Taylor County History
By June Parker McLeod
The area now known as Taylor County was made up of large swamplands and stands of virgin timber. Its deep swamps, rivers and sloughs were mostly unexplored during the struggles of France, Spain and England as they tried to gain the Florida peninsula.
It is believed that Panfila de Narvaez, a Spaniard, led a group of 300 men northward through here in 1528. Narvaez was thought to be headed for St. Marks in search of gold.
Hernando deSoto was the next notable explorer to find this area. He supposedly passed through the northern part of the county I 1539.
The Timucuan Indians inhabited the land for many centuries along the rivers and costal scamps. Jacques Le Moyne describes the Timucuan as being very tall, well made and “spectacularly tattooed.” In 1972 a skeleton of a Timucuan Indian was found measuring almost six feet. This skeleton was found as the mission site of San Pedro de Potohiriba, about 20 miles north of Perry. The Timucuan usually lived in small stockade towns with dwellings that were circular made of poles, clay and thatched palmetto leaves. Sometimes there was a large “townhouse” for public gatherings. The Timucuan Indians usually were agricultural and also hunters. An important part of their diet was oysters, wild fruit, fish and bread. The clan system existed among the Timucuan. There was warfare with other tribes and scalping and mutilation of the dead was practices.
The Spanish made efforts to convert the natives to the Catholis faith. They were able to establish a peaceful relationship with the Timucuans during the Spanish possession of Florida. There were two small missions established one near the mouth of the Fenholloway River, and the other at the north end of San Pedro Bay in Madison County.
According to W. T. Cash, Florida’s first State Librarian, a mission was probably established near the Thomas Mill shoals on the lower Fenholloway River during the first Spanish period and Thomas Mill Hammock, a fertile track of land about one and three fourth mile to the southwest was cultivated by the Spaniards or the Indians under Spanish supervision. The Spaniards during their first occupation opened a road from St. Augustine to Apalachee by way of Alachua district, crossing the Suwannee River above present day Old Town, the Steinhatchee near the falls, and the Fenholloway near Thomas Mill Shoals. Prior to 1840, mills were erected at the Thomas Mill shoals at a point where the Fenholloway is separated by an island into two parts, the right or western stream usually having an approximately two foot fall, except during high water. The name Thomas Mill probably came from Don Thomas Mendez Marquez who owned large herds of cattle along the lower Suwannee River before 1700. The name “Tomas” means Thomas in English and he probably erected the “Thomas Old Mil.”
England gained control of this land in 1762 and when the Spanish left the Timucuans went with them. Their numbers had already declined because of diseases and attacks from Creek Indians armed with English guns.
The peninsula was divided into East and West Florida during the English control. Florida had no involvement in the American Revolution and England had almost no development during their possession. When Florida was ceded back to Spain in 1784 the few colonists in the peninsula were allowed eight months to leave.
During the second Spanish occupation, the land lay empty except for the troops in the Spanish garrisons. Two small colonies of farmers from the Mediterranean countries settled on the upper east coast. The Spanish government offered resident of nearby states land grants. No families came to this area and the Seminole Indians began to come from Georgia.
Florida became an American territory in 1821 after negotiations with Spain. A territorial capital was built in Tallahassee and East and West Florida were united. There was a gradual migration of settlers into this area finding the wilderness little changed from that found by the earlier explorers.
Conflict arose between the white settlers and the Seminoles. In 1818, while Spain and the United States were negotiating for the territory, Andrew Jackson was sent into Florida to punish the Seminoles for their raids against the settlers and Indian tribes in neighboring states. In Taylor County, the only encounter between Jackson’s forces and the Seminoles was near Natural Bridge on the Econfina River.
General William McIntosh, a half-breed Creek, was one of Jackson’s most capable subordinates. He was the first to make contact with the Seminoles along the Econfina near Natural Bridge. McIntosh said he heard that Peter McQueen, leader of the Seminoles, was near the road he was traveling and McIntosh and his warriors fought McQueen for about three hours. McIntosh killed about 37 Indians, took 98 women and children and six men prisoners, and about seven hundred head of cattle and a number of horses, many hogs and some corn. McIntosh lost 3 people and had five wounded. Jackson’s invasion into Florida to punish the Seminoles is known as the first Seminole War. Partly because of Jackson’s action Florida became a U.S. Territory in 1821.
The dense hammocks of Taylor County were a favorite hideout for the Seminole Indians during the Second Seminole War. The small waterways, sloughs, and high spots of the Fenholloway, Econfina, and the Steinhatchee provided sanctuaries for the Seminoles trying to escape the U. S. regulars. The Indians were not often found after the army slashed for days through the hammocks but Indian camp sites and villages were found.
From 1835 to 1842 Taylor was commander of all United States forces in northwest Florida and instituted a campaign that help make the land safe for the settlers. General Zachary Taylor, came to Florida in 1837 to assume command after several commander’s performances were not popular with early settlers in Jefferson and Madison counties.
General Zachary Taylor in 1839, discovered a large camp of about 120 Indians in a large hammock between the Econfina and the Fenholloway. Taylor said that although all the effects of the Indians were in sight when the troops entered the site, all had escaped because of the dense cover. Taylor recommended the building of garrisons or small forts, to protect settlers and to discourage more Indians from taking refuge in the dense hammocks.
