The Battle of Newton was a minor skirmish that took place in the small town of Newton, Alabama, on 14 March 1865, during the final days of the U.S. Civil War. It was fought between local Home Guard troops and elements of the 1st Florida Cavalry (US), who had invaded the Wiregrass region of Alabama. This operation had not been approved by Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding Union forces in Pensacola, Florida, and was in fact a violation of Ashboth's operational order.
The Federals were led by Second Lieutenant Joseph Sanders, a former captain in the Confederate Army who had switched sides and joined the Union Army. The Floridians intended to burn the Dale Countycourthouse, which was then located in Newton, just as other Union irregulars had done in nearby counties. However, their movement toward the town was detected by local citizens, and they were ambushed and routed on the town square by the home guard before they could do any damage. Sanders reported three dead and five wounded, while no casualties were reported among the home guard troops.
Background
An area of low population and minuscule economic importance in Antebellum Alabama, Dale County had been relegated to the status of a backwater during the Civil War era, largely neglected by the state government in Montgomery. Mostly covered by pine forest and with few big farms or plantations, the area proved an attractive gathering place for Confederate deserters, as well as Southern Unionists who had been harassed or worse by their "Secessh" neighbors. These "bushwackers", as they were called, hid out in the forests of Dale and adjacent counties, sometimes seeking aid and supplies from Federal forces in Pensacola. More often than not, however, they simply seized them from the largely-defenseless locals.
One "bushwacker" leader was Joseph G. Sanders, a millwright and resident of Dale County who had first served as a private in the 31st Georgia Infantry before being elected captain of Company C in that regiment. In 1864 Sanders had resigned his commission; facing the possibility of being drafted to fight for the South as a private, he chose to go over to the Union side, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned to Company F, 1st Regiment of Florida Cavalry (US). Sanders' outfit attracted not just Confederate deserters and local Unionists, but also outright criminals and other less-than-desirable elements as well.
In the late winter of 1865, Brigadier General Alexander Asboth, commanding Federal forces in the Florida Panhandle, ordered Sanders to make a raid into Washington County, Florida His main mission was to raise recruits for the Federal Army at East Pass on Santa Rosa Island, as well as to "confiscate" horses and cattle belonging to "Rebels" in that area of Florida.
Instead of carrying out his orders, however, Sanders and his men made their way into the Forks of the Creek swamp near Campbellton, where they waited for a chance to attack Newton and burn the courthouse there. This courthouse contained records of Sanders' previous service with the Confederate Army. The courthouse at Elba in adjacent Coffee County had already been torched by bushwackers under the leadership of "Speckled" John Ward, and Sanders hoped to repeat their escapade in Newton. Accordingly, he set out for there on the night of 14 March 1865. Newton was also the location of the local Confederate conscription office, staffed at the time by Captain Joseph Breare, a former officer with the 15th Alabama Infantry who had been wounded at Gettysburg and returned home to lead efforts against local draft-dodgers and deserters. This made it an even more tempting target for Sanders, who was seen as a traitor by the citizens of Dale County.
Battle
Unbeknownst to Sanders, he and his men had been spotted on the roads leading toward Newton, and their probable destination had been guessed. Jesse Carmichael, a veteran of the 15th Alabama who had served as a corporal and lost a hand at Antietam, was notified by his father of Sanders' impending arrival in Newton that night, and he in turn hastened to warn the town. As the citizens formed up to defend their village, Carmichael and another wounded veteran of the 15th, John McEntyre, rode some distance outside of town, to provide an early warning of Sanders' arrival. Spotting Sanders at the head of a mounted company of 44 men, Carmichael quickly rode back to Newton, where he led his neighbors to an ambush site he had chosen near a spring a mile east of town. He now headed out on another reconnaissance mission, after which these men abandoned the ambush site and returned to Newton, fearful for the safety of their families.