Dale Cox has recently authored a book on The Battle of Natural Bridge: The Confederate Defense of Tallahassee, Florida that is more or less a companion piece to his West Florida War, about the Battle of Marianna. In a cooperative effort with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection/Division of Recreation & Parks' Citizen Support Organization for the Natural Bridge Historical Park, the Natural Bridge Historical Society (NBHS), copies of both books are to be offered for sale at the upcoming reenactment at the Historic Park site east of Woodville in southern Leon County. Encampment of reenactors will begin on March 2d and the authentic camps will be open to the public on March 3d starting at 10:00 a.m. A memorial service will begin at 1:30 p.m., this year's featured speaker being Dale Cox. The reenactment of the battle will begin at 2:30 p.m. As long as they last, copies of these books will be available at the Natural Bridge Historical Society tent, as well as food, beverages, T-shirts and NBHS membership applications . Mr. Cox will also be available to autograph books. These books are in spiral bound 8 1/2 x 11 inch photocopied format and are for sale at a price of $25.00. A substantial portion of the proceeds from both books sold at the reenactment is being contributed to the NBHS to assist in efforts to support, promote and improve the Park... one of the greatest of which would be to acquire more of the battlefield. The existing Historic Park includes only a small portion of the area of the Confederate lines on the west side of the Natural Bridge. No part of the Union lines on the east side of the St. Marks River is currently within the Historic Park. While acquisition of additional Park land may at this point be more of a hope and a dream than a an actual plan... you've got to start somewhere. About the book, Mr. Cox has said: "On the Confederate side a number of soldiers from Jackson County took part in the battle, along with men and boys from Gadsden, Leon, Madison, Jefferson, Franklin, etc. A number of men from the area also fought on the Union side, as did two full regiments of African American troops. Basically the book covers in detail the events leading up to, during and following the Battle of Natural Bridge. The format is very similar to the "West Florida War" and the narrative relies heavily on eyewitness accounts of the engagement. It presents evidence that Tallahassee was Newton's objective all along (despite his later claims to the contrary) and it offers a reassessment of the closing phases of the battle." For those unable to attend, copies of both books can also be acquired by mail from Mr. Cox at: Dale Cox 111 Sheila Dr., Q-51 Dothan, AL 36301 The same portion of proceeds from sale of the The Battle of Natural Bridge will go to support improvements to the Historic Park if the book is purchased directly from Mr. Cox by mail. You can learn more about the battle and the Historical Park at the NBHS web site: http://pone.com/nb/index.htm and at the DEP website which changes URLs every few months, but for the time being can be seen at: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district1/naturalbridge/index.asp Richard White, Vice President Natural Bridge Historical Society -- <cid:[email protected]>