Five forts were built along the Fenholloway, Econfina, and the Steinhatchee. Fort Andrews was built near a large hammock on the Fenholloway and manned by 20 U. S. regulars. It was constructed March 2, 1839 and abandoned June 6, 1840. Brisk action occurred in 1839 where 17 men were garrisoned there and were attacked by Indians. Another fort, Fort Frank Brook, was erected near the mouth of the Stainhatchee, probably near the falls, in November 1839 and abandoned June 1840. Fort Mitchell was built on the left bank of the south branch of the Fenholloway on February 2, 1840 and abandoned May 28, 1840. Fort Hulbert was seventeen miles northwest of Fort Frank Brook and on or near the Fenholloway River and was constructed February 2, 1840 and abandoned June 13 1840. The last of the five forts listed was Fort Pleasant about two miles down from the present town of Shady Grove. Colonel John Garrison, one of Florida’s most active Indian fighters, led 125 men in 1841 to find the Seminoles hiding in nearby hammocks. Because of its nearness to Seminole sanctuaries, Fort Pleasant figured prominently as a post throughout most of the war. The fort was under siege as one time during its existence. Several persons stationed as these forts died of disease or were killed, twenty at Fort Pleasant, four at Fort Andrew. Indians killed two at Fort Pleasant, and one at Fort Andrew died from wounds received. A guard shot one at Fort Andrew and all others died of disease.
In 1841, Major Wilson, from Tallahassee, led some U. S. regulars and some Florida Volunteers on a mission to search and destroy the Indians. None were sighted but they saw abundant signs indicating that the Indians had been in the area for some time.
Colonel Bailey led a group of Florida Volunteers in search of Seminoles Hammock and discovered three Indian villages burned and it is thought that about 100 Indians fled before Bailey’s arrival. The only Indian sighted by Bailey was one who tried to escape in a canoe and he jumped out of the canoe and hid in the lily pads when fired upon. He was later captured.
Deadman’s Bay was a well-known spot to many U. S. troops and local militia serving in Florida during the Second Seminole War. Mixed bands of Seminole and Creek Indians came to fine oysters and fish and escape the patrols.
Mad Tiger and Alligator Chief were two of the most elusive and militant Mickasukie chiefs. Even after many of the bravest and most famous Seminole chiefs and sub-chiefs surrendered and were transported to Indian Territory the two chiefs continued to fight. Even after General Worth declared an official end to the Second Seminole War in 1842, Alligator Chief was still at large. Later, he joined Billy Bowlegs in the Third Seminole War which lasted until statehood. Mad Tiger was thought to have come from Fort Fanning in 1841 with a small group of warriors to give up, but was later moved to a hammock in Taylor County near the burned-out Fort Andrews to await transfer and fled. He continued to raze white homesteads, making everyone wonder where he would strike next. After General Worth offered a $300.00 reward for every chief, Mad Tiger finally surrendered.
General Zachary Taylor, in 1839, sent four companies of infantry to Deadman’s Bay to establish a camp. He gave orders to erect defenses and storehouses and to start building a road that would begin near the vicinity of the Steinhatchee River, and link up with The Bellamy Road built along the original Spanish Trail. Deadman’s Bay remained a scene for action and a strategic spot throughout the seven years of the Second Seminole War.
After the seven years of the Second Seminole War, the Seminoles were removed in 1842 to Oklahoma, except for the ones who escaped into the Florida Everglades, where their descendants remain today. With the Seminole conflict ended, there was an increase in migration of pioneers. The gradual southward movement brought English, Scottish and Irish descent into the eara with a speech and culture that remains part of our inheritance.
As settlers came into present day Taylor County they lived on the land for a time before actually buying. It is thought they wanted time to pick and choose or it was difficult to get money for the necessary entry fees. Many of the early people were farmers. Before the end of 1844, according to W. T. Cash, the settlers began moving into the area.
Simeon Smith, according to Cash, acquired about 2,000 acres of land six miles south of the present Hampton Springs in 1839. He seems to have let it go for taxes, for his name does not appear on the Taylor county tax rolls. On June 16, 1845, Mary Sever bought land west of the present site of Eridu and south of the present Madison County line. This was probably the first land entry by a settler. All of the early land entries by settlers were just south of the present northern Taylor County line. Cash states that between Mary Sever’s entry and 1850, Silas Overstreet, Bryant Sheffield, Cornelius English, Mary Overstreet, James Wallace and William H. Sever bought land.
Cash writes that some settlers moved to present day Taylor County around 1850, but did not acquire land until years later is ever. They were Nathan Smart, John W, Mixson, John E. Jenkins, Sr., John H. O’Steen, Henry Donaldson, E. F. Ezell, John M. Towles, Robert M. Hendry, Richard Harrison, Green B. Hill, Boyett D. Poppell, James J. Mixson, Sterling Parker, Henry F. Smart, Gabriel Harden, Savage Strickland, Joshua J. Adams, Rice Mathis, Francis Roundtree, Daniel Bryant, Green B. Harrell, W. C. Carlton, J. R. Mott, C. L. Powell, Darling Sapp, Alexander Ezell, Robert Henderson, Redden English, Allen Coker, W. R. Whiddon, Z. O. Lovett, John Catlett, W. N. Johnson, W. M. Townsend, Wyche Fulford, H. T. Brannen, William R. Bevan, James M. Faulkner, J. H. Ellison, J. A. J. Collins and Calvin Davis.
