By Spessard Stone
All who attended Canter Brown, Jr.'s lecture at the Hardee County Library on April 11, 1995 and anyone interested in the history of our region will be pleased to learn that Brown's Fort Meade 1849-1900 has recently been published. A native of Fort Meade, Brown chronicles the oldest town in interior south Florida from its founding as a military post in 1849 to the end of the nineteenth century. Following the July 1849 Indian attacks on Indian River and the Kennedy-Darling store near now Bowling Green, Gen. David E. Twiggs ordered a chain of military posts, linked by a military road, constructed from the head of navigation on the Manatee River to the Atlantic coast. Lt. George G. Meade toiled for two months in the south Florida swamps and prairies to site the route of the military road, but he found himself in a quandary. Meade's chosen site on the now Kendrick Branch of the Peace conflicted with politically motivated decisions that Twiggs had made regarding the October 1849 construction of Chokonikla, intended as anchor post, which John Darling, the influential Tampa merchant who was co-owner of the Kennedy-Darling trading post, had assured him was north of the Indian boundary. It wasn't. Furthermore, Meade had determined Twigg's Manatee River to Chokonikla route wasn't well-suited.
On December 13, 1849, Lt. Meade received a very pleasant surprise when Gen. Twiggs, upon inspecting the site reversed his previous decisions and confirmed Meade's selection and "caused the fort to be named Fort Meade." In the same month Fort Meade was constructed on a bluff overlooking the Peace River ford and within the crescent of Kendrick's Branch. Civil war buffs will recognize that Lt. Meade is, of course, the future Gen. Meade of Gettsyburg.
Furthermore, under the command of Lt. Ambrose Powell Hill, we learn that forts Clinch and Arbuckle were built.
Brown also recounts the controversial stay of Brevet Major Thomas Jonathan Jackson, who later achieved fame as "Stonewall" Jackson.
The first white settlers included the James W. Whidden family on Whidden Creek below Fort Meade, who had relocated to Alafia during the 1849 Indian trouble. Before October 1851, the family of the brothers Francis M. and John Rufus Durrance became the first permanent settlers near present-day Homeland, with Francis bringing three black slaves. In October 1852, Francis A. and Ardeline Hendry arrived and, after first living in the garrison, settled north of the fort. By March 1853, James Lawrence and Amelia Whidden were living two miles west of the fort. Louis Lanier came some five months later to build east of the fort on the original hospital site. George W. Hendry, brother of Francis, accompanied Lanier.
In December 1854, the fort was abandoned as a nearer post to the Indians was deemed necessary and the garrison of Fort Meade was relocated to Fort Thompson. Then the fort's buildings were sold to John Irving Hooker.
Settlement, thereafter, accelerated. In the Homeland area in 1855 came families, which included: Alderman Carlton, the Durrances, Eli English, John C. Oats and William Parker. East of the Peace River was John L. Skipper. Others in the area included: F. C. M. Boggess, William P. Brooker, John Green, William McCullough, Julius C. Rockner, David Russell, Willoughby Tillis and John Underhill. The Billy Bowlegs War led to many families taking refuge in the buildings at Fort Meade, which were made available by John I. Hooker. The attack of June 14, 1856 by Indians on the Willoughby Tillis family, south of Fort Meade, and the subsequent militia battles with the Indians have been recounted many times, but Canter relates it in the light of a hitherto unfamiliar account.
The election of 1860 found fifty-two men voting at Fort Meade, thirty-eight for the most prominent states' right candidate, John C. Breckenridge, with the other fourteen voting for the moderate pro-Union candidate, John Bell of Tennessee. Secession was publicly opposed by a number of prominent citizens. The 1861 Polk County tax roll listed eleven men owning forty-three slaves, with thirty-six of the total possessed by only five men: Francis M. Durrance (4), Francis A. Hendry (8), John I. Hooker (7), Louis Lanier (9), and John C. Oats (8). Most area pioneer families had little personal connection with slavery, and when war came, they did not rush to join either side in fighting. Volunteers served with the April 1862 organized Company E, Seventh Florida Infantry, C. S. A. while Francis A. Hendry and others drove cattle to Confederate purchasing agents in north Florida and south Georgia. With the repeal of the draft exemption for cattlemen in February 1864, conscription agents forced the undeclared to take sides. Many enlisted in Capt. Francis A. Hendry's Company, but others opted for the Union and enlisted in the Second Florida Cavalry. Prominent among the Union enlistees was William McCullough, who became a first lieutenant and with his Fort Green neighbor, James D. Green, led a raid into Fort Meade on March 21, 1864, fought a brief battle at Bowlegs Creek on April 7, and captured and burned the barracks at Fort Meade on May 19.
Following the war, the sluggish economy received a stimulus when the International Ocean Telegraph Company brought a maintenance depot to Fort Meade in 1867. It also built "the Wire Road," along which developed the heart of the business district. With the revival of the cattle trade to Cuba in 1869-70, Cuban doubloons revitalized the town's finances. Business expansion followed led by Frederick N. Varn, John W. Brandon, James M. Manley, Julius Rockner and Eli English (who later moved to now Wauchula).
The town's professional needs were met with the arrival of engineer John Robeson, physician Charles L. Mitchell (brother of future governor Henry L. Mitchell), and lawyer Hilliard Jones.
1873-74 saw town planning and subdivisions by the Rockners and Sherod E. Roberts. The latter provided for a grave yard that became Evergreen Cemetery.
