Olustee Battlefield Museum

(July 2012) Enlarge Confederate Soldier in Butternut

In the Olustee Battlefield Museum there is a display with a Union soldier and a Confederate soldier in the woods. The Confederate soldier is depicted wearing a uniform with the color known as Butternut rather than the typical gray usually associated with Confederate regular troops. Even the accoutrements used by the Confederate soldier are in a brown color.

(July 2012) Enlarge Union Foot Soldier

Standing next to the Confederate is this Union foot soldier. The soldier is wearing the standard uniform and equipment of the Federal Army.

(July 2012) Enlarge See The Sun Rise

Inside the display case and on the wall by the two soldiers at the Olustee Battlefield Museum, is a very telling passage.

(July 2012) Enlarge Confederate Soldier's Personal Possessions

(July 2012) Enlarge The Southern Illustrated News

Newspapers were vital means of obtaining information during this era. Although it's easy to say, it is hard to imagine life without television, computer, radio, or all the modern electronic devices for communication that we take for granted.

(July 2012) Enlarge New York Tribune, Monday, February 29, 1864, Vol XXIII, No 7145

The front page of this newspaper is on display on a back wall near the corner of the Battle of Olustee Museum. It was difficult to get a good picture due to lighting concerns.

Newspapers during this era were notoriously partisan for their respective cause. President Abraham Lincoln had shut down newspapers and even imprisoned editors of newspapers who expressed opinions contrary to the Northern war effort so news of a disastrous northern defeat in Florida was a surprise to see.