Some of the settlers were interested in educating their children. In 1850 John W. Mixson made a contract among four settlers who desired a school.
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT
Entered into this day between John W. Mixson on the first part and we the under assigned on the second part which will show that we the subscribers on the second part do agree to pay said Mixson one dollar per month per scholar for two months payable. Viz in corn, pork or bacon at cash price and its fairly understood this school continues at the same houses the time specified above and that said Mixson faithfully teaches such branches as reading writing and arithmetic. The time specified above according to law and to commence forthwith after the close of the present quarter which will be on or before the 25th of Oct. 1850 Monday following to commence Subscribed.
Truly yours ever and affectionate and most truly yours
John W. Mixson
Subscribed
Nathan Smart
John W. Mixson
Mary Rogers
Maria A. Jenkins
Harriet E. Parker
John E. Jenkins, Sr., a settler in the community where Mixson taught school heard of the discovery of gold in California in 1848 or 1849 and drove an ox-team the 3,000 miles. After a four year period, he returned and was financially able to buy several hundred acres of land four miles northwest of the present town of Perry. He erected a water mill on Rocky Creek and built a nine-room frame house undoubtedly lumber sawed at his mill. This was probably the only house not of log construction.
By the year 1855 there were settlements in the areas of Shady Grove, Pisgah, Thomas Mill Island, Oakland, Barker Hammock, Lake Bird, Blue Creek, Sunnyside, and Carlton Springs.
The Pisgah community was the settlement where John W. Mixson taught school and near the schoolhouse a well was dug before the Civil War and did duty for forty years or more. According to Cash this was probably the first well built in the county. When Cash taught there in 1900 the well was still there.
The first Post Office according to an article by Joe Akerman stated that Clifton was supposed to have been established in July 1846 in a store owned by Richard J. Mays who was also the postmaster. The location was supposed to have been in Madison but later Taylor County. No proof of ownership has been found in this county earlier than August 1862. Mays bought 320 acres of land and the deed book states that it was in the second year of the Southern Confederacy. He could have owned land here before although he is not listed as an early settler. Another article states that the first Post office in Taylor county was located in the Pisgah community. It was established May 6, 1854 and Nathan C. Smart was made postmaster.
In 1846 a statue declared the Fenholloway River in Madison County up to the mouth of Rocky Creek to be a navigable waterway. Under the Status anyone convicted of restricting navigation on the Fenholloway was subject to a maximum fine of $500.00. Samuel B. Richardson, Neil Campbell and Little Myrick were early names associated with transportation in the area. These three men served as commissioners “to superintend the opening and removing of any obstruction in the Fenholloway River.
There was a bill in the Florida House of Representatives, November 26, 1855, to organize the County of Taylor. This bill failed and the cause is unknown but may have been that many thought the area included within the proposed county was large enough for two. James W. McQueen, a representative from Madison County, told of his intention to introduce a bill to organize two new counties out of the county of Madison. On December 10, 1856 Mr. McQueen introduced a bill to create and organize the counties of Lafayette and Taylor. After it was amended somewhat, it unanimously passed December 17. Two days later the senate passed the bill with 14 votes for and 3 against. Governor Broome signed it December 23, 1856. Taylor County became the thirty-fourth county of Florida and was named after Zachary Taylor, twelfth President of the United States and commander of the United States armed forces in Florida during the Second Seminole War. Taylor County lies south of Madison County and between Jefferson and Lafayette. The Gulf of Mexico forms its coastal boundary with its shallow harbors at the mouths of the Aucilla, Fenholloway, and Econfina Rivers and at Deadman’s Bay. Taylor County began to function as a separate government unit and the place for a county seat had been chosen before the end of 1857, however, its first tax roll was not approved by the county commissioners until June 4, 1858. This roll showed 173 poll tax payers and 67 others (including persons above 50 years of age, out-of-county persons owning property in Taylor and business firms), with a total property valuation of $279,152.
The first to officially take office were County Judge John O’Steen who took office July 4, 1857; Clerk of the Court, D. C. Barker, March 31, 1857; Tax Collector and County Assessor, Alex Ezell, July 4, 1857; County Surveyor, Cornelius English, October 27, 1857. Justices of the Peace were many with the first group all taking office April 20, 1857. These were (First District) William R. Bevan, James W. Faulkner; (Second District) Savage Strickland, Samuel R. DeVane; (Third District) William W. Townsend, James J. Mixon; (Fourth District) Isaac Morgan and Joseph Williams.
The first State Representative to represent Taylor County in the Legislature was J.A.J. Collins, elected in 1861 probably under the Confederacy, although Stephen R. White was elected in 1858 to represent Taylor, Madison and Lafayette counties.
The first commissioners’ meeting may have been held October 2, 1857. On that date, the board bought forty acres of land from the Internal Improvement Board for county site purposes for $75.00 and soon afterward erected a log courthouse on the site. Madison County Circuit Judge Enoch Vann described Taylor County’s first courthouse and a nearby building as he found them in 1860 while campaigning unsuccessfully for the state legislature against a Judge Mays. The courthouse was some 15 by 25 feet.
The first court house was either of logs or rough sawed lumber and was located somewhere on west Green Street. Mr. Abner Parker interviewed on February 6, 1940, at age 85 said that he remembered the first court house as a one room log building containing only a judge’s stand, some benches and one window and the building stood on the plot where the courthouse now stands.
