The location of one of the largest and most important battles of the civil war in the state of Florida, the Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic State Park is a reminder of the state?s colorful war history and how events during the war has changed and influenced the current development of the state.

Natural Bridge, the area where the St. Marks river runs underground and emerges only a quarter mile later, is a strategically important location during the Civil War. The area is the site of a battle during the final weeks of the war where a Union Army landed south at Apalachee bay and marched north in order to capture Fort Ward and further to the state capital. The defending confederate forces, composed of regular confederate soldiers with young boys and old men from the Tallahassee area executed a fearsome defense at natural bridge and repelled three union attacks which forced the Union troops to retreat.