Zack, I'm sorry to be so slow in responding to your inquiry. There was no "Colonel Duryea." This was a copyist's error somewhere along the line. The actual officer who commanded the troops that took the Apalachicola Arsenal at Chattahoochee was Colonel William Gunn of the 7th Regiment, Florida Militia. He received confidential written orders from Governor Perry on January 5, 1861, and called out the Quincy Young Guards that same night. They took the arsenal the next morning.

I have a full chapter on the seizure in my book, The Early History of Gadsden County, which is available on Amazon.com.

I also have a ton of source material on the arsenal and on the Confederate defense efforts along the Apalachicola and Chattahoochee Rivers. If I can help with something you are researching, just let me know.

I have a page on the arsenal on my website at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/arsenal1. It includes some quotes from the available 1861 documentation on the seizure, but if you need more, just let me know.

Best,
Dale Cox