Taylor County pioneers lived simply. Of 295 persons on the tax roll of 1860, 181 persons each had 10 head of cattle and hogs or more, 102 had 25 or more, and seventy-eight from 50 to 1,500.
Most of the average settlers lived in a one-room cabin with a front porch or front and back porches. Numbers of the more well-to-do had either double penned or hip-roofed log dwellings. A double-penned house was one of two log pens united by a hallway and having a ‘stick-and-dirt’ chimney at the end of each pen. Usually these houses had front and back porches called piazzas, extending the full length of the building on each side. Sometimes there was a second story called the upstairs, but often, to provide the extra room the second story furnished, plank or ceiling-board rooms constructed on the back piazza.
A hip roofed house had a roof at right angles to and lowered from that over the single log pen first set up, which served to cover one or more so-called backrooms. Dwellings of this type generally had front and back porches, and a room or rooms erected on the back porch.
Close to many of the larger houses were log kitchens where the cooking and eating took place. These were connected with the main dwelling by walks sometimes with a covering or there might not have been covered.
Most of the homes had front yards full of rose bushes, cape Jessamine, four o’clocks, primroses, rose mary, honeysuckles and other flowers. Sometimes there would be altheas, arbor vitas, cedars and magnolias. Many of the dwellings had mulberry and chinaberry trees. Outside the front gates water oaks were sometimes set to make large trees within a few years.
Most of the furniture was home-made. Many chairs were manufactured at local chairmakers’ shops, but many families set on benches. Cooking was often on fireplaces inside the houses, and some persons had roofed cookplaces on the outside. These were elevated on a platform like structure with six inches of sand on which the cookpots were arranged.
Only one or two settlers in any community had a sugar-cane mill and it was used by the owner and his neighbors. The neighbors usually paid an agreed upon amount of syrup or brown sugar for its use. Cane grinding usually ran from early November until almost Christmas. The cane grindings often ended up with dances sometimes called “frolics.”
Frolics also followed log-rollings, and rail-splittings; but most were given for the fun of the thing or as a means of getting folks together. Backwoods fiddlers usually furnished the music. Dancing was against the rules of every Protestant denomination but frequent excommunication of members failed to stop it.
Taylor County settlers were interested in education from the very first. Before the end of 1860 there were eight schools in operation. The sum of $185.40 or 45 cents per student was allotted Taylor County from the state funds. McGuffey’s readers were used in the schools.
In 1860, according to Cash, there were two Baptist and two Methodist churches in the county. Many church services were held in private homes, under brush arbors, or some regular gathering place. Fundamentalism was universal.
The buying and selling was nearly all done at Newport and for a time there was only one main highway out of Perry called “Newport Road.” Most of the county’s cotton, hides, and the excess of sugar, syrup, pork, beeswax, etc. went to Newport. Barrels of flour, caddies of tobacco, packages of snuff, sacks of coffee, bolts of cloth, axes, plow tools and general replenishments of family needs were brought home from Newport. Supplies of calomel and quinine, opium, paregoric, Dover’s powders and blue mass were also obtained at Newport.
The main industries of the county as secession were farming and stock raising. A few people ran fisheries and there were five or six small merchants. The largest stores were operated by Neal Hendry and J. H. Sappington with stock assessed at $1,500. John S. Cochran’s goods were valued at $500 and Emory Vann’s valued at $380. Two other merchants had mercantile stocks listed at $50 each. E. F. Ezell, John M. Towles and William Bevan operated fisheries.
According to Cash, the 1860 census shows that Taylor County had 20, 154 acres of farms of which 5,072 acres were improved. The following crops were produced: wheat, rye, corn, oats, rice, tobacco, ginned cotton, wool, peas, beans, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, cane sugar, and molasses.
At the time of the 1860 census, the only corn mill employed one hand at the cost of $240 per year and produced meal valued at $2,000. The only saw mill employed one hand at an annual cost of $240 and sawed $500 worth of lumber.
The 1860 census was the first census to be taken in Taylor County. There were 1,384 people included in this census. The first Census Taker was a Missionary Baptist preacher named G. G. Wheeler who was born in North Carolina.
In 1860 less than one-tenth of Taylor County’s population was slaves. The election results showed a small majority for the secession Democrat, John Milton, for Governor. In the secession convention which met in Tallahassee on January 3, 1861, Madison, Taylor, and Lafayette counties were considered as a group, the whole being allowed four members. Two of these were from Madison and one each from Taylor and Lafayette. Taylor County’s member was W. H. Sever, who was strong for session and voted against every movement in the convention calculated to cause delay. The vote to secede carried by 62-7 margin and on January 11, 1861, Florida became the third state to withdraw from the Union. Taylor County had only been a county for about four years when the war began.
When the War Between the States broke out, the area was abundant with strands of timber; however, the chief industry of the county was farming, stock raising and fishing.
The Confederate Army rolls show that more than 250 men and 10 officers came from Taylor County. Among the early Taylor countians who fought under the stars and bars were members of the Hendry, Carlton, Cockran, and Faulkner families. According to Cash, there were few enlistments prior to the first of June 1861, but soon afterwards volunteering became rapid. Madison was the main enlistment point but many joined at Monticello and some at other places. It is thought that as many as 75 either remained in Florida or were sent back for service there. Some of these helped guard the salt works along the coast and others fought at Olustee, Natural Bridge and other battles and skirmishes.