Religious faith saw in 1869 Methodists meeting in a storehouse, the forerunner of the First United Methodist. Also, the Pleasant Grove Church, east of town, served that congregation.
By 1873 Rev. J. M. Hayman was ministering to local Baptists. In 1874 a Baptist church was organized under layman Solomon Godwin.
Brown also depicts a "train of murderous events." We learn of the December 1875 shooting of Hilliard Jones by Julius Rockner and the latter's July 1876 buckshooting by William W. Willingham. Arthur Keen, the operator of Manley's bar, shot Sam Sherrod.
Students of jurisprudence will be intrigued to learn jurors acquitted Rockner, Keen, and Willingham, the latter to "a perfect roar of cheers for the jury."
1877-81 saw slow, but steady progress, most noticeably evidenced by the May 15, 1878 connection of telegraph lines from Fort Meade to Tampa.
There was also the great hurricane of September 7-10, 1878. Brown informs us that water rose so high at Fort Meade that waters lapped the insulators on telegraph poles strung alongside the bridge which was swept away. Tornadoes struck in early 1879, followed by drought in February and a heavy frost in April.
The Bethel community at Homeland was noted for its Methodist church Bethel, erected in 1875, and its school Bethel Academy. Another aspect of Bethel was the thriving black community, the most prominent being the Rachel Davis family. Most black citizens had departed from the area after the Civil War, but during the 1870's the pattern was reversed in Homeland.
Florida's financial difficulties led to the sale of 4 million acres for $1million to Philadelphia capitalist Hamilton Disston, who then sold half the purchase for $600,000 to Sir Edward J. Reed.
The marketing of the land by Dr. Mitchell and others led to a real estate boom and numerous new arrivals, including Max Reif, Arthur B. Canter, Sterling Canter, and Dr. William L. Weems. The growth led on March 16, 1885 to the incorporation of Fort Meade.
In January 1885, Henry Plant's South Florida Railroad reached Bartow, which led to rapid expansion so that by March 1884 it surpassed Fort Meade in size. The railroad, via a "siding" west of the business district, arrived at Fort Meade in late December 1885 or January 1886. It created dissension by its location, the endeavor of E. E. Skipper, James N. Hooker and F. A. Whitehead to capitalize on it by relocating the business district of town along the tracks and land owned by them two miles southwest as a new Fort Meade, but instead became known as Skippertown. In 1887 a street car company was opened to provide a rail link for mule-drawn cars between the railroad depot at Skippertown and the Fort Meade business area, which led to the demise of the former.
Fort Meade from 1886 to the mid-1890's came an inflow of Englishmen, many of whom were remittance men, who brought a distinct cultural change. Most, however, were striving for the American dream. The most prominent was M. George Darbishire, an engineer, who in the spring of 1887 found phosphate beds in the Peace River.
The exploitation of phosphate commenced in mid-1888 south of Arcadia, and in July 1889 moved south of Fort Meade when the DeSoto Phosphate Company constructed a plant. Abundant phosphate discoveries gave rise to a number of companies which successfully mined the mineral, and, in turn, the business community thrived.
Fort Meade's robust economy attracted new residents, among whom was the first sizeable influx of blacks since their expulsion during the 1860's and 1870's.
The Panic of 1893 led to economic depression, which especially affected farmers, whose declining fertilizer purchases resulted in the classic pattern of boom and bust for the phosphate industry, which further depressed the local businesses.
Mother Nature next unleashed her fury. The last week of December 1894 brought a three-day cold wave, which was followed by an Indian summer. Then struck theGreat Freeze of February 7-9, 1895, with a low of 25 degrees on February 7. While the destruction of most vegetables was self-evident, a false sense of respite overhang the citrus farmers. Inevitably, reality was confronted. E. E. Durrance clarified, "The 'big freeze' [of December 1894] ruined the oranges that were still on the trees and caused the trees to shed their leaves. It turned off warm and rained and after the first cold spell, the sap rose and the trees put out new growth. Then in February, 1895, it put the finishing touch on the trees." Fort Meade drank the cup of poverty. So many departed to seek greener pastures that the town's population in the summer of 1895 numbered only 350, down from a decade before of 2,000.
E. Alonzo Cordery brought new life to the town when in October 1895 he outlined his plan to raise tobacco. Thereafter, Cordery's Cuban Tobacco Growers Company imported Cubans, who set out the first seedbeds in January 1896, with ultimately almost 5,000 pounds of tobacco cured from the first crop. The 1897 season resulted in a 45,000-pound crop. A rival "La Cosmoplita" plantation by local investors had begun operations in October 1896. In February 1898, its enterprise was acknowledged by a visit from the U. S. agriculture secretary, who carried cigars back to the President and his cabinet. The war for Cuban independence resulted in the demise of the local tobacco industry when those Cubans who had not already departed to join the liberation returned home afterwards with the last exodus in April of 1899.
Thus has Fort Meade endured the vicissitudes of its history to rise phoenix-like into today's fair community.
Fort Meade 1849-1900 contains 214 pages, which includes nine chapters, ten appendics, notes, bibliography, index, maps and photographs. It can be ordered for $19.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling, payable to the University of Alabama Press, Box 870380, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0380 or call 1-800-825-9980 for credit card purchases.
This review was originally published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of August 31, 1995.
January 10, 2001