stopped the Union force that intended to take Fort Ward and nearby Tallahassee, the only Confederate state capital other than Austin Texas which had not been captured. The Union was not able to land all of its forces, but they still outnumbered the Confederates, who chose to make their stand at a place where the St. Marks River goes underground: the "Natural Bridge" referred to. However, the Confederate Army had over a day to prepare its defenses, and the Union Army retreated. Most of the dead were African-American Union soldiers. 20th century & beyond In Gloria Jahoda's book, The Other Florida, she writes movingly of the extreme poverty of Wakulla County from the early 1900s to 1966, when Wakulla still had no doctor and no dentist, few stores, and a county newspaper produced just once a month on a mimeograph machine. Today, Wakulla has several doctors and dentists, several supermarkets and big-box retailers, a golf resort, and a thriving seafood business. Etymology The name Wakulla is corrupted from Guacara. Guacara is a Spanish phonetic spelling of an original Indian name, and Wakulla is a Muskhogean pronunciation of Guacara. The Spanish Gua is the equivalent of the Creek wa, and as the Creek alphabet does not exhibit an "R" sound, the second element cara would have been pronounced kala by the Creeks. The Creek voiceless "L" is always substituted for the Spanish "R". Thus the word Guacara was pronounced Wakala by the Seminoles who are Muskhogean in their origin and language. Since Wakulla was probably a Timucuan word, it is unlikely that its meaning will ever be known. It may contain the word kala which signified a "spring of water" in some Indian dialects.. It may also be a reference to the Whip-poor-will, known as waxkula in Creek. Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (17.6%) is water. Adjacent counties Leon County - north Liberty County - west Franklin County - southwest Jefferson County - east National protected areas Apalachicola National Forest (part) St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (part) State and local protected areas Ochlockonee River State Park San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park Wakulla Springs State Park Demographics 2020 census As of the 2020 United States census, there were 33,764 people, 11,382 households, and 8,362 families residing in the county. 2000 census As of the census