The Ghost Patrol

A Civil War skirmish somewhere in Okaloosa Country may be the reason a ghostly patrol has been seen by hunters on the Yellow River just below the Alabama/Florida line. During the war military patrols of the Confederate and Union armies scouted the area from the Alabama line to the Gulf. The Walton Guards were stationed at East Pass watching for Federal blockade schooners. Federal troops on board the U.S.S. Charlotte and U.S.S. Marie Wood would forage the nearby farms for food. Confederate cavalry were sent out to study enemy troop movements. One of the skirmishes that took place left several Union soldiers dead. They were buried in Old Bethel Cemetery near the Old Griffith Ferry on the Yellow River just east of Crestview. The graves are marked with small squares of stone lined up in military fashion but they have no names. According to people who live there these are the graves of Union soldiers but that is the only known identification.

In the area, however, hunters have seen a "gimlet eyed officer leading a patrol of men" across a curve of the Yellow River in the dark of the night. Nearby is a tree with a message carved in it. The tree once stood in the middle of the Blackwater River but that river has since changed its course. On the tree is carved CSA, a spur and rowell, an arrow pointing southeast and a gun. One can only speculate as to whether it was carved during the war or later or what is the meaning of the message? For some it marks the route of the Ghost Patrol.