The Battle of Olustee (or Ocean Pond) was one of the smaller battles of the Civil War and is largely ignored in the history books. Yet, if the Union had won, it would be remembered for several stragetic advantages it would have given the North. As for now, few know about it, except those who reenact the battle each year or who stumble across the Historic Battlefield Site in the Osceola National Forest.
The Battle of Olustee WWW site receives anywhere from 100 to 200 visitors a day. This number greatly increases in the weeks preceeding and following the annual reenactment. Many of the WWW visitors are not interested in reenacting, but in adding to their family history. A number of these people supplied me with the letters, diaries, newspaper articles and photographs that helped make the Battle of Olustee site one of the Top 95 Civil War sites on the WWW.
I prefer to receive digitized copies of text or photos as this means less work for me. If you send me copies of letters or photos on paper, it may be awhile before I get around to them. If you send me the originals, then you are crazy. But if you send me something that needs to be returned to you, I will try and work on it as soon as possible, and then will return it to you by FedEx.
If you send me the material on paper, I will also be glad to send you a
diskette with the material digitized for your use if you request it.
Whatever you send me, please provide details as to who should receive credit for it, so I can add it to the text or to the photos. Some people send me material to use that they do not want others to have the use of unless they contact them first. I appreciate the fact the owners do not want me allowing others to use the material. And I do get requests for such occasionally. I also get requests from readers to place them in contact with these who supplied the materials. So, unless you ask me not to, I add a "mailto" command to the material so others can contact you directly with questions about the material. Files posted to this site have linked many others (including distant relatives) together in their search for Civil War or family history.
We can always read about the battles, generals, numbers of casualties etc., but when you can read the letters, diaries, histories and even see the photographs of the people who fought and died at Olustee - then this is what puts flesh on the bones of history.
For example, reading the letters that Edmund Jones (of the 64th Georgia) and Susan Jones, his wife, sent to each other over a period of a year helps
you understand that these were people with hopes, dreams, and a love for one another and their children. So when you finally read the letter from his commanding officer telling Mrs. Jones of her husband's death, you want to cry out, "No, he can't die. He's the hero of the story."
Tragically, there were over 622,000 "heros of the story" who died in this war. And untold millions of others who were deeply affected by their deaths.