crossing. Near midday the 2nd and 99th U.S. Colored Infantry regiments attacked, and for several hours the woods and swamps echoed with the battle. The museum says the Confederates had a solid defensive position, more cannons and, by the end of the day, more troops. Unable to force their way across, the Union troops broke off and retreated to the safety of the coast.

The 1967 state marker counts 893 Federal and 595 Confederate troops in the operation, and it and the Museum of Florida History give different Union loss figures.

The Battle of Natural Bridge marker record lists these figures for the Leon County fight:

The marker names the commanders as Brig. Gen. William Miller for the Confederates, Brig. Gen. John Newton for the U.S. Army and, in the spelling the marker record prints, Commander R.W. Shutelt for the U.S. Navy.

The two official sources differ. The Museum of Florida History gives 148 casualties for the northern side and 26 for the southern side. The museum's Confederate total of 26 matches the marker's 3 killed and 23 wounded, but its Union total of 148 equals the marker's count of missing alone, while the marker's killed, wounded and missing add to 258. The museum also says almost 1,000 Union troops landed, where the marker counts 893.

Yes; cadets from the school that became Florida State University fought at Natural Bridge, as one small part of a Confederate force made up mostly of cavalry and artillery soldiers.

Florida State University says classes were held at the West Florida Seminary in Tallahassee from 1857 until 1863, when the Legislature renamed it the Florida Military and Collegiate Institute to reflect a new military section that trained cadets. During the war, the university says, cadets from the school ranging in age from twelve to eighteen fought in the Battle of Natural Bridge. As a result, the FSU Army ROTC cadet corps is one of only three in the nation authorized to display a battle streamer with its flag, which bears the words NATURAL BRIDGE 1865.

The state's own accounts keep the cadets in proportion. The Museum of Florida History describes them as a small group of young cadets from the Florida Military Institute in Tallahassee, alongside Florida cavalry and artillery and militia of all ages, and the 1967 marker credits the repulse to Confederate militia.

No; Natural Bridge held Tallahassee for about two more months, until Union troops entered the city without a fight on May 10, 1865.

The Museum of Florida History records that on May 10, 1865, Union Brig. Gen. Edward McCook and his staff entered Tallahassee without incident, having come from Macon, Georgia, to establish federal control and authority in Florida. Confederate troops signed parole documents agreeing not to fight and turned over military equipment. In a May 20 ceremony marking the formal transition of power, Union troops raised a large United States flag over the state capitol, and the same day McCook announced the Emancipation Proclamation, formally freeing enslaved people in Florida. Florida State University notes that McCook's troops occupied the city, including campus buildings, for more than a month.

McCook used the Knott House, built in 1843 at what is now 301 East Park Avenue, as his temporary headquarters. The Florida Division of Historical Resources says that on May 20, 1865, he declared the Emancipation Proclamation in effect, announcing freedom for all enslaved persons in the greater Tallahassee region. The division lists the Knott House Museum as currently closed while staff preserve the historic interior and build new exhibits; group program questions go to 850-922-2459.

That sequence is why Tallahassee marks two spring dates a few weeks apart: March 6, the battle at Natural Bridge, and May 20, the day emancipation was announced in Tallahassee.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against two Museum of Florida History Civil War exhibit pages, the 1967 Battle of Natural Bridge marker record, the Knott House page of the Division of Historical Resources, the St. Marks refuge page of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida State University history page.