Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park

At Olustee Battlefield, visitors and Civil War reenactors describe orbs and the apparitions of soldiers on the battlefield, especially during reenactments, along with voices heard across the grounds. On February 20, 1864, more than 10,000 Union and Confederate troops fought Florida's largest Civil War battle in the pine forest here, including three regiments of U.S. Colored Troops — the celebrated 54th Massachusetts, the 35th USCT, and the 8th USCT; the battle ended in a Confederate victory and 2,807 combined casualties, with Union losses alone running to roughly a third of the force engaged. The Florida legislature set the ground aside as a memorial in 1899, and it became the state's first historic site in 1912.