In 1852, Mooring, about 24 years old, married his 19 year old first cousin, Willie Ann Nickels (their mothers were sisters with the last name of Lawrence). According to J. Randall Stanley, the couple eloped. Later accounts report that Wille Ann's family had opposed the marriage, leading to a "feud..among the opposing elements." Later, the families reconciled "after a fashion" to the extent that the 1860 Census lists the Moorings and their children living in the Nickels household. Willie Ann’s father, William Nickels Jr., was born about 1800 into a wealthy mercantile family in Maine, but had left for North Carolina for his health, marrying there and settling in Marianna in the 1830s. Nickels became a prosperous merchant and tavern keeper - the Nickels family ranked 14th in wealth among Jackson County families in the 1860 census.
Nickels operated a store in Marianna with his partner, Thomas Gautier (whose children make an appearance throwing rocks in T. Thomas Fortune’s After War Times). Mooring had a credit account at his father-in-law's store where he purchased provisions. Nickels also informally served as Mooring’s agent, presumably taking care of his daughter’s finances when Mooring was traveling. When Mooring was seized by the Union column after the Battle of Marianna in late 1864 and imprisoned in Elmira, Nickels again took control of Mooring’s finances on behalf of Willie Ann. Mooring later claimed he had left a large sum of money, perhaps $30,000, in Nickels’ control.
Even though Nickels continued to represent Mooring intermittently after Mooring’s return to Marianna in mid-1865, Nickels’ conduct as agent for his son-in-law apparently was the source of some tension between the two men whom, we can suppose, were predisposed to view each other warily. Nickels’ own statement about the arrangement suggests his casual approach: “I was agent for Mooring for part of the time the accounts were kept, can’t designate the time. I had some Confederate money of Mooring’s in hand; can’t state that amount. I suppose I have of his in hand two or three thousand dollars. I was agent for him at different times. Sometimes could not satisfy him, and I would cease. Can’t say when agencies commenced or closed; have nothing to show this.” Nickels’ informality toward Mooring’s affairs strikingly contrasts with his careful accounting of Mooring’s debts to the Nickels & Gautier firm. Mooring stopped his account with the firm in July 1867, probably about the time William Nickels and Thomas Gautier dissolved their partnership.
The dissolution of Nickels & Gautier was announced in the Marianna Courier in January 1868, along with a notification that William Nickels would settle the firm’s business and accounts.
The Nickels family's standing seems to have fallen in the wake of the war. William Nickels, now in his 70s, had fallen far in relative wealth compared to his peers, which was typical for planters, but not merchants after the upheaval of defeat and Emancipation. Nickels still managed to buy the enormous Bellamy mansion from Gautier at a steep discount, probably as a result of the same financial distress that led to the end of their partnership. [For information and pictures of the "Bellamy Nickels mansion, See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fljackso/Bellamy/Nickels.html ].
At the same time, it seems that a wide rift had opened up between Mooring and Nickels. In January 1872, Nickels sued his son-in-law in the Florida circuit court for $1,388 for “goods, wares and merchandise sold and delivered” to Mooring by the now long defunct Nickels & Gautier firm. Lawsuits among neighbors and even friends were common in Jackson County at this time when litigation was a favorite participatory sport. Nickels, however, pursued this claim with particular vehemence.
Mooring apparently argued that the claim had already been paid by Nickels out of Mooring’s finances that he controlled. Nevertheless, prior to trial, Mooring approached Gautier and delivered to him a check drawn on a New York bank for $600. In return, Gautier gave Mooring a receipt on behalf of Nickels & Gautier confirming that this payment settled “all demands” by the firm against Mooring.
Learning from Mooring’s lawyer, D. L. McKinnon, about the settlement with Gautier, Nickels was initially befuddled, then livid. Approached by McKinnon to learn about his intentions regarding the pending litigation, Nickels insisted that he would “fight it out.” Claiming that his son-in-law and former partner had colluded to defraud him, Nickels proceeded with the lawsuit against Mooring. The jury found for Mooring, concluding that Gautier as a partner to the Nickels & Gautier, had the authority to settle the debt owed the firm.