Salt became a scarce commodity during the war and numbers of persons living in Taylor and nearby counties made land entries along the Gulf Coast of the county for the purpose of getting salt-manufacturing sites. Among these persons were Gabriel Hardin, Jackson Sapp, John Taylor, Randall B. Williams, William H Sever, Joseph Eaton, Elias E. Blackburn, William W. Barrs, James W. Faulkner, John Towles, Jesse W. Hunter, J. Bryant Creech, Civil J. Fulford, Wyche Fulford, William Standaland, Thomas Young, Wiley W. Whiddon, John R. Morse, Rufus Standaland and John G. Pettus. The coast of Taylor County provided a good spot for salt-making. Salt was made by the process of evaporation of the seawater leaving the salt behind. There was a road between the salt works running in an east-west direction known as “Salt Road.”
The Gulf coast between the mouth of Spring Warrior and Dekle Beach is covered by a long series of sand and scrub covered mounds that are the site of an extensive salt works that operated during the Civil War. Salt was very important to the preservation of meat and fish for the Confederate armies and civilians employed in its manufacture were excluded from military duty. One of the two largest government salt works in Florida was on the Warrior River in Taylor County. In fact it was said to be the largest in the Confederacy. On February 17, 1864, Acting Master Edmund C. Weeks led a party consisting of eight sailors and 96 refugees from the USS Tahoma to destroy the Taylor County works that extended seven miles east of Warrior River. The party marched overland to reach the west end of the works at daylight on the 19th, and spent all day and night destroying everything that could be used in any way at the salt works. A second party of 20 men in two of the Tahoma’s boats landed at the east end of the works, wading several hundred yards ashore with 29 degree weather and worked toward the land party. The destroyed property to be worth at least two million dollars including 390 large kettles, 52 sheet-iron boilers with an average capacity of 900 gallons, 170 masonry furnaces, 150 pumps, wells and aqueducts, 55 storehouses, 165 houses and shanties, and 60 sheds and stables. These works were estimated to produce 1,500 bushels of salt a day.
Economics were so bad that there was a fear of a starvation epidemic. Officials within Taylor County sent a petition on August 11, 1862, to Jefferson Davis requesting the exemption and return of all Taylor County men from the ages of eighteen through forty-five. The reasoning for the request was the lack of men in the county was causing the loss of food production for county residents. Many men from the county deserted the war and returned home because of the circumstances at home.
The terrain of the area gave excellent hiding spots in the swamps. Deserters and other people staying away from the war found refuse in this territory. These people established bands that were strong and armed. Surrounding territory was raided by these bands. The raids were successful and the security offered by these bands encouraged other soldiers who were tired of the war.
President Davis issued a proclamation offering amnesty to those who turned themselves in at Madison. After the offer was spurned, troops were sent to try and round up the deserters. It wasn’t until after the cessation of hostilities and Union troops were stationed in the area that the deserters and others in the swamps were forced out.
By 1862, many Taylor County families had to do without soap, flour, refined sugar, and clothing. The boys who were left behind and women folks chopped down blackjacks and used the ashes after burning them to make soap. Families had to use looms to weave material for clothing. In 1862, the legislature passed a joint resolution to assist poor families to get the necessary cards to prepare their cotton and wool for weaving. The legislature appropriated $200,000 for relief of needy soldiers’ families and supplementing this, the legislature of 1863 and 1864 appropriated $500,000. Samuel Benezet, Quartermaster General in 1864 reported that he had sent 73 pairs of cards to Taylor County and paid out $4,570.32 for the relief of families during 1862-1863 and $8,999.60 in 1863-1864. The Governor in 1864 approved an act for the education of soldiers’ children. It was the duty of the county commissioners of each county to provide the schools and to certify to the Governor the cost of maintaining them.
Taylor County contributed to the war with food products such as beef pork, sugar, and fish. Salt making was very important to the war and Taylor County gave their fair share of service from the citizens.
William Strickland married Mary Ann Johnson and owned his own farm and also tended his father-in-laws’s many cattle on lands bordering the swamps of Taylor County. In April of 1862 the Confederate Congress passed the Conscription Act, the first draft law in the history of America. Strickland and a number of his neighbors, enlisted at Camp Tolo as a private in Company I, 2nd Florida Cavalry, CSA. Strickland learned in December of 1862 that his wife was seriously ill. He asked Lieutenant S. A. Parramore for cleave to care for his wife. His farm was only 15 or so miles across the Aucilla River. His request was denied and Strickland departed camp December 20. When he returned March 16, he was promptly arrested. Parramore said he was a deserter and his punishment would be to grub a stump while wearing a placard bearing the word “coward.” Strickland left camp again on June 15, 1863 and was though serving the Confederacy and declared a deserter.
Strickland was but one of many Floridians who deserted. He took refuge in the swamps along the Gulf coast and was joined by others and they banded together for mutual protection. Strickland former a group called the Independent Union Rangers. The members of this group had to take a loyalty oath to obey all orders given by elected officers and to bear true allegiance to the United States of America. James Coker’s band was located on the Fenholloway River and was probably made cup of men from Madison County. William White’s group on the Steinhatchee probably contained more deserters from Georgia than Strickland or Coker.
Strickland put his base camp at the mouth of the Econfina River in tidal flats in an area known as Snyder’s Island. The Island was surrounded by thick marsh which overflowed at high tide and swamps and hammock lands that were almost impassable. Strickland and his men lived there and began raising crops and ending cattle to feed themselves and their families who were nearby.
