Walton Guards & 1st Florida Infantry Regiment Company D
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The
Walton Guards were formed in Euchee Anna, Florida in March 1861 from men in Walton
and Santa Rosa Counties (Okaloosa County was not yet formed). In April, they
sailed to the Narrows and established Camp Walton near the Indian mounds. Here
these Floridians acted as an independent company guarding the Narrows and East
Pass, keeping it open for shipping to Pensacola. They spent their nights in
shanties the men had built. The Guard would regularly receive supplies, mail and
even visits from their women folk by way of two schooners. A year after their
formation in Euchee Anna, some of the men were taken to East Pass to chase off a
union gunboat. They crossed Joe’s Bayou and ambushed two longboats from the
Federal Gunboat. When the gunboat turned its guns at the small band of men, they
returned to Camp Walton. On April 1, 1862, during roll, these volunteers
received fire from two cannons hiding behind the dunes on the island across the
sound from camp. They retreated for a few weeks as far as Boggy Bayou, and then
returned to Camp Walton. Soon afterward they were sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee
to join the 1st Florida Infantry as Company D. The Walton Guard
joined in time to fight the battle of Perryville, Kentucky in October, suffering
great loss. In November the 1st Florida became part of the Army of
Tennessee, Confederate States Army for the remainder of the war. They became
involved in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee as part of the 1st
and 3rd Florida consolidated. The Walton Guard participated in the
defense of Jackson, Mississippi in July 1863. May through September 1864 brought
many battles involving the Floridians during the Atlanta campaign. Next came the
battles of Franklin, Spring Hill, 2nd Murfreesboro and Nashville,
resulting in mass casualties. Their last battle is that of Bentonville, North
Carolina in an attempt to join the rest of the Confederate Army. The Walton
Guard was paroled at Greensboro, North Carolina on May 1, 1865.