This defeat outraged Nickels. After the circuit court denied his demand for a new trial, Nickels appealed to Florida’s Supreme Court. Here he was represented by powerhouse attorneys: George S. Hawkins, a former congressman and Florida Supreme Court justice, and William H. Milton, a former state solicitor. Eventually, only in January 1877, the court heard the case of Nickels and Gautier v. Mooring. The Supreme Court upheld the circuit court’s ruling in favor of Mooring. [Nickels and Gautier v. Mooring, 16 FL 76 (Jan. 1877 term].
A later newspaper account surmised that the lawsuit had "aroused the old feeling" of hostility between Mooring and William Nickels. It might also be guessed that the lawsuit was the result of shattered relations. The same 1874 newspaper reported that "some three years ago from a private difficulty Mooring endeavored" to shoot his young brother-in-law, Charles Nickels. According to the same account, Nickels' sister interfered and "Mooring received the pistol ball in his own arm." [Columbus Enquirer, Aug. 1, 1874]. This 1871 time period coincided with Mooring's taking his family from Marianna to Europe. The sequence of events (the lawsuit, the shooting, the departure) is impossible to know, but it seems reasonable to conclude that that they were all connected. In any event, by the time the Florida Supreme Court heard William Nickels' appeal and issued its ruling, relations between Mooring and his in-laws had deteriorated tragically.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
More Lives of the Regulators: Edwin W. Mooring
If ever there were a man with anger management issues, it was Edwin W. Mooring. Strictly speaking, Mooring was not a Jackson County Regulator: there is no record of his engaging in night riding or acting in consort with the Coker organization during the escalation of violence beginning in 1869. Nevertheless, he was an early and eager proponent of violent opposition to the Bureau and had little regard for racial reconciliation.
Mooring was born around 1828 in North Carolina, but came to Marianna as a young man, probably first to visit his mother's sister and her family. He was an educated and interesting individual. J. Randall Stanley described his multiple careers: he was a “lawyer, southern representative of a New York wine and liquor house, and … special agent for the New York Life Insurance Co. in Tennessee.” [Stanley, History of Jackson County, 152]. One observer wrote that Mooring was "gentleman of high social position, of more than ordinary ability, intelligence and varied culture." The Marianna newspaper described him as "a gentleman of fine manners and cultivated mind." [Atlanta Sunday Herald, Aug. 9, 1874]. He dabbled in poetry and impressed the editor of the Columbus (GA) Enquirer who considered him "a gentleman of culture" and "man of excellent address and a fluent talker." According to one account, Mooring had profited greatly during the war and around 1871, he moved his wife and children (at least 5) to Germany "for education advantages of his children." Mooring established his own residence in New York City, although his business continued to bring him regularly to Georgia and Florida.
His military record, if any, is unclear. Although Mooring was certainly within the extended age range of the Confederate army draft, Shofner reports Mooring contracting with a commissary agent to deliver 1,000 gallons of alcohol at $6/gallon to Columbus, GA in the spring of 1864 [Shofner, Jackson County – A History, p. 234]. The war eventually found Mooring. Dale Cox lists him on the roster of the “Cradle to Grave” home guard that assembled to defend Marianna against the invading Union column in late September 1864. Mooring, along with 40 or so other Marianna men, was seized by the withdrawing Union troops and sent North to endure the 1864-65 winter under the miserable conditions at Elmira prison. [Cox, Battle of Marianna, 126]. Eight months later, after his release, Mooring returned to Marianna.
Perhaps ironic, considering his occupation as a liquor tradesman, Mooring could display deep religious faith. Dr. Charles Hentz reported an encounter with Mooring in 1856 outside the town hotel. At the time, Hentz wrote, the preacher Simon Peter Richardson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was visiting Marianna and inspiring its people. Mooring stood outside the town hotel owned by Mooring's father-in-law, William Nickels, talking with other men. Mooring saw Hentz pass by and Mooring called out "Hentz, are you a Christian?" Hentz responded as "almost every one does when asked the same question – ‘I hope I am’" Mooring retorted that "hoping does no good" and proceeded to ask "what do you know upon the subject – are you a Christian?” This encounter moved Hentz deeply, inspiring him to examine his own casual approach to faith and to rededicate his life toward religion. [Charles A. Hentz, A Southern Practice, 570].
