A "Rebel" Retirement Home for Union Soldiers-- Part 1

From the Feb, 27, 2011, Panama City (Fl) News Herald "Southern City, Union Pride" by Ali Helgoth.

On April 9, 1865, Seth M. Flint played taps on the bugle for the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.  His account of the event was published in the Saturday Evening Post, 75 years later.

The town of Lyn Haven, Florida, was founded in 1911 as a retirement community for Union soldiers, along with other communities in Fitzgerald, Georgia, and St. Cloud, Florida.

Union soldiers were the first to receive their Civil War pensions and Grand Army of the Republic papers carried advertisements to return to the sunny south, this time, instead of conquerors, to live out their lives.  So it started even back then.

Florida's Panhandle was not the scene of major fighting during the war, but there was a lot of activity involving salt works and blockade-running.

Come to Sunny F-L-A.  --Old Secesh

Panama City, Florida, in the Civil War

Since we are spending a week here at Panama City Beach, I figured, it being right by the Gulf of Mexico, some action had to take place during the Civil War.

I found a website called Exploring Southern History by doing an explore.

I found out that people were coming to St. Andrew's Bay before the Civil War for the cool summer breezes and swimming and there was even a little shipping industry going on for products coming down the river like lumber and agricultural products.

During the war, St. Andrew's Bay became a major site of salt making which drew the attention of Union blockaders who made numerous attacks on the factories. But, as soon as one was destroyed, another popped up in its place.

Evidently. there was also a small action at St. Andrew's Bay which I will look into.

A Backburner Civil War. --Old B-Runner