The famous Cow Cavalry had to deal with the Union Rangers. The Cow Cavalry was formed to protect the Confederate cattle held in the interior of Florida to graze and breed until needed and to gather cattle and hogs under the Impressment Act. Captain James Faulkner, CSA had mustered a company of West Florida men to serve in the Cow Cavalry in the Taylor and Lafayette County areas. The unit was to gather cattle and hogs and guard them until driven north. Faulkner faced a strong enemy in Taylor County, the Independent Union Rangers, who were not going to let Faulkner operate freely. The two groups fought with cruelty.
Brigadier General William M. Gardner issued a circular telling people that the commanding general was prepared with ample forces to enter the counties of Taylor and Lafayette and visit punishment upon deserters and others found offering resistance to the military authorities of the Confederate states. Pardon and restoration was offered to soldiers who had been persuaded by inducements and influences of men to absent themselves from their commands and to stop banding together with the ruffians who had finally attracted the attention of the Government to them. They were to voluntarily report to the headquarters or to the conscript camp at Madison, Florida, before the 5th day of April. If the deserters did not accept the clemency they were offered there would be severe punishment. Those found with arms in their hands would be shot without mercy. The families of deserters and the disloyal would be sent into the interior and their property destroyed, and their cattle, horses, and hogs would be driven away or shot. The circular did not convince the guerillas.
In April, 1864, a company of home guards organized with James W. Faulkner as Captain. It is thought that the company met at various times at Camp Carlton on the Fenholloway River to carry out drilling exercises.
The confederate high command wanted to clear out the guerrillas and early in March, Lieutenant Colonel Henry D. Capers, Twelfth Georgia Artillery, was placed in command of a force to seek them out. Capers had the services of two local men, John Townsend and Jacob Chaney, who knew the land and led his force to the heart of the guerrilla stronghold.
Capers determined the location of the guerrilla camp and moved his force into position to attack. The terrain of the land and the recent rains hindered Capers. He sent Major Charles H, Camfield and a cavalry detachment south along the east bank of the Econfina with orders to attack the guerrillas if they were found. These cavalrymen were ambushed with 2 dead and 2 injured. Capers and his Georgia Battalion traveled along the Aucilla River from Gamble’s farm to the Natural Bridge toward Snyder’s Island. He reached camp on March 24 and found nothing but the deserted huts of the deserters. He ordered destruction of every house on the east and west banks of the Econfina and Fenholloway Rivers belonging to the people.
Major Camfield was charged with the house burnings. If there was a single deserter or guerrilla in the family he burned the homes. The nine room home of John E. Jenkins, Sr. was not burned, although Jenkins and his sons had joined the Union army. Camfield used the Jenkin’s home as his headquarters. Camfield would sometimes hold field court and those caught whom he believed to be disloyal were executed.
The women and children of the dissidents were taken to Tallahassee. According to Mrs. Eppes, they were rounded up by a “Wagon Brigade.” They were ordered to pack their belongings and if they refused the drivers packed them. They were loaded into wagons and left under military guard with the animals driven behind the wagons. Then Caper’s force torched all the houses as they left. The wagon train with the families were headed for Camp Smith, six miles south of Tallahassee, adjoining Camp Leon at a place called “Six Mile Pond.” The families remained as prisoners under guard. It was told by Susan Caroline Grooms, who was 7 years of age, that the winter at Camp Smith was cold and few provisions were available. Governor Milton was convinced that the house burnings and seizure of women and children were major blunders and had caused more citizens to be alienated. He sent a letter to Major General Anderson in May of 1864 pointing out that some of those made homeless were “the mothers and helpless brothers and sisters of patriotic and brave men who were soldiers in the armies of Virginia and of the West. He said he was unwilling that any women and children of the state be deprived of legal protection and humane considerations. He said he didn’t approve of warfare upon the women and children.
At the home of William W. Strickland were found 2,000 rounds of ammunition and several barrels of flour from the US Subsistence Department. Also captured was a document, subscribed to be Strickland and thirty-four other men calling themselves “the Independent Union Rangers of Taylor County Florida,” in which they declared their allegiance to the United States and set forth for their own conduct in guerrilla warfare.
Anderson believed that the “iron fist” was the only policy and in June, Milton forwarded another complaint to Anderson protesting the burning of homes of loyal citizens and the imprisonment of others. On July 19, 1864, Milton ordered the release of the women and children and directed the military to escort them to a Union blockading vessel off St. Marks.
Strickland apparently took part in the various raids launched by the 2nd Florida (US) Cavalry. As the year drew to a close it was obvious that the Confederacy was beginning to lose. The Union commanders in Florida still wanted Tallahassee, the state capital, taken. It was decided to capture St. Marks on the coast, and cut the railroad linking the capital with vthe northeast portion of the state. In February 1865, Major Weeks, along with Companies C, D, and E, Second Florida Cavalry (Dismounted) and Companies E, G, and H boarded the USS Magnolia and sailed north along the coast from Cedar Key. Strickland was member of this force. They combined with a naval force of 14 other vessels to land in various locations with the intent of taking possession of the East River Bridge, capturing the pickets there, landing and marching on to Newport and destroying establishments there, then crossing the St. Marks River and taking St. Marks and breaking up the railroad between St. Marks and Tallahassee.
