Florence, AL

 June 25th, 1862 was not a day of rest for Nelson's Fourth Division of Buell's Army of the Ohio.  After the previous day's 21-mile march from Bear Creek to Tuscumbia, this day 's mission was to cross the Tennessee River to the occupied city of Florence, Alabama.  They were ferried across the river by the steamer Lady Jackson and two barges, marched the mile to Florence where they met their old friends in General Crittenden's Division under marching orders.*

This picturesque southern town on the northern bank of the shoals area, like it's neighbor to the south, was the site of several skirmishes throughout the war. For the Seventeenth Kentucky, however, it was merely a way-station on their path to yet another unknown destination in their tour of northern Alabama.

Captain Cox, Co.A, 17th Ky provided this description of the town:  "Florence is a beautiful place; but like all other towns in Dixie, it is almost deserted.  There are; however, more citizens here than at any town we have as yet passed through.  The country around us is good and from the number of fine farms one may guess this is a wealthy portion of Alabama."*

Area map illustrating the travels of the 17th Kentucky Infantry in the Army of the Tennessee (dark blue) and the Army of the Ohio (medium blue)  as of June 25, 1862.  Original map courtesy of my Favorite Link  Son of the South.

*Cox, Samuel K., Civil War Diary 1862-1865 of Captain Samuel Kennedy Cox, Courtesy of Daviess County Public Library, Kentucky Room, unpublished manuscript, p.17