Despite his sophistication and faith, Mooring could be a menacing presence, notorious for his rages. Bureau agent Charles Hamilton considered him a “violent and dangerous character.” Purman described him as “hot and rebellious.” Even an acquaintance sympathetic to Mooring admitted that he was "an excitable man, impulsive, vehement in speech, and of an almost ungovernable temper when aroused.” Mooring was determined to antagonize the Bureau agents whom he habitually and publicly denounced. Certainly Charles M. Hamilton, no shrinking violet himself, felt threatened when Mooring openly carried a weapon to a Bureau organized voter registration rally in Campbellton in the summer of 1867. Mooring was convicted and fined $5 for this offense. On another occasion, Hamilton was so upset by Mooring's "severe abusive language" on the streets of Marianna that he sought to have Mooring charged with "incendryism."
In May 1868, Purman reported a violent assault by Mooring, whom he sarcastically called “a limb of the ‘chivalry’”, on an African American woman whose hoop skirt accidentally brushed Mooring’s knee on a public sidewalk. Mooring struck two severe blows on the woman’s face, and “raved about like a madman.” Mooring’s attack produced “high excitement” in the Marianna black community and a Justice of the Peace had Mooring arrested for assault and battery. These incidents were a prelude to Mooring’s involvement in one of the most bizarre and infamous murders in Jackson County history, which will be described in subsequent postings.
Mooring was born around 1828 in North Carolina, but came to Marianna as a young man, probably first to visit his mother's sister and her family. He was an educated and interesting individual. J. Randall Stanley described his multiple careers: he was a “lawyer, southern representative of a New York wine and liquor house, and … special agent for the New York Life Insurance Co. in Tennessee.” [Stanley, History of Jackson County, 152]. One observer wrote that Mooring was "gentleman of high social position, of more than ordinary ability, intelligence and varied culture." The Marianna newspaper described him as "a gentleman of fine manners and cultivated mind." [Atlanta Sunday Herald, Aug. 9, 1874]. He dabbled in poetry and impressed the editor of the Columbus (GA) Enquirer who considered him "a gentleman of culture" and "man of excellent address and a fluent talker." According to one account, Mooring had profited greatly during the war and around 1871, he moved his wife and children (at least 5) to Germany "for education advantages of his children." Mooring established his own residence in New York City, although his business continued to bring him regularly to Georgia and Florida.
His military record, if any, is unclear. Although Mooring was certainly within the extended age range of the Confederate army draft, Shofner reports Mooring contracting with a commissary agent to deliver 1,000 gallons of alcohol at $6/gallon to Columbus, GA in the spring of 1864 [Shofner, Jackson County – A History, p. 234]. The war eventually found Mooring. Dale Cox lists him on the roster of the “Cradle to Grave” home guard that assembled to defend Marianna against the invading Union column in late September 1864. Mooring, along with 40 or so other Marianna men, was seized by the withdrawing Union troops and sent North to endure the 1864-65 winter under the miserable conditions at Elmira prison. [Cox, Battle of Marianna, 126]. Eight months later, after his release, Mooring returned to Marianna.
Perhaps ironic, considering his occupation as a liquor tradesman, Mooring could display deep religious faith. Dr. Charles Hentz reported an encounter with Mooring in 1856 outside the town hotel. At the time, Hentz wrote, the preacher Simon Peter Richardson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was visiting Marianna and inspiring its people. Mooring stood outside the town hotel owned by Mooring's father-in-law, William Nickels, talking with other men. Mooring saw Hentz pass by and Mooring called out "Hentz, are you a Christian?" Hentz responded as "almost every one does when asked the same question – ‘I hope I am’" Mooring retorted that "hoping does no good" and proceeded to ask "what do you know upon the subject – are you a Christian?” This encounter moved Hentz deeply, inspiring him to examine his own casual approach to faith and to rededicate his life toward religion. [Charles A. Hentz, A Southern Practice, 570].
