By 1864, Ft. Barrancas commander General Alexander Asboth received news that most of the Confederates had been transferred out of the area leaving Escambia and Santa Rosa Florida thinly protected. This supposedly left only the 1st Alabama Infantry regiment at Pollard and the 15th Confederate Cavalry on station between the Perdido and Yellow Rivers. Thus, he ordered additional patrols into the interior to test the waters outside of Barrancas. One such patrol crossed “Gunboat Point” on May 25th with about thirty mounted troopers. Gunboat Point was located near today's Naval Air Station bridge that crosses Bayou Grande. The patrol found only a couple Confederate pickets at Jackson’s Bridge over Bayou Chico and captured their mounts. This led Asboth to conclude that the southerners had indeed returned to the area and again encamped at “Fifteen Mile Station” at the Gonzalez farm.
Based on this, Asboth ordered eight infantry regiments, along with artillery to march on Camp Milton on June 2, 1864. The resulting Union column quickly overran the scattered southern troops driving them north toward Camp Pollard. Their encampment was ransacked, and the area searched for loot and contraband. Asboth then ordered a simultaneous attack on Camp Gonzalez in late July while other raids were planned to strike the camps in and around Escambia and Perdido Bay.
In retaliation, CSA Colonel Dabney H. Maury sent Company “I” of the 15th Cavalry commanded by Captain William Bull Amos to Milton. Acting independently, Amos left Milton on June 25, 1864 in two small boats containing fifteen soldiers and headed down Blackwater River for the mouth of the Yellow River at Ward’s Basin. Upon their arrival, they saw a small schooner with its sails lowered about two miles further down Blackwater. Amos landed his men on the western shore and made their way toward the boat taking great pains to stay out of sight. Due to the boat’s proximity to the shore the armed soldiers were able to surprise the crew and hold them at bay while several of their comrades swam out to the boat and captured it. It was at that point that they saw another sail coming upriver so they hid themselves on the captured boat and let the other approach unsuspectedly. When it arrived alongside, they rose up and captured the second enemy vessel as well. They sent the captured crews upriver to Milton in two of the boats while the remainder of Amos’ men sailed the captured schooner into East Bay. One of the local fishermen in the bay informed them of another enemy schooner called the “Osceola” that was lying at anchor nearby with a crew of five men. The Confederate cavalrymen again hid in the bottom of the boat as the small crew approached the Union schooner. As they came up alongside the troopers rose up with their carbines and ordered the five men to surrender. Three of the Yankees chose to go for their weapons and were shot dead on the spot. The remaining two surrendered immediately and were taken prisoner. Amos then divided his remaining men in half and sailed each vessel up the Blackwater River to Milton.
Captain Amos had been an excellent choice for the assignment because he was extremely knowledgeable of the Milton area since he had been a successful trader there before the war. When his first wife died in 1856 the 38-year old widower had moved he and his four motherless children into the home of his younger brother and sister-in-law James Milton and Martha Amos. William had followed in his brother’s footsteps as postmaster while James went on to become the sheriff of Santa Rosa County. As the war clouds finally burst over Milton, William offered his services to the Confederacy and eventually was elected captain of one of the local companies.
The loss of the boats and their crews were insignificant to General Asboth as he continued to devise ways of striking and destroying the rebel camps. But, by mid-summer he was receiving information that the 15th Cavalry was located in force at Pollard along with five companies of infantry plus additional cavalry units encamped at Fifteen Mile Station at Gonzalez. Based on the new intelligence. Asboth decided to move again Fort Hobgson, which was nothing more than a quickly constructed square of logs located north of Beck's Lake Road close to Cottage Hill. The date was set to destroy the fort on or about for July 22, 1864. But then that is another story!
Confederate General Dabney Herndon Maury
Union General Alexander Asboth
Grave of Captain William Bull Amos (1822-1901) in the
John Green Cemetery of Conecuh County, Alabama
A Union Blackwater Schooner
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