In the latter days of the Civil War, Union General James H. Wilson raided the soft underbelly of the South on March 22, 1865 with his 13,500-man cavalry corps destroying what little was left of the Confederate's manufacturing facilities. Opposing him was 2,300 southerners under the command of the famous General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Confederate forces were greatly outnumbered and outgunned. The Union troopers were now armed with the new seven-shot repeating rifles versus the old rifled muskets being used by the Confederates.
By April 16, (one week after General Lee's surrender) a brigade from Wilson's forces arrived at West Point, Georgia and approached Fort Tyler, a 35-yard square earthwork located on a hill on the Alabama side of the river. Its walls were four-and-a-half feet high, surrounded by a ditch six to ten feet deep and seven to twelve feet across. The fort was armed with a 32-pounder siege gun and two 12-pounder field pieces. Inside were approximately 247 southern defenders under the command of General Robert Tyler and were comprised of a smattering of Confederates in addition to convalescents and militia that were armed with smooth bore muskets.
Surrounded and unable to return fire, the Confederates were picked off by Union snipers to include General Tyler himself. Upon Tyler's death Pensacolian Captain Celestino Gonzalez (1831-1865) took command before he too was struck down and killed. Federal artillery was also brought to bear as the defenders were running out of ammunition and began throwing rocks. A final charge overpowered the remaining defenders and the fort surrendered. However, prior to the surrender, the last officer in command Captain Parham went to the flagstaff, reached as high as he could, and with his sword severed the rope that could have lowered the twenty-foot silk flag, so as to prevent any surrender. His valiant effort proved fruitless.
The Union casualties was set at seven killed and twenty-nine wounded versus 19 killed and 28 wounded for the southerners. The Confederates who died were interred in the Fort Tyler Cemetery in West Point, Georgia on the east side of the river. Although unconfirmed the Union dead were also buried there as well. It is recognized that General Tyler was the last Confederate general killed in the Civil War.
So, who was this Confederate Captain from Pensacola that gave his life so valiantly in the South's last battle? Celestino was the grandson of a native of Spain, Don Manuel Gonzalez and and Maria Louisa Bonifay who settled in the community of Gonzalez fifteen miles north of Pensacola. His grandfather came to America as a Spanish soldier and remained after his discharge in 1792.
He was also the son of Colonel Celestino Gonzalez (1796-1844) and Pauline Josefa Carlota Graupera (1800-1896). His father was first married in 1818 to Maria De La Rua with one daughter, Maria resulting from this union. On July 3, 1825 his father would marry a second time to Pauline Graupera. His father had also served in the Gonzalez Company, 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade, of the Florida Militia. He was also employed at the Navy Yard in Pensacola as a consulting engineer. He would ride his horse to and from work each day from the family home at Barrancas. Pauline would bear Celestino nine children of which her oldest daughter, Merced, would marry US Navy Lt. Thomas William Brent and bear two sons who would fight for the Confederacy before their return to Pensacola as influential financiers.
As a young boy in 1814, Captain Celestino was working in his father's garden in Gonzalez when General Andrew Jackson rode up and asked his father if his son could guide them to Barrancas. His father, Don Manuel reputedly replied to Jackson, "General, my life and my property are in your power. You can take both. But my honor is in my keeping. As for my son, I would rather plunge a sword into his heart than to see him a traitor to his king." The young boy stayed home!
Captain Celestino would marry Louisa Gee Chapman (1836-1913) from Marianna, Florida in 18576. Married in Pensacola 1857 and was remarried to Charles G. Stacy in 1879 in Mobile, Alabama. Louisa was the daughter of John R. Chapman (1805-1853) and Barbara Ann (1816-1909) from Pensacola. At least two children were born from her union with Captain Gonzalez; Anna May and Robert Chapman Gonzalez (1860-1936).
As the storm clouds of Civil War appeared on the horizon Celestino enlisted as a 1st Lieutenant in Company "H", 1st Florida Infantry Regiment on May 13, 1862. He was promoted to Captain on March 23, 1863 prior to his death at Ft. Tyler in 1865.

The old Celestino Gonzalez Home, Pensacola

Grave of Captain Celestino Gonzalez,
Ft. Tyler Cemetery, West Point, Georgia


CSA Confederate General Robert C. Tyler,
(1832-1865) the last military general killed
in the Civil War at West Point, GA

Mother Pauline Graupera
Gonzalez (1800-1896)

Celestino's daughter Merced Gonzalez (1824-1919)
who married CSA veteran Captain Thomas W. Brent
and gave birth to two CSA veterans Daniel Gonzalez
Brent (1842-1918) and Francis Celestino Brent (1848-1914)
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