This blog is dedicated to the environmental well-being of our Florida coastal habitat.

This blog is
dedicated to the environmental well-being of coastal habitat.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Bayport, FL : a Civil War shoreline story

"The Village of Bayport, located at the mouth of the Weekiwachee River sprang up in the early 1850s as a supply and cotton port. During the American Civil War, Union naval squadrons blockaded Florida's coasts to prevent goods and supplies from passing into and out of the State. By 1863 the East Gulf Blockade Squadron effectively closed the larger ports along the Gulf Coast. Small rivers, such as the Weeki Wachee, became important trade routes. Shipping at Bayport attracted the attention of The Union Blockade Squadron which intercepted eleven blockade runners near there between 1862 and 1865. Various skirmishes took place at Bayport between Union troops and the Confederate Home Guard during the course of the war. The Confederate cannon battery site can still be seen on the wooded point just north of the Bayport fishing pier at the mouth of the Weeki Wachee River. "

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayport,_Florida

See photos here: http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/bayportbattle.html

Note: The great-great-grandfather of this webmistress was one of the Union soldiers (from Florida and enlisted in 2nd Florida Cavalry, Co. B) who took part in the Raid on Bayport. We'll have some more shoreline photos one of these days.