Battle of Fort Myers, FL
Marker: Fort Myers, FL
Photos/Text courtesy of Jared Pullins,
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Links: 1. Battle of Fort Myers - Wikipedia 2. History of Fort Myers, Florida |
This Memorial is dedicated to the
2nd Regiment Infantry, U.S. Colored Troops and Companies D and I which served at the Battle of Fort Myers On July 20, 1861 U.S. Army Officer Major French wrote to U.S. Naval Officer McKean, I have information that a schooner fitted out as a slaver is in the Caloosahatchee River. Her appointments, I am told, are full..." On February 20, 1865 Confederates of the 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry attacked Fort Myers. The attack erupted into a cannon duel with the 2nd USCT in charge of artillery. The New York Times reported: The colored soldiers at Fort Myers were in the thick of the fight. Unconscious of danger their constant cry was to get at them..." At nightfall, the Confederate force withdrew. A Confederate participant later recalled, "It was seen that nothing was accomplished." The Battle of Fort Myers marked the final action of the 2nd USCT in South Florida Companies D and I left Fort Myers in March of 1865. Fort Myers was then decommissioned. USCT Troopers freed and enlisted over 1,000 of the enslaved in Florida during the Civil War.
In Freedom Cover Me
The war between the states it's called to make us all one people one man's bullet is another man's death in this God makes us equal. The men who died in the light today all knew this was the start of some new age yet undefined of when we're all a part This Union Flag I stand beneath is what's protecting me from a life of moral death a life in slavery When muskets fire if I should fall in freedom cover me with these stars from this flag like leaves from God's great tree Clayton |