By Spessard Stone
This article was published in The Sunland Tribune of November 1996, pages 55-62.
Despite recent scholarship, the legend of a Solid South persists among many descendants of pioneer families of South Florida, who express amazement or denial when confronted with Union ancestry. The Lower Peace River Valley, below Fort Meade and encompassing present-day Hardee County, was a region with an inordinate Union allegiance.
The settlement of eastern Manatee County, now Hardee County, commenced in the fall of 1854. By April 1861, when the Civil War began, the region was populated largely by yeoman farmers,few of whom had slaves. Many had served in federalized companies during the Seminole wars and had a strong attachment to the national government. Most, however, appeared just not to want to be involved and "layed out" to tend their farms and cattle. Cattlemen, furthermore, had a financial incentive as the union garrison at Fort Myers paid in gold, not worthless Confederate paper money. This state would be tried with the conscription acts of 1862, tested in the interval by actions of local Confederate agents, and end with the conscription act of February 17, 1864.(1)
Some early citizens openly and warmly supported the Confederacy in the war's early stages. When the Bartow organized Company E, 7th Florida Infantry, C.S.A. was mustered in April 1862, lower Peace River enlistees included: David Brannon, brothers Reuben Carlton and Wright Carlton, James M. Hendry brothers William J. Hooker and Stephen P. Hooker, Lewis H. Parker, brothers William C. Platt and David H. Platt, E. W. Thompson, brothers Maxwell Whidden and John W. Whidden; brothers John A., James W. and Nathan Williams. William N. Hair enlisted on May 14, 1862 in Company E, 8th Florida Infantry, C.S.A.(2)
Others took the opposite path. For example, on December 2, 1863, Enoch Daniel of the Charlotte Harbor area disembarked at Key West where he proceeded to engage in talks with federal officers to raise a volunteer force among refugees to conquer the country between Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay, a supplying area of beef cattle for the Confederate Army. General Daniel P. Woodbury was receptive and on December 14 informed the Federal commander at New Orleans that rebel army deserters and conscription evaders hiding in the woods between Charlotte Harbor and Lake Okeechobee were estimated from 200 to 800, many of whom would join if a military post was established in the area. He hence established the Florida Rangers with nineteen refugees in Key West.(3)
Soon the Union men were back on the mainland. On December 17, a slightly supplemented troop under Lt. James F. Meyers of the 47th Pennsylvania, with Enoch Daniel as guide, proceeded to Useppa Island. Daniel with fifteen men thereafter moved inland to the Myakka River and Horse Creek, with a dispatch of four of the men to Fort Hartsuff. The mission was thwarted when six Rangers deserted and guided a Confederate attack which forced the Rangers to retreat offshore.(4)
Union authorities were not dissuaded by the setback. On January 5, 1864, Gen. Woodbury was authorized to commission Henry A. Crane, then serving in the U.S. Navy and former publisher of the Tampa Herald and editor of the Florida Peninsular, as captain of the Second Florida Cavalry, heretofore the Florida Rangers. With the occupation of Fort Myers on January 10, the forcible removal of all inhabitants to the north side of the Peace River, and repeal of the draft exemption for cattlemen on February 17, 1864, union activity in the region intensified.(5)
The enlistment of two prominent men, William McCullough and James D. Green, signified the changing of the status quo. McCullough, a veteran of the Seminole wars, had lived southwest of Fort Meade, but had laid out to avoid conscription before finally seeking refuge in Key West. On February 22, 1864, he was enlisted by Capt. Crane as 1st lieutenant of Company A, Second Florida Cavalry. Green, whose home site in 1856 had become known as Fort Green, was another veteran of the Seminole wars, and the political leader of eastern Manatee County. He, subsequently, became 1st lieutenant and captain of Company B, Second Florida Cavalry.(6)
