Francis Napoleon Terry was born on October 4, 1844 in Girard, Russell County, Alabama. He moved to Florida in 1858 just three years before the clouds of civil war burst over the nation. He enlisted in Hammock Landing, Florida on October 30, 1863 in Company "F" of Bonaud's 28th Battalion, Georgia Siege Artillery under Captain James Blount. The battalion was organized in Savannah, Georgia, in June 1863 with nine companies under its command. Assigned to the southern command, they were sent to Lake City, Florida where they served as infantry under Major Augustus Bonaud. During the first engagement at the Battle of Olustee on February 20, 1864, the battalion suffered 109 casualties. Three months later, Terry was stationed at Apalachicola Bay to defend the mouth and shores from Union forces. The huge bay is fed by the Apalachicola River, the Chattahoochee River, the Flint River, and the Ochlockonee River. The Union Navy was forced to send raiding parties in long boats against the southern forces due to the shallow shoals. The USS Somerset spent most of the war sealing off this area from Confederate blockade runners. Soon they received word that the southerners were building the ironclads CSS Chattahooche and CSS Muscogee and to be on the lookout of any enemy activity in the area. Taking the initiative, the Confederates sent a a group of sailors to capture the Union blockader USS Adela in Apalachicola Bay. However, long boats from the Somerset interrupted the Confederates and open fired on them, capturing their boats and taking prisoners. Francis Napoleon Terry was one of those captured.
He was taken back to the Somerset where he was shackled and sent to Fort Delaware, Delaware. There he would remain a prisoner of war alongside fellow veteran William Henry Trimmer, both buried several feet from one another in Molino. He was paroled in March 1865 and returned south to Columbus, Georgia. Making his way to Molino, he worked in the lumber mill created by Thomas Cooper as late as 1910. By 1907, he had applied for his Florida Confederate Pension and was approved for $100.00 per year. This was increased to $120 in 1909 and to $150 in 1911. The old Confederate cannoneer would pass away on May 19, 1915 and was buried in the Vaughn Cemetery in Molino, Florida.
Francis Napoleon Terry Grave in
Vaughn's Cemetery, Molino, Florida
A Confederate Siege Gun
Union USS Somerset, the Guardian of Apalachicola Bay