By Spessard Stone
Nathan H. DeCoster, a pioneer settler of Charlotte Harbor, was a Union officer, Carpetbagger, cattleman, and horticulturist.
Nathan Henry DeCoster was born in Maine near the Canadian line on August 3, 1837.
During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private on August 21, 1862 in Co. C, 20th Maine Infantry, which soon joined the Army of the Potomac . In December 1862 at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, he was struck on the left shoulder with a piece of shell or other heavy missile and knocked some ten feet. Momentarily stunned, he was soon up and went on with the charge. The next day his shoulder was so bruised it turned black from the shoulder joint to the small of his back. He was sent to the field hospital and then to ward twelve of Lincoln Hospital, Washington, D. C.
He was mustered into the service of the United States as 2nd Lieutenant of Company C, 2nd Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops (USCT) on August 13, 1863 with an order to recruit colored troops; however, shortly after he was assigned there he was taken sick with typhoid fever and pneumonia and was admitted on September 25, 1863 to the Officers Hospital at Georgetown.
Lt. DeCoster was very ill for about six weeks and thereafter his health remained so poor that a surgeon advised him to resign his commission and go home, but upon learning his regiment was being sent to Key West, he secured permission to join it, probably in December 1863. In the tropical climate he recuperated and vowed never to spend another winter in the north.
He later wrote:
"On the 15th day of December, 1863, I left New York for Florida. The weather was very cold. With the heaviest flannels and overcoats I could hardly keep warm. In less than five days we landed in Key West in the midst of birds and flowers.
"The change in that brief period of time was so truly wonderful as to almost delude me with the idea that I was in fairy land, and I at once made up my mind that I would never spend another winter in the regions of snow and ice...
"Two years campaign in the army of the Potomac, together with wounds, chills and fever, typhoid fever, and pneumonia, had, I thought, well nigh ruined my once strong constitution. The doctor of the hospital, after a three months trial of his skill, told me he could do nothing for me and that I had better resign and go home to my friends, as, in his opinion, it would be a long time before I would be fit for service, if I ever was again.
"But on ascertaining my regiment was in Florida, he advised me to join it saying that the climate might benefit me, and so it did. When I arrived in Key West, I could not walk fifty yards without resting. But I soon began to get better.
"The balmy breezes and genial climate did for me what physic had failed to do, and I was soon on duty again and, with the exception of one brief spell of sickness, was on duty until the close of the war."
On June 21, 1864, he was assigned to the command of Co. F, 2nd USCT, to which he was mustered in as 1st Lieutenant on September 26, but was still carried on the rolls of Co. C until officially transferred on January 14, 1865. He was listed as on detached service on the Gulf Coast of Florida from February 18, 1865 until mustered out with his company at Key West on January 5, 1866.
Prior to his discharge, Nathan had decided to stay in Florida. He and three other Union officers, John F. Bartholf, J. E. Bergen, and Henry L. Slayton, petitioned on November 15, 1865 for a grant of 160 acres of the Whiting Reserve at Fort Brooke, but the Secretary of War did not act on their proposal.
Carpetbagger, a contemptuous term, referred to the Northern politicians, usually carrying their belongings in a single carpetbag, who went South to take advantage of unsettled conditions after the Civil War. DeCoster and Bartholf did not in one sense fit the stereotype as they came originally to Florida as military officers, but they stayed on and reaped the political spoils. Therefore, their views on the state are pertinent. The officers collectively found the tropical climate conducive to their health and saw opportunity in the undeveloped resources of the state. They believed the Floridians were generally of a sluggish disposition with no ambition beyond obtaining the mere necessities of life, while a perceptive minority were reaping large fortunes and opposed emigration to maintain the status quo. They further concluded, “Schools and churches are few in number and the consequence is the people generally are in a semi-barbarous state but little better than the Seminoles so recently driven from the soil they now occupy.”
About February 1866, Nathan bought a small schooner, hired four colored men, John Lomans, Joseph Chapman, Richard Hambleton, and Mitchell Harrison, and sailed into Charlotte Harbor where he established a farm at Hickory Bluff . At nearby Fort Winder, about twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Peace River on the west bank, he and John F. Bartholf, with $3,000 capital and money, opened a store, run briefly by Nathan.
On October 24, 1866, Nathan married Emily Malissa Phillips, born 1845 in New York, daughter of George and Mary Phillips. Rev. Osgood E. Herrick officiated at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Key West.
Nathan purchased a steam powered sawmill and set it up on a bluff of hickory trees adjacent to lagoon at Hickory Bluff, where he moved. In 1876 he sold the sawmill to Thomas Williams, who moved it to near Fort Ogden. Nathan also farmed, began the planting of numerous tropical fruits, and ranged some cattle. On January 27, 1867, he registered his mark and brand, sharp in each ear “NHD.” In 1869, he owned 3 horses and 380 cattle, assessed at $1,520, and the sawmill valued at $1,310.
DeCoster, a prominent Republican Carpetbagger, served in a number of positions of trust in Manatee and DeSoto counties. He served as a justice of the peace of Manatee County from 1868 into the 1870s. He was a member of the board of canvassers in 1870. On August 12, 1871, he was appointed Manatee County Judge. He was designated on August 15, 1887 to be a member of the DeSoto Board of Health. He received appointments to two federal positions. On March 29, 1872, he was named postmaster of Charlotte Harbor. In February 1879, he was recommended for the customs inspector post at Charlotte Harbor.
Nathan H. DeCoster died on October 28, 1912 at his home at Harbor View and was buried in Charlotte Harbor Cemetery. Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. A. T. Stephens of the Charlotte Harbor Methodist Church.
Nathan had received a pension from his service, and, on November 28, 1912, Emily M. DeCoster, his widow, applied for a pension under the Act of April 19, 1908. She gave her address as Harbor View, DeSoto County, Florida. Her claim was subsequently approved. Emily died in 1922 and was buried in Charlotte Harbor Cemetery.
Nathan H. and Emily (Phillips) DeCoster had seven children, of whom two died in infancy or early childhood; the other five were:
1. Carrie E. DeCoster, born ca. 1870; died before May 1898.
2. George E. DeCoster, born March 29, 1872; died 1941; married on May 19, 1901 Georgia K. Moseley (1875-1950).
3. Ida May DeCoster, born March 7, 1874; died 1926; married on Sept. 24, 1896 Edgar Daniel Sias (1869-1966).
4. Josephine M. DeCoster, born March 15, 1876; died 1962; married on June 5, 1895 Richard B. McHargue (1866-1932).
5. Nathan Henry DeCoster, born March 2, 1879; died 1951.
Personal information from pension application of Nathan H. DeCoster, May 4, 1898
Nathan H. DeCoster (with beard) and grandchildren, 1910, p. 59, Williams & Cleveland, Our Fascinating Past Charlotte Harbor: The Early Years
References: Pension application of DeCosters; The Fort Myers Press, September 12, 1885.Canter Brown, Jr.; Lindsey Williams and U. S. Cleveland, Our Fascinating Past Charlotte Harbor: The Early Years, 1993; South Florida Pioneers; DeSoto County Web Site.
This profile was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.) of March 1, 2001 as "Nathan H. DeCoster - Charlotte Harbor Carpetbagger."
March 1, 2001, Oct. 17, 2001, June 19, 2004, Nov. 26, 2007