The new volunteers brought helpful information to Union officers. Green and William McClenithan of Fort Meade, on arriving at Fort Myers on March 10, 1864, informed Capt. Crane "That since the battle near Lake City, & great loss of provisions the Confederates were compelled to have cattle, and had stored supplies for that purpose at that point (Ft. Meade). That the forces or most of them had been ordered to Gainesville." In response on March 13, Crane dispatched troops led by Green to Fort Meade where on March 21 they proceeded to the homesteads of Confederates Willoughby Tillis and Thomas Underhill where at the former they confiscated supplies and at the latter killed Thomas Underhill.(7)
A second raid with over 100 men was ordered by Capt. Crane, in which he in part instructed Actg. Lt. Green: "Let your whole energies be exerted to Capture (or kill if necessary)--Tillis, Parker, Henry, Summerlin, Durrance, Tillman, Boggess, Seward, as these are the leaders of the Guerillas -- this being done, South Florida is ours...To those families who may wish to accompany you, advise them one & all to remain at home...I cannot tax our government further in receiving families...At Ft Meade you will know from our spies the true state of affairs in Tampa.--Old Capt. Mizzell will meet you there, & if he thinks you strong enough, move upon that point & capture it." On April 7 at Bowlegs Creek, Green and McCullough's troops skirmished with James McKay, Jr.'s forces, killing Confederates James Lanier and wounding Henry Prine, but the Union's drive to Fort Meade was checked. The departing Second Florida proceeded to the Willoughby Tillis' place where they seized supplies and then burned his homestead.(8)
Green and McCullough's commands, thereafter, participated in the May 6-7 occupation of Tampa. The Confederate response to the Fort Meade incursions had been an order on May 11 to "drive the deserters and tories before you." Receiving intelligence of the mistreatment of Union families and to secure beef cattle, Capt. J. W. Childs of the 2nd U.S.C.T., with the advice of Capt. Crane and Capt. Green, ordered an attack at Fort Meade. A 212-man troop, with Capt. Green commanding 100 men of Co. A and the others colored troops of companies D, G and I, crossed the Caloosahatchee River on May 14. After avoiding an ambuscade by crossing Peace River below the mouth of Bowlegs Creek, Capt. Green with fifty men went in advance and took possession of the fort without meeting any resistance on May 19. Sixty mounted Confederates an hour later presented themselves, but retreated. After seizing considerable forage and supplies and destroying the barracks, the Second Florida left. Accompanying them included seven prisoners of war, seventy women and children, and over one thousand head of beef cattle. They returned to Fort Myers on May 27.(9)
Capt. Crane triumphantly noted:
"The intelligence from the interior is that the Rebs to the number of 150 are stationed near the Alafia River, having fallen back 25 miles from their former position, leaving all south of that River to our paternal care & affection. Small squads occasionally make raids towards us a few miles, and secure any one, whether friend or foe, for their special malediction. The last one was the person of the notorious 'Jake Summerlin' the great cow-driver, Indian agent &c, & one who has done more for the confederates, & more injury to us, than any other in his position. They have actually driven him from his home, and threatened death & destruction to his family. This is as I would have it, & the poison works finely. Driven to desperation he will come to us.
