MARSHALL PLANTATION SITELocation:
County: Marion
City: Ocala
Description: A short distance north of here stood the sugar plantation of Jehu Foster Marshall, established in 1855. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Marshall was named a colonel in the Confederate Army and soon commanded one of General Wade Hampton’s infantry units, the 1stSouth Carolina Rifles. Colonel Marshall was killed during the Second Battle of Manassas in August 1862. The plantation continued in operation under the supervision of his widow, Elizabeth Anne DeBruhl Marshall, until March 10, 1865, when Union troops staged a surprise raid. The Marshall Plantation and the sugar mill were burned to the ground. The raid was conducted by elements of the 3rdUnited States Colored Infantry ,led by the black Sergeant Major Henry James. The Ocala Home Guard pursued the Union force and during the running battle, two of the home guard members were killed. After crossing the Ocklawaha River, the raiders set fire to the bridge. Company H, 2nd Florida Cavalry, lead by Captain J.J. Dickison, encamped at nearby Silver Springs, soon gave chase and succeeded in driving the Union troops into St. Augustine, and reclaiming all property seized during the raid.
Sponsors: MARION COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Colonel Jehu Foster Marshall (1817-1862)
Jehu Foster Marshall was born in South Carolina on August 28, 1817. Marshall attended and graduated from South Carolina College in 1837. A man of "acute intelligence, great tact, of affable and cordial address," After the War, he served in the South Carolina legislature from 1848 to 1862.
Col. Marshall was a figure of some prominence in Abbeville. He donated the steeple that crowns the city's Trinity Episcopal Church and possibly two stained glass windows on the front of the church. He was a lawyer who represented Abbeville as a state senator in Columbia. The design of the church was after a
design by Robert Mills who lived in Abbeville.
In the pre-Civil War years he served as a captain in the Mexican-American War, serving in the famed Palmetto Regiment. He is one of only two people buried in the church's gardens (the other being his wife)
Elizabeth Anne DeBruhl Marshall.
Battery Marshall, on the west end of Sullivan's Island in Charleston, was named for him.
In addition to his South Carolina connections, Marshall was owner of a large sugar plantation in Florida. Located in Marion County, near the city of Ocala, this plantation was established in 1855. After Marshal's death, the plantation was run by his widow, Elizabeth Anne DeBruhl Marshall, until Union troops under the command of Sergeant Major Henry James burned it on March 10, 1865. The plantation was the last in Florida to provide sugar to the Confederacy. The plantation is now home to the 2.5 mile Marshall Swamp Trail. He was killed at the Battle of Second Manassas.(Source: http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/markers/markers.cfm?ID=marion and http://hiking.meetup.com/270/calendar/7237927/)
Marshall became the lieutenant colonel of the Rifles on July 20, 1861. He rose to the rank of colonel on January 29, 1862. While leading the regiment against a "furious assault", he was mortally wounded in the fighting at Second Manassas on the day after his 45th birthday. He survived but an hour. He had earned the "highest regard of the brigade" and his loss was considered great. Marshall was buried in Abbeville. (Source: http://www.aphillcsa.com/marshall.html.)
