Although the Confederacy would win some skirmishes after March 6, 1865, the Battle of Natural Bridge in Florida was the last significant Confederate victory, and ensured that Tallahassee would end the Civil War as the only unconquered Confederate state capital east of the Mississippi.
The Confederate defenders consisted of the odds and ends of a few small Confederate military units, elderly volunteers and teenage cadets from the Florida Military and Collegiate Institute. About a thousand all told, this motley, but sturdy, force held the bridge against unimaginative Union assaults for the entire day. The Union expedition, consisting of the 2nd and 99th Union Colored Infantry, sustained 148 casualties to 51 Confederates. They withdrew to the Union fleet at the end of the day from which they had landed, the Union offensive to take Tallahassee ended. Florida State University Army ROTC remembers the cadets who fought there that day with a battle streamer on their flag, one of four Army ROTC programs nationally to have a battle streamer for a Civil War action.
