The Battle of Vernon, Florida was a minor skirmish of the American Civil War that took place on September 28, 1864, near the town of Vernon, Florida. Coming a day after the larger Battle of Marianna, this conflict involved a company of Home Guard troops from Vernon who were going to the aid of their Confederate compatriots in that city. Unbeknownst to the Southerners, their route had taken them straight toward the withdrawing Federal column under Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, which was returning to their main base at Pensacola after their victory at Marianna. The two forces met on a wooden bridge across Hard Labor Creek in Washington County; refusing to heed Union demands to disperse, the badly-outnumnered Floridians chose to resist and were quickly defeated, with most of them being taken prisoner.
In the summer of 1864, Florida Governor John Milton ordered the creation of Home Guard units in the state's counties. Located in the Florida Panhandle, Washington County had few men of military age who were not already in Confederate service, invalids or too old or young to fight. Additionally, some country residents had already defected to the Federals, including the county Sheriff With barely thirty available men, the local Home Guard company chose Second Lieutenant W.B. Jones, a veteran of the 6th Florida Infantry who had been discharged for wounds received in Tennessee, to lead them. Upon learning of the approach of Federal forces, Confederate commanders in Mariana had sent out messengers to nearby towns and villages, asking them to come to their aid with all possible speed.
Though the message sent to Jones did not arrive until after the Battle of Marianna had concluded, Jones was still determined to do what he could to help his brothers in arms. Assembling his company, he went through Vernon and forced every man there to join him, regardless of age—men "considerably older than sixty" were forced to shoulder their rifles and accompany his column. By the time he set out on the morning of the 28th, Jones had managed to assemble about fifty mounted men.
Meanwhile, the Federal column—over 700 strong— had left Marianna to return to Pensacola in the early morning hours of April 28, driving a large herd of confiscated cattle, horses and mules, and accompanied by over 600 liberated slaves. By noon, they had reached Orange Hill in Washington County, where they burned the barns and outbuildings of the Everett Plantation, then stopped for lunch. Resuming their march shortly thereafter, they reached a wooden bridge spanning Hard Labor Creek, about five miles northeast of Vernon.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers Mount Vernon Second Skirmish (Lawrence County, 1864). A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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