On March 2, six men under William Strickland landed at the mouth of the Aucilla River with orders to destroy the railroad bridge at the head of the stream to prevent confederate reinforcements from reaching the area under attack. Strickland’s orders were to remove the track on the bridge, causing the trainload of Confederate reinforcements from Madison to be dumped into the river. Strickland decided to burn the trestle and give the train time to stop. This would keep the Confederate troops out of action without killing them. As the train rounded the curve, the trestle was seen to be burning and the engineer tried to apply the brakes, but realized he could not stop in time so he crammed on full power to speed across the burning trestle. The last car made it across as the bridge collapsed. At the next stop, ten men and a pack of hounds were sent to the Aucilla River trestle. The hounds picked up the scent and Strickland and his men were trapped in a stand of cypress. In the ensuring fire fight three were killed and Strickland and John R. Brannon were captured on March 5, 1865. They were in blue uniforms and the Federal forces were defeated at the Battle of Natural Bridge, and St. Marks remained in confederate hands.
In Tallahassee Strickland and Brannon were convicted and sentenced to death as deserters. They were buried in unmarked graves. In Taylor County the graves, burned-out homes, and shattered dreams remained as witness to the Civil War.
The first official post office in the town of Perry was under the name of Rose Head. The established date was February 23, 1869. There are several storiesabout how the town came to be named Rose Head. One story says that roses grew abundantly on the banks of Spring Creek and the office itself was located at the head. Another story said that the office was named in honor of the postmaster’s wife whose name was Rose Head. In the confusion of reconstruction, on December 4, 1874, Second Assistant Postmaster General John L. Barett wrote to the Postmaster at Rose Head, Taylor County, inquiring if Perry, the new county seat, was the local name for Rose Head. Postmaster Henry Tillman, the fifth Union postmaster at Perry, wrote back that Perry and Rose Head was one and the same place. By some mistake the post office was named Rose Head when it should have been named Perry, because Perry is the county seat of Taylor County, Florida. A map of 1868 in the State Library at Tallahassee gives Rose Head as the county seat but the name “Perry” is placed in parenthesis under the Rose Head name.
The local office officially became Perry on May 28, 1875. This change was made in Washington. Allen O. O’Quinn, appointed February 23, 1869, was the first Union postmaster at Rose Head and was succeeded by Jesse Colson, Thomas York, B. F. McCollister and then Tillman.
Tillman was succeeded by Thomas J. Faulkner, Preston D. Woods, and Thomas W. Lundy again. Thomas W. Lundy was the first postmaster to serve for a substantial length of time. Lundy’s successors were David P. Morgan, James H. Lundy, L. M. Caswell, and Thomas W. Lundy who served this time from December 1922 until October 1933. The poastmasters who succeeded Lundy were Lester George, J. Poe George, J. Powell Puckett, Virginia D. Puckett, Henry S. Thompson, Thomas L. Holmes and B. Franklin Inman, Claude Kelley, P. J. Knowles, Mark Latocki, and Mark Halter.
Locations of the post office changed. One post office was located at the corner of the courthouse square at the intersection of Washington and Main Streets. The Tom Lundy family lived on the second floor of the building from 1898 until 1907 when he was postmaster.
At one time the post office was located in the Burton-Swartz store. Another time the post office was housed in a building on Main Street next to O’Quinn Drug Store. In 1935, the post office was on the corner of Green and Washington Streets. The present post office is located at 1600 South Jefferson Street.
Perry became the center of county life, James H. Wentworth, county surveyor, in April of 1870, had a hand-drawn map showing Perry to be four and a half blocks square in size with the courthouse slightly to the east of the center on the south end. The map was just a series of lines and scribbles with a brief handwritten description. Dates on the map, apparently the day Wentworth surveyed the new Town of Perry are April 16, 18, and 19, 1870. The cornerstone of the map lies near the intersection of Green Street and Ananna Street (now known as Center) across from the First Baptist Church. There is some controversy about the marker and its location. It is not known for sure if the marker is on the corner of the First Baptist Church, in the front yard of the Bloodworth home, across the street or in the middle of the street. From the disputed point the line runs west down what is now the south side of Green Street to a point west of Quincy Street, a few feet on the west of the Presbyterian Church building (now Beggs Funeral Home). From there, the line runs north between the South Georgia Railroad and Quincy Street to a point 115 ½ feet north of Sap Street (Lafayette Street now) and turns back east. The line follows an easterly course running just north of the present Woman’s Club building back to the east side of Ananna Street (Center Street). It then turns south back to the original marker near the First Baptist Church. Within the square were located 16 full-size blocks of 231 feet square and nine part blocks of 231 feet by 71 feet. Lots in the 16 full blocks were priced at $16.00 each and there were four lots to the block measuring 115½ feet square. Lots in the nine part blocks were priced at $9.00 each and there were two to the part blocks. The part blocks were located along the north and west boundary of the town limits. Old landmarks such as Bloodworth building, the Dixit Taylor Hotel, asnd the post office were not even in the original town limits. James Wentworth who owned most of the initial lots in Rose Head moved to west Florida prior to the turn of the century and never returned.
In 1873 Taylor County was a frountier county and had not had its resources developed. The surface of the county was level and interspersed with small streams and creeks. Some of the streams and creeks had mill sites upon them. Fresh water fish such as trout, perch, jack fish, pike, cat fish, black fish and bream were found and could be caught with hook and line. There was several hammocks with game such as bear, wild turkeys, panthers, catamounts, wildcats, and deer.
