1865 – The Battle of Natural Bridge between Union and Confederate troops took place just south of Tallahassee on this date. Brig. Gen. John Newton led a group of soldiers from the 2^nd and 99^th U.S. Colored Infantry and the 2^nd Florida Calvary (Union) against a group of Confederate troops comprised of Florida Military and Collegiate Institute students (Now Florida State University) and soldiers on leave or recovering from injuries as well as other capable men. The outnumbered Confederate forces were able to repel the Union advance, thus keeping Tallahassee as the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi not to fall into Union hands during the American Civil War. The site of the Battle is now part of the Natural Bridge Battlefield Historic Park.