I learned yesterday of an interesting post-war skirmish in eastern Walton County.

Accorded to handed down stories from participants, the event took place near Seven Runs Creek in eastern Walton County during the months following the end of the war.

A group of "raiders" (Confederate deserters/outlaws who raided area homes and farms) continued to operate in the area despite the end of the war. Local Confederate veterans, who had returned home following the surrenders, organized themselves into a pseudo-company and moved to attack the outlaws. Surrounding the raider camp during the night, the former Confederates attacked them using lightwood knots as clubs since few of them had firearms. The camp was destroyed and a number of the raiders killed. The leader of the gang tried to escape by running, but was shot down and his body was seen floating away in the Choctawhatchee River.

Although I've never seen documentation on this encounter, several similar such episodes were recorded in the area immediately following the war. Correspondence from the time verifies that a similar but less violent episode took place at Campbellton in nearby Jackson County during the summer of 1865 when local citizens stood up to a raider gang. A number of gangs are known to have operated in the eastern Walton County area, primarily the groups led by Jim Ward and A. Hutto.

Dale Cox