The land was splendid for cattle and hogs. There were several thousand head of cattle owned in the county by non-residents, who got the natives to tend their stock for them. The people began to turn their attention to agriculture and the proper development of the county.
The soil was rich and generous and there was an abundance of good hammock land. The soil of the hammock lands is a dark sandy loam, on which leaves have been decaying for ages. The pine lands were good. The soil of one class of pine land is black and of another grayish color, and goes to the depth of from one to two feet. The very poor pine land borders the coast.
There was a variety of timber. The timber of the hammock was water oak, post oak, hickory, magnolia, bay, wahoo, red bay, sassafras, maple, red oak, white oak, live oak, holly, ivy, cherry, prickly ash and cedar. The pine land had some of the finest yellow pine land in the state.
In 1873 one of the greatest drawbacks was the remote or inconvenient market. It was fifteen miles to the nearest point on the railroad from Shady Grove. The inhabitants of the southern end of the county had communication by water with Cedar Key and St. Marks by means of small boats. There were several water courses navigable for small boats but it had nor been advanced at that time.
There were small fisheries along the Gulf coast of the county where mullet, and red fish were caught every winter.
There were several mineral springs in the county, the medicinal properties of which had been declared of value. There was a sulfur-iron spring on the Econfina River, on Rocky Creek a sulfur spring known as Hampton Springs and on Blue Creek there is a Chalybeate spring, the water of which is highly beneficial to debilitated and nervous people. (note: chalybeate is defined as containing iron salts and having a taste of iron.)
Since the was the people had turned their attention to farming and were becoming more settled in their mode of life and were building up churches, school houses and they were ready to welcome all that came to make their homes.
In 1873 the schools were beginning to flourish and were appreciated by the people.
There were not many crimes committed in the county at the time of 1873. The county was poor. It took most of their time making a living. They had not yet learned how to take advantage of their resources.
In 1873, James H. Wentworth reported that turpentine and lumber business would be destined to be of vast proportions and that men of capital would make a good investment to buy lands for turpentine orchards in the county.
In the town and the county the population slowly began to grow once the Construction Period was behind. Some of the new residents began to homestead the land with 160 acres being allotted per family. Trails were built to connect cabins and roads were cut between communities.
In 1890, the area of the county was 1,080 square miles with 691,000 acres of land. The population at this time was 2,122 not quite two persons per square mile. The southern portion of this county bordered on the Gulf of Mexico for about fifty miles.
There were several fisheries established on the coast but transportation difficulties made it hard for people to use the fisheries. The fish supply was a matter of inducement to the settler because the streams are so near to every portion of the county that the people seldom wanted for fresh fish food.
In 1896, there were thirty-eight schools with an attendance of twelve hundred children. Mr. J. P. Whiddon was County School Superintendent.
Sheep raising required little or no care or expense to the owner or wool grower. The green food pasturage all year round provided food. The cattle roamed at large and were profitable to their owners.
The Taylor County Banner, established by Jeff Davis, was the first newspaper in Taylor County and began publication July 13, 1888. J. O. Chance was the business manager. Their print shop was located above J. J. Gornto’s store, almost due south of the steps of the court house on the same side of the square.
The county was without a newspaper from early 1893 until the latter part of August 1895. Since August 1895 there has always been a newspaper and sometimes two in Taylor County.
In 1891 D. M. Gornto began The Weekly Blade.
The Florida Independent was established July 1895, by T. J. Faulkner and was thought to run one issue.
The Herald established by Fred B. Fildes in September 1895 was soon taken over by T. J. Faulkner.
In 1903, Jeff Davis, established the Taylor County Advocate. It lasted several months, until Davis agreed to form a partnership that included him, J. O. Culpepper, publisher of the Herald, and Frank Drew, president of the Suwannee Democrat. It was later combined with the Herald and the name changed to Taylor County Herald.
W. T. Cash in 1904 established Taylor County Topics. On November 11, 1904, W. T. Cash got out the first issue. By mid-February, 1905, Cash found that he couldn’t make a go of the paper, so Davis came over from Live Oak where he had been working for The Suwannee Democrat and bought him out by assuming the papers debts, about $400.00, continuing the publication of the Topics.
W. J. Lee in 1905 began Taylor County Citizen and sold to J. E. Pound who had bought the Taylor County Herald in 1906.
In 1913 Jeff L. Davis and W. E. Battle established Taylor County Banner and suspended in 1913.
The Perry Independent (now the Taylor County News) was established in 1929.
The newspapers have had much to do with the growth and development of Taylor County.
In 1902, The Suwannee and San Pedro Railroad from Live Oak reached the county and in early 1903 made connections with Perry. In 1900 Perry had about 100 people and 4 businesses but increased by probably 500 percent in population and 1000 percent in business development in the next five years.
Soon other railroads came and the growth of business and industry increased. The South Georgia and West Coast was built to Perry in 1904, the Live Oak, Perry and Gulf came early in 1906 and a branch of the Atlantic Coast Line built from Newberry in Alachua County was running trains into Perry before the end of 1907. The coming of these railroad lines helped turpentine farms and sawmills to prosper.
This is all that June was able to get done before she got sick. I am sure she would have gone back and added additional information to what she had completed.