The Battle of Natural Bridge

The Battle of Natural Bridge

As the nation commemorates America’s 250th anniversary, explore moments in history at Florida’s State Parks. 

“Gunboats are around the light house and colored troops are landing and are now on the way to Tallahassee via Newport. Such excitement I never saw; Captain Brokaw called in the Home Guards and they came, from the farm, the stores, from all places, where old men were employed, they came hurrying in,” reads an excerpt from the diary of Tallahassee resident Susan Bradford Eppes, dated March 5, 1865.  

The entry from the next day reads, “The battle is on and since daylight we have been listening to the booming of cannon. Natural Bridge, where the two armies met, is only eighteen miles (as the crow flies) from Tallahassee and these big guns can be heard plainly.” 

These excerpts show the gravity of the Battle of Natural Bridge for Tallahassee residents at the time. In the final weeks of the Civil War, Tallahassee remained the last uncaptured Confederate capital east of the Mississippi River. President Abraham Lincoln’s war strategy was, at its simplest, to weaken the South through a naval blockade. The last uncaptured shipping point for the Confederacy was through St. Marks, and Union Brigadier General John Newton was tasked with capturing it. After running aground near Port Leon in an attempt to move upriver by boat, Union forces shifted to an attack by land. 

Union troops tried to cross at Newport Bridge but were repelled by Confederate forces. It’s not clear how Newton learned about it (perhaps from a Union sympathizer), but he discovered the crossing at Natural Bridge—a rare geological feature where the St. Marks River briefly dives underground before welling up again about 0.6 miles south. Marching at night, nearly 900 Union troops, including the 2nd and 99th Regiments U.S. Colored Infantry, arrived at the site of what would become Florida’s second-largest Civil War battle.  

When the fighting ceased, Confederate soldiers emerged victorious, forcing Union troops to retreat to the coast. 

Although the smoke and clatter of that day are long gone, Bob Trapp of the Natural Bridge Historical Society has helped preserve the realities of the battle for over forty years as a historical reenactor. 

“In late 1981, I started reenacting, but my first time reenacting at Natural Bridge was in 1982. In 1999, the Natural Bridge Historical Society, Inc. was established by some of the longtime participants in the annual reenactment of the Battle of Natural Bridge,” Trapp said. 

The Natural Bridge Historical Society is a nonprofit citizen support organization that, in cooperation with the Florida Park Service, works to preserve and promote the historical, cultural and recreational value of Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park. The society’s main event is the annual battle reenactment, held each year on the first full weekend in March, where up to 250 reenactors take part in full-scale battle scenarios. 

For Natural Bridge reenactors, accuracy is paramount. “The battle has actually been mapped according to the spent munitions excavated at the site in state-supervised archaeological surveys that we had the privilege of supporting,” Trapp said. “We also work with the Riley House Museum in Tallahassee to represent and interpret the 2nd and 99th Regiments U.S. Colored Infantry. We strive to represent everything that happened as accurately as possible, down to the positioning of the troops.” 

In addition to the battle, the reenactment features living history interpretations at “The Town of Newport,” showing what civilian life might have been like in a Civil War-era town. Visitors can see reenactors making candles over an open fire, a medical doctor display, a ladies tea event, a marketplace, a Frederick Douglass reenactor and more. 

Trapp hopes attendees will feel a connection to the stories of America’s past. “In school at Georgia Tech I had a really good Civil War history professor that got me enthused about that period of history,” Trapp said. “Our hope is to breathe life into these events and help people see the humanity of these things you read about in textbooks.” 

The 39th annual reenactment of the Battle of Natural Bridge will be held March 7 and 8, 2026, at Natural Bridge Historic State Park.  

If you’re interested in joining the Natural Bridge Historical Society, visit their website and come to the reenactment during the first weekend in March!