Reenactment of Battle of Marianna, Florida set for September 24th.



Ely-Criglar Mansion in Marianna

Marianna Day, which features a parade, live music, memorial services and a battle reenactment, will be observed on Saturday, September 24th, in Marianna, Florida.
The city is located along Interstate 10 and U.S. 90 in the Florida Panhandle, 66 miles west of Tallahassee, 133 miles east of Pensacola, 55 miles north of Panama City and 36 miles south of Dothan, Alabama.

The annual Marianna Day event commemorates the Battle of Marianna, a Civil War engagement that culminated the deepest penetration of Confederate Florida by Union troops during the entire Civil War. It was one of the fiercest small battles of the war and involved full speed cavalry charges, a bayonet assault and hand to hand combat.

St. Luke's Church, Scene of Heavy Fighting

The Battle of Marianna took place on September 27, 1864, when a Union column led by Brigadier General Alexander Asboth launched simultaneous frontal and flank attacks on the city, which was defended by the Confederate forces of Colonel Alexander Montgomery. Both commanders had been wounded earlier in the war - Asboth at Pea Ridge and Montgomery at Second Manassas - and many of their men had already fought on some of the largest battlefields of the war. The result was a confrontation unlike any other fought in the Deep South during the entire war. To learn more, please visit www.battleofmarianna.com or consider the book: The Battle of Marianna, Florida: Expanded Edition (also available for Kindle and iBooks download).

The main day of events will begin on Saturday morning (Sept. 24th) was a parade through downtown Marianna. The downtown reenactment will immediately following the end of the parade. Other events planned for the day include memorial services, a fall festival featuring live music at Madison Street Park beginning at noon and a mock battle complete with cannon fire (not a representation of the real battle) at 3 p.m. at Citizens Lodge Park on Caverns Road. A second mock battle will be held at Citizens Lodge Park on Sunday (Sept. 25th) at 3 p.m. Please click here for more information on the weekend's events.