"Another case is that of old Mr. Carlton, who drove his sons in the Rebel Army, with shouts of exultation. The Rebs have we hear, carried him off in Irons northward. One of his sons at home on furlough, seeing his father treated thus, came to us & I have the pleasure to-day of seeing him bear arms directly under our glorious old 'Banner.' The Florida Cavalry are respected even by their bitterest enemy. To-day I shook hands with a man, who offered a $1,000, for a horse to meet me in battle, at Tampa last December -- his name is John Collier; he enters as a Soldier, under his old flag. In the ranks of our guard to-day stands the greatest Guerilla extant, 'Frank Ivey' the despoiler of the whole Eastern Coast of Florida -- he is obedient, & I expect to make him a corporal.-- I feel an inward exquisite satisfaction in all this, without the smallest spark of resentment."(10)
J. J. Addison, sheriff of Manatee County, in July 1864 reported, "there is over half the Tax payers of this County gone to the Yankees and left no agent behind...one of our County Commissioners has gone to the Yankees two of the authers taken and Prisiners and disqualified from doing any business...we are in quite a critical situation in this County we dont know what day or hour the Tories will be on us and destroy all we got..I think it would be a good idie for the Governor to appoint another County Commissioner in Jesse Alderman place." In March 1865, Addison bemoaned "the Yankees & Tories are strolling around trying to capture all level officers."(11)
Elected to the Manatee County Commission on November 9, 1863 were L. P. Johnson, John Henry Hollingsworth, Jesse Alderman of Fort Green and Henry Langford of Fort Hartsuff. Alderman and Langford deserted to the Union while Hollingsworth was believed to have been captured but later managed to resume his office.(12)
An atypical pro-Union man was William Alderman who had moved to Manatee County in the early 1860s and after enactment of the Conscription Act of 1862 had laid out in the back country to avoid the Confederate agents. But in February 1863 he accepted the Manatee County Commission's appointment as agent to purchase supplies for the aid of Confederate families whose husbands were away at war. Then he enlisted in Capt. John T. Lesley's Company B, First Florida Cow Cavalry. Later he supplied beef cattle and hunted deer for the Union garrison at Fort Myers.(13)
More prevalent were the anti-secessionists of Fort Meade F. C. M. Boggess, Francis A. Hendry, John Levi Skipper, and Jacob Summerlin. Skipper "was opposed to secession and voted against secession and did not voluntarily aid, abet or engage in the rebellion." Yet he and the others ultimately gave their allegiance to the Confederacy. Summerlin was a contract beef supplier to the Confederates and, as did Boggess and Skipper, served in Company A, First Florida Cow Cavalry, captained by Hendry who previously had served in the Confederate Commissary Department.(14)
Those enlisting in the Second Florida from December 1863 to March 1865 included from Fort Meade: Thomas J. Hilliard,Francis A. Ivey, William McClenithan Sr. and sons Tobias, William, Jr. and Norman. Fort Green area enrollees included: James M. Hendry and his brothers, Charles Hendry and Robert C. Hendry, and their cousin, Archibald W. Hendry. Fort Hartsuff enlisted: David J. W. Boney; brothers Calvin C. and John Collier, Jr.; brothers William M. and Dempsey D. Crews, Jr.; brothers William N. and Streety A. Hair; Berryan Summerall; Edward Whidden; John L. Whidden; Maxwell Whidden and his brothers Jesse Whidden, James E. Whidden and William Whidden; Wade Hampton Whidden and his sons Charles H., David D., Dempsey N. and John H. From Troublesome Creek came Reuben Carlton and his brother Albert Carlton, and from now Brownville: Simeon B. Williams. Lily was represented by: brothers George W. and James A. Albritton; and the Platt brothers: John W. Platt, Joshua A., Lewis B., and Nathan C., and at Horse Creek: George C. Mizell, brothers Henry and Riley Sumeralls, and Thomas L. Thigpin.(15)
After May 1864, the Union forces redirected their energies to raids at Brooksville in July and Manatee in August. Illness and then internal dissension developed between the white refugee families and colored troops. Meanwhile, the cow cavalry had reasserted the authority of the Confederates in the Peace River Valley. The emboldened Confederates subsequently on February 20, 1865 launched an attack on Fort Myers, which was repulsed.Thereafter, a holding order prevailed until the South's surrender.(16)
(1) Canter Brown, Jr., Florida's Peace River Frontier, 1991, pp. 103, 138, 152, 161; Park DeVane, "Civil War Enlistments, DeVane's Early Florida History, Volume II, 1979; U.S. Original Census Schedules, 8th Census 1860, Manatee County, Florida.
(2)
(3) Samuel Proctor, editor, Florida A Hundred Years Ago, 1963.
(4) Ibid; Brown, pp. 158-159.
(5) Proctor; Brown, p. 159; Crane, Feb. 24, 1864, Dept. and Dist. of Key West, 1861-68, RG 393, NA.
