Olustee - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

OLUSTEE, a village of Baker county, Florida, U.S.A., in the precinct of Olustee, about 46 m. W. by S. of Jacksonville. Pop. of the precinct (1905) 397. The village is served by the Seaboard Air Line. The battle of Olustee, or Ocean Pond (the name of a small body of water in the vicinity), one of the most sanguinary engagements of the Civil War in proportion to the numbers engaged, was fought on the 10th of February 1864, about 2 m. east of Olustee, between about 5500 Federal troops, under General Truman Seymour (1824-1891), and about 5400 Confederates, under General Joseph Finegan, the Federal forces being decisively defeated, with a loss, in killed and wounded, of about one-third of their number, including several officers. The Confederate losses, in killed and wounded, were about 940.