Olustee, Florida—Lugging their private artillery pieces behind their pick-up trucks, heavy-weapons hobbyists drive days to get to the annual celebration of the Civil War Battle of Olustee, fought 150 years ago, on February 20, 1864. Fire fills the night sky as celebrants shoot off their mini-howitzers, and the next day rebel yells fill the air as reenactors whup the Yankees. Other events include a crafts fair and the annual Tiny Miss Tots Battle of Olustee contest.
These festivities commemorate what news reports, history books, and the organizers describe as Florida’s greatest moment of the Civil War. According to the Ocala Star-Banner, Olustee was “a decisive victory for the South.” Standard accounts also describe Olustee as “the largest Civil War battle on Florida soil.”
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