(6) Spessard Stone, "Profile of William McCullough," The Herald-Advocate, March 1, 1990, and "Capt. James D. Green, South Florida Unionist," Sunland Tribune 28 (November 1992) 25-28.
(7) Crane to Bowers, March 16, 1864, Dept. and Dist. of Key West, 1861-68, RG 393, NA; Brown, pp. 162-163.
(8) Crane to Green, April 2, 1864; Crane to Bowers, April 13, 1864; Brown, pp. 162-165. The Fort Meade men included: Willoughby Tillis, Streaty Parker, Francis A. Hendry, Jacob Summerlin, Francis M. Durrance, F. C. M. Boggess.
(9) Childs to Bowers, May 27, 1864; Brown, pp. 166-169.
(10) Crane to Woodbury, June 18, 1864; Brown, p. 169; Stone, Lineage of John Carlton. "Old Mr. Carlton" was Daniel Wilson Carlton (1823-1891) of Troublesome Creek whose family was illustrative of the changing status of the war. His sons Reuben (1842-1917) and Wright (1843-1929) served in Co. E, 7th Fla., CSA. It was Reuben, home on furlough, who enlisted in Co. B, 2nd Fla. Cav. Wright served in Co. E until captured Dec. 16, 1864 at Nashville and was a prisoner of war until released in June 1865. Albert Carlton (1845-1925), Daniel's third son, also served in Co. B, 2nd Fla. Cav. (Doyle E. Carlton, son of Albert, served as Governor of Florida from 1929-33.) Martha Jane Carlton, Daniel's daughter, was married to James E. Whidden, another enlistee in Co. B, 2nd Fla. Cav. Daniel's brothers- in-law, Eli English and Stephen P. Hooker, respectively, served in Capt. F. A. Hendry's Co. A and Co. E, 7th Fla., CSA.
(11) Addison to Gwynn, July 5, 1864 and March 20, 1865.
(12) Richard Livingston, "Jesse Alderman 1826-1908"; Kyle VanLandingham, "John Henry Hollingsworth 1822-1894," respectively, South Florida Pioneers 31/32 (Jan./Apr. 1982), pp. 21-23; # 6 (October 1975),
pp. 5-7; Historical Records Survey, Roster of Commissioned Officers, p. 212; Brown, p. 400.
(13) Kyle S. VanLandingham, "William Alderman 1838-1893," South Florida Pioneers 4 (April 1975), pp. 2-4 and 6 (October 1975), p. 8; David W. Hartman, compiler, David Coles, Associate Compiler, Biographical Rosters of Florida's Confederate and Union Soldiers 1861-1865, Volume V, pp. 2020, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1995.
(15) Hartman and Coles, pp. 1782-1806, 2032, 2066; U.S. Original Census Schedules, 8th Census 1860, Hillsborough & Manatee counties; Livingston, "John Platt 1793-1874, South Florida Pioneers29/30 (July/Oct. 1981), pp. 19-21, & "Willoughby Whidden 1799-1861," South Florida Pioneers11 (January 1977), pp. 8-11. John W. Platt (1833-1920) was a son of John Platt of Lily. Hartman & Coles, p. 1797, list John W. Platt's father as 1st Lt.; in fact, John W., the son, was the officer. Henry, Riley and Berryan "Sumroles" enlisted May 27, 1864 in Co. B, 2nd Fla. Cav. and deserted June 20, 1864. Henry and Riley then served in Company B, First Florida Cow Cavalry. The family of Willoughby Whidden was a family with divided loyalties. Sons, Maxwell and John W., and son-in-law, E. W. Thompson, served in Co. E, 7th Fla., while Maxwell also served in the Second Florida Cavalry, as did his brothers, Jesse, James E., and William. Son-in-law, James D. Green, was an officer in the Second Florida Cavalry. Son-in-law, Henry Langford, reportedly served in the Cow Cavalry, but was also the Manatee commissioner who deserted.
(16) Brown, pp. 170-175.
January 21, 2001