Lost Church, Lost Battlefield, Lost Cemetery, Lost War

[Dan B]

Ock. I Just matched up the 1864 map with a modern day map. That "Ft Hatch or "Ft Haleh" is actually not that far off of your location. A couple of blocks at most, and the maps is not perfectly laid out (hand drawn, vs Satellite imagery) What are the chances your church was used as a fortification when the Union Army build the wall?

[Ocklawaha]

Dog.  Short muzzled breed of some sort.  Pit bull, Rottweiler, Boxer?

Most likely pit bull. There were quite a few running around the shotgun houses on Duval St. when they were still occupied. As for the land's recent use, the lot between Monroe and Adams used to be used for storing a couple of old tree service trucks. The lot between Monroe and Duval used to be used by an old man who collected junk. It had a board fence around it for the longest time and used have a sign proclaiming "Firewood for sale."

It was in fact, a pit bull.

[riverside_mail]

Here is some more info I have dug up concerning the Brick Church.

The first is from the memoirs of a veteran of Abell's Artillery. Note the mention of Whitehouse and a man named Pickett, whom I assume Pickettville is named for.

"Our battery supported by some six hundred men both Infantry and cavalry were one morning instructed to retake the place. The battery was stationed at and near the old Brick Church we succeeded after stubborn fighting in running the Yankees to their boats. The infantry did some hard work our guns used a good deal of ammunition three of our men were killed and several wounded the Infantry lost about seventy five killed & wounded. We only held the town about ten days as the sequel will show. The company returned to the "White House" and remained in camp. A very unfortunate affair occurred here in which we lost a promising officer Lieutenant. He was boarding at a house kept by Pickett and had a room upstairs. Early in the morning Pickett going from room to room making fires found the Lieutenant in his wifes bed and he was shot and killed although defending himself with a chair."

The second is from a history of the 2nd Florida regiment.

"In the early days of June these ten companies were ordered to rendezvous near the Brick Church, just west of Jacksonville, now known as LaVilla, and on July 13 the Regiment was mustered into Confederate service by Major W. T. Stockton."

The third is from the Orlando Sentinel and describes the ties between the Brick Church and the assassination plot of Abraham Lincoln.

"On this day in 1861, a Floridian began a journey to infamy.

At the Old Brick Church on the west side of Jacksonville on July 13, 1861, 10 Florida infantry units assembled to become the 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment. The churchyard had become Camp Virginia.

The Florida Historical Society records the units mustering into Confederate service on that day as the Alachua Guards, Leon Rifles, Columbia Guards, Hammock Guards (from Marion County), Gulf State Guards of Jackson County, St. Johns Greys, St. Augustine Rifles, Davis Guards of Nassau County, the Madison Rangers and the Hamilton Blues.

Among the recruits of the Hamilton Blues was Lewis Thornton Powell, who had signed up at the Hamilton County town of Jasper. His parents' farm was just to the south at Live Oak.

As a boy, he had picked up the nickname "Doc" because he enjoyed taking care of sick and stray animals.

He was 12 when a pet mule kicked him in the face, fracturing his jaw. When his face healed, the injury left him with distinctive lump on the left side of his chin.

Military records list his age at enlistment as 19, but he was really 17.

Nearly four years to the day after he enlisted in Florida, Powell was executed for his role in the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln and other high-ranking leaders. On July 7, 1865, Powell and three other conspirators were hanged in Washington.

Powell, the lone Floridian to join John Wilkes Booth's plot, is buried in Geneva, a small northeast Seminole County community on Lake Harney.

Another of the soldiers of the Hamilton Blues who signed up on the same day as Powell, William Slade is buried at a small private cemetery along Pleasant Hill Road south of Kissimmee.

Research by the Geneva Historical & Genealogical Society found that Powell, Slade and the others in the Florida infantry marched north.

On July 2, 1863, Powell was shot in his right wrist during the Battle of Gettysburg and captured. Slade, too, was wounded in that battle.

The war would take them along different journeys after Gettysburg.

Slade recovered from wounds, only to be shot again and captured during fighting at Spotsylvania, Va. He would spend the rest of the war under horrible conditions at the Union prison for enlisted men at Elmira, N.Y.

The food was sparse and often rotten. Few prisoners had blankets. Buildings were too small for the 10,000 prisoners, so about half were held in tents, even during the hard winter. The death rate was 500 prisoners a month."

[Dan B]

It also looks like there were two engagements at Brick Church.

March 25th, and again on May 3, 1862.

Maybe even a third engagement in 1863? It may have been a typo. This battle was by "Major Brevard's battalion"

[mtraininjax]

Until Joel and his group come out and it gets its press in the TU, I consider it some nice color pictures.

[samiam]

There is an old brick church listed here. Im not sure if it the same

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FL-NE-CEMETERY/2001-06/0991947282

[Fallen Buckeye]

There's a plaque on Lennox Ave. by Cedar Creek that tells about about a little Civil War battle that happened all over a good chunk of the west side. From what the sign it started in Olustee and carried over into Jacksonville at Cedar Creek and McCoy Creek. It would be neat if some of these other sites were marked too. How much could a plaque be? Maybe a couple thousand tops?

[samiam]

I think this is who needs to be contacted

http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/markers/

[riverside_mail]

There is an old brick church listed here. Im not sure if it the same

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/FL-NE-CEMETERY/2001-06/0991947282

it is the very same one.

[samiam]

Are there any building currently on the cemetery now ?

[BridgeTroll]

Facinating... great find!

[sheclown]

congrats MJ, this is huge.

[devlinmann]

i am stunned, fascinated and dying to hear more.

is there anyway for us to help preserve this site?

[Dan B]

Several sources I have found said that the "Brick Church", which did seem to be the center of a couple of skirmishes, and one battle, was on the site of what later become "LaVilla Junction".

Anyone know where that is/was?

[samiam]

stephendare I have been collecting Jacksonville civil war history for years. I have a list of websights
That I have used to find leads for places to relic hunt. The article mentioned the old brick church. I remembered reading about it several years ago. I consider myself an armature archaeologist and have been on digs in germany, france and all over the southeastern U.S.