The Battle of Fort Myers’ Impact on The Civil War

This week marks 161 years since the southernmost land battle of the American Civil War took place right here in Southwest Florida on February 20th of 1865. The Battle of Fort Myers saw a small batch of Union soldiers defend their base from encroaching Confederates. WGCU’s Mike Walcher shares the story as part of Our Florida and America 250 series. The library on Sanibel Island is about as far removed as you can imagine from the battlefields of the 1860s. Duane Shafer is a library program director and happens to be an authority on the southernmost battle of the Civil War. It was significant in that I feel that it was really, the birth of Fort Myers proper. The Imag History and Science Museum offers a virtual reality experience of early Fort Myers. So let's step inside to see life as it was in 1865. The fort was on the Caloosahatchee River and had officers quarters with tents and barracks for enlisted soldiers. There was a general store and most importantly up here and large wharf to load cattle on boats. North and South finally fought here because the Battle of Fort Myers was fought over cows. Florida had cattle, lots of them. And Confederates were sending the beef north to units still fighting in Virginia. That is, until Union troops from Fort Myers started raiding nearby farms. Union soldiers loaded the stolen cattle onto ships at the dock and sent the beef to northern troops. This cattle rustling upset the southern commanders. It came to the point where they couldn't take it anymore with the Union disrupting the cattle trade, so they sent a force of about 100, 200 guys they marshaled around. President de la Belle, the Confederacy called themselves the cattle guard or cattle cavalry. They marched to around here Billy's Creek. On the morning of February 20th, 1865, they encountered some pickets or guards and took them prisoner. Then they ran into another soldier, a black man, possibly a former slave, who had joined the Union Army. A gunfight followed. The soldier was killed. Nobody has found a definite record of his name. A big cannon was aimed at the fort and Confederates demanded surrender. The Union commander refused. The fort had at least two cannons, and they blasted Confederate lines. Records document a 6 to 8 hour battle. The cavalry talk about rushing the fort, but then decided it would be wiser to just leave. As the Confederates retreated back up to present day La Belle. A Union cavalry patrol followed them and they found a lot of bandages, splints, stretchers. So they figured that the Confederates got hurt pretty badly. Duane Shafer says his ancestors from Maryland fought for both north and south, and some disappeared, almost certainly among the dead. He wrote a book about New Hampshire's role in the war, and he believes the Battle of Fort Myers has meaning. I would just say the strength and resilience of the Union troops. They didn't surrender. They didn't give in, to the Confederates. Weeks after the battle, Union troops abandoned Fort Myers. The war ended with Confederate General Robert E Lee surrender in early April 1865. Why, then, should we know or care about this now? If it's not remembered, if it's not, the veterans are not honored. All of those things are lost in the mists of time, and we lose track with that. To study the battles of the past, it's to understand the future and what could happen. The battle had effects right after the war. Wood from the barracks and other buildings was used to construct the first postwar homes in 1887. When it came time to incorporate a county in the Fort Myers area. Supporters of the South once again American citizens, made sure to name it after Robert E Lee. More recently, the city put up a statue honoring black soldiers who fought here and defended the fort. The faces of some of them remain on one side of the federal courthouse in Fort Myers, with photographer Andrea melendez for America. 250 on WGCU news. I'm Mike Walcher.