NO KNOWN COPIES (MILITARY--CIVIL WAR 54th MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEER REGIMENT.) Report of the Battle of Olustee and list of casualties, as it appeared in Volume I, Number 1 of The Palmetto Herald, March 3, 1864. Small folio, folded to form four pages; toned with a couple of tiny holes at the conjunction of the folds, perfectly legible in context. Port Royal, 1864
a rare copy of the first issue of this union paper, printed on a field press in captured territory. The Battle of Olustee, or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on February 20, 1864 and was the largest battle fought in Florida during the war. The article, reporting the battle with a list of the casualties came barely 10 days afterward, while there were still a number of missing, presumably captured or fled. Also reported is a gang rape of a local widow by four "stragglers" from the 55th Regiment who were apprehended, given a "drum head" court-marshal and hung. The writer describes the battle as "sanguinary." Union casualties were 203 killed, 1,152 wounded, and 506 missing, a total of 1,861 men-about 34 percent. The bravery of the colored troops of the 54th Massachusetts and the First South Carolina Regiments is particularly noted. no copies of this paper are known to exist, with only one library holding a microform copy of volume 1, number 1 through 44 (december 1864).
