Exhibition Review

Reenactment and festival, annual February event since 1976. Feb. 15–17, 2002. Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park and Lake City, Florida. Admission free for spectators. Blue-Grey Army, Inc., coordinators.

Internet: extensive information on past and upcoming reenactments, application forms, schedules, many useful links: Thomas Fasulo et al., Battle of Olustee <http://extlab1.entnem.ufl.edu/olustee/> (Sept. 4, 2002).

Each February, north central Florida welcomes reenactors from all over the country to remember a significant Civil War battle. On February 20, 1864, a Confederate force of about five thousand troops defeated an equal-size Union army and repelled a late invasion into the state of Florida. The coastal areas of the state had been under Union occupation throughout the war, but Florida's interior still held pockets of strong Confederate resistance. Early in 1864, a Union force occupied Jacksonville and then marched west to secure the Suwannee River; the Union command eventually hoped to take the state capital of Tallahassee. About sixty miles west of Jacksonville, however, the Union troops encountered fierce resistance from Confederate soldiers, and after several hours of combat they retreated back east. The interior of Florida was never again challenged during the final fourteen months of the war.	1
The Civil War is still very much alive to the reenactors who bivouac at the battlefield site just east of Lake City, a town of about ten thousand. The Confederate victory, and in particular its flag, also stirs controversy in the local African American community, which stages a protest each year at the parade. The 2002 festival became particularly worrisome to local authorities when the president of the local county branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was arrested the night before the parade for allegedly posting illegal posters throughout downtown. The parade itself went smoothly as uniformed soldiers and women in hoopskirts filed past flag-waving locals on one side of the town's main artery while placard-waving protesters chanted on the other side.	2
The parade is a popular draw for residents and tourists who sample local crafts and food downtown on Saturday. The battlefield is open to spectators during the day on Friday and Saturday, but the entire celebration focuses on the impressive main battle reenactment on Sunday afternoon. The park opens early in the morning, and visitors stake out the best seats. By the time the first shots are fired early in the afternoon, thousands have gathered in bleachers and on the ground to watch the action. A narrator gives insight into the action on the battlefield as rifles pop and cannons roar. While the daylong Battle of Olustee is reduced to about sixty minutes of action, each major part of the campaign is authentically reenacted. The "battle" officially ends with a final volley when all reenactors line up to face the spectators and then fire off shots simultaneously. The loud report truly is deafening.	. . .