This diary is part of a series written by multiple diarists taking part in the "Liveblogging the Civil War" project. From the introductory diary:
Now, here is our opportunity to act as kind of virtual re-enactors. We can discuss the issues, the battles, the news, as though it were happening right now and we were living through it. I think this could be a very fun way to explore our history and perhaps make it that much more accessible and realistic to us all. I suppose it would also make it the one little part of Daily Kos that's supporting our Republican president and opposing the Rebels and the Copperheads.
This and subsequent dispatches by this diarist are from Oba Mason, a resident of Ocala, Florida, and will relate his experiences as a transplanted Wisconsin native and self-professed "Union Man" living in the secessionist south.
Although Florida was the third state to secede from the Union, and played an important role in supplying the Confederacy with goods and soldiers, it was somewhat unique in that the Union held some ground in the state throughout the war. Thanks to quick thinking (and a decision not to wait for orders) on the part of its commander, Fort Zachary Taylor and the island of Key West it guarded remained in Union hands throughout the war, and the cities of Jacksonville, Fernandina and St. Augustine were captured by the Union early in 1862 and likewise remained Union-controlled cities for the remainder of the war. The Union also controlled the northern St. John's River from March 1862 onward, resulting in the wedge of land from the east bank of the St. John's to Florida's east coast becoming a haven for Union sympathizers, runaway slaves, and Confederate deserters.
Oba Mason's liveblog begins after the jump.
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