Despite his sophistication and faith, Mooring could be a menacing presence, notorious for his rages. Bureau agent Charles Hamilton considered him a “violent and dangerous character.” Purman described him as “hot and rebellious.” Even an acquaintance sympathetic to Mooring admitted that he was "an excitable man, impulsive, vehement in speech, and of an almost ungovernable temper when aroused.” Mooring was determined to antagonize the Bureau agents whom he habitually and publicly denounced. Certainly Charles M. Hamilton, no shrinking violet himself, felt threatened when Mooring openly carried a weapon to a Bureau organized voter registration rally in Campbellton in the summer of 1867. Mooring was convicted and fined $5 for this offense. On another occasion, Hamilton was so upset by Mooring's "severe abusive language" on the streets of Marianna that he sought to have Mooring charged with "incendryism."
In May 1868, Purman reported a violent assault by Mooring, whom he sarcastically called “a limb of the ‘chivalry’”, on an African American woman whose hoop skirt accidentally brushed Mooring’s knee on a public sidewalk. Mooring struck two severe blows on the woman’s face, and “raved about like a madman.” Mooring’s attack produced “high excitement” in the Marianna black community and a Justice of the Peace had Mooring arrested for assault and battery. These incidents were a prelude to Mooring’s involvement in one of the most bizarre and infamous murders in Jackson County history, which will be described in subsequent postings.
Friday, February 04, 2011
Reconstruction Era Blogs: Is this it?
There are hundreds of Civil War blogs, but are there any other blogs devoted primarily to Reconstruction matters? I haven't found any. Has anyone else? I would like to link to them if they exist.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
A Regulator's Miserable End
According to John Q. Dickinson, James A. Chastain of Marianna led the group of night riders who approached the house of Henry Reed in the middle of one night during the chaos of October 1869. Reed, a free born African American carpenter, barely escaped with his life, evading his persecutors in the darkness and hiding under the Ely house. His son was wounded while attempting similarly to escape. The Reed family went into hiding and were spirited out of Jackson County by unidentified sympathizers, possibly the Chapmans. Samuel Fleishman also reported that Chastain joined the town "committee" at the meeting where James P. Coker instructed Fleishman to leave Jackson Co. immediately or risk losing his life.
Chastain's life did not turn out, or end, happily. A Georgia newspaper reported in 1881 that Chastain “a noted burglar and penitentiary convict, who bore the alias of Sutton, and while under arrest and being conducted to the barracks by Capt. Martin and officer Jones, attempting to break from custody, was shot twice, from the effect of which he died.... Chastaine, the dead burglar, was well connected, well educated and a man of the world. He married a Miss Myrick, of Mariana, Florida, some ten or twelve years since, a daughter of John T. Myrick, a prominent merchant of that place, and one of the best families in Florida. He is said to have been born and raised in Lee county, Georgia, but it not known certainly where the place of his nativity is.”
Chastain's life did not turn out, or end, happily. A Georgia newspaper reported in 1881 that Chastain “a noted burglar and penitentiary convict, who bore the alias of Sutton, and while under arrest and being conducted to the barracks by Capt. Martin and officer Jones, attempting to break from custody, was shot twice, from the effect of which he died.... Chastaine, the dead burglar, was well connected, well educated and a man of the world. He married a Miss Myrick, of Mariana, Florida, some ten or twelve years since, a daughter of John T. Myrick, a prominent merchant of that place, and one of the best families in Florida. He is said to have been born and raised in Lee county, Georgia, but it not known certainly where the place of his nativity is.”
[Georgia Weekly Telegraph, April 4, 1881]
UPDATE: May 24, 2011
Chastaine and Huldah Myrick married on May 1, 1867. [http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/jackson/vitals/marriages/184800g2.txt ]
Lots more about James Chastain from Elsa Vorwerk's family genealogical website. Chastain's career in thieving made the news several years earlier than his death:
"The fact transpired more than three weeks since that James A. Chastaine, for several years past cashier for Ely, Harvey & Richardson, had been systematically robbing his employers, but for satisfactory reasons the newspapers consented to temporarily withhold the details from the public. The sums stolen, directly or indirectly, aggregated about $10,000, the greater portion of which it is understood has been secured to the firm through assignment of property owned by Chastaine here and elsewhere. On the 6th instant Chastaine left, ostensibly for Georgia, where he has relatives, but he took the early morning train on the Little Rock Railroad, and was soon heard of in Little Rock and Hot Springs. Meanwhile, it came to light that he had forged the signatureof Mr. Thad. S. Ely, of the firm, to a note or acceptance for $500, and endeavored to sell it to one of his (Chastaine's) most intimate friends; who, however, suspecting that all was not right, declined to purchase. This fact determined the firm to arrest Chastaine. He was overhawled in Hot Springs, a few days since, but before a requisition could reach Governor Garland he was released on a writ of habeas corpus. His first act thereafter was to ship his trunk to St. Louis; his next to "break" for the woods, the better to avoid another arrest. At last accounts he had not been rearrested. Chastaine is a Georgian by birth, and what is known as a "fast man," spending money on himself and friends lavishly, and has been generally esteemed by his friends a "good fellow." It is said that this is not his first crime, but that he stole several thousand dollars from a former employer in Georgia some years ago, but his relatives made up the deficit and stopped the prosecution."
Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinel June 19, 1875: [Memphis Avalanche, June 15, 1875]
From http://woodvorwerk.com/wood/p17987.htm
Chastaine and Huldah Myrick married on May 1, 1867. [http://files.usgwarchives.net/fl/jackson/vitals/marriages/184800g2.txt ]
Lots more about James Chastain from Elsa Vorwerk's family genealogical website. Chastain's career in thieving made the news several years earlier than his death:
"The fact transpired more than three weeks since that James A. Chastaine, for several years past cashier for Ely, Harvey & Richardson, had been systematically robbing his employers, but for satisfactory reasons the newspapers consented to temporarily withhold the details from the public. The sums stolen, directly or indirectly, aggregated about $10,000, the greater portion of which it is understood has been secured to the firm through assignment of property owned by Chastaine here and elsewhere. On the 6th instant Chastaine left, ostensibly for Georgia, where he has relatives, but he took the early morning train on the Little Rock Railroad, and was soon heard of in Little Rock and Hot Springs. Meanwhile, it came to light that he had forged the signatureof Mr. Thad. S. Ely, of the firm, to a note or acceptance for $500, and endeavored to sell it to one of his (Chastaine's) most intimate friends; who, however, suspecting that all was not right, declined to purchase. This fact determined the firm to arrest Chastaine. He was overhawled in Hot Springs, a few days since, but before a requisition could reach Governor Garland he was released on a writ of habeas corpus. His first act thereafter was to ship his trunk to St. Louis; his next to "break" for the woods, the better to avoid another arrest. At last accounts he had not been rearrested. Chastaine is a Georgian by birth, and what is known as a "fast man," spending money on himself and friends lavishly, and has been generally esteemed by his friends a "good fellow." It is said that this is not his first crime, but that he stole several thousand dollars from a former employer in Georgia some years ago, but his relatives made up the deficit and stopped the prosecution."
Augusta Daily Chronicle & Sentinel June 19, 1875: [Memphis Avalanche, June 15, 1875]
From http://woodvorwerk.com/wood/p17987.htm
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
A Jackson County Reconstruction-era Christmas Story: "The Graveyard 'Possum"
T. Thomas Fortune was born into slavery in Jackson County, growing up with his mother, Sarah Jane, in the Marianna home of merchant Eli P. Moore. After Emancipation, Fortune's father, Emanuel, became the first African American appointed and then elected to public office in Jackson County. As an old man, at the end of a long career in the North, culminating in his recognition as the “dean” of African American journalists, Fortune remembered his Florida youth and wrote a series of autobiographical articles he titled “After War Times.” Fortune vividly described Emancipation and the Reconstruction years in Jackson County and, after his family fled violence in 1869, later Jacksonville and Tallahassee. I have been collaborating with Prof. Dawn Herd-Clerk of Fort Valley State Univ. to compile and present Fortune’s “After War Times” series for eventual publication. In the meantime, I thought this delightful extract describing Christmas traditions and relating a wonderful story from the mid-1860s was an appropriate holiday entry for this blog.
[Note: Fortune refers to his ten-year-old self in the third-person as "Timothy."]
“The Graveyard 'Possum
[Note: Fortune refers to his ten-year-old self in the third-person as "Timothy."]
“The Graveyard 'Possum
The Christmas holidays had always been among the most gala for the young and old folks of the country districts of the county, as it was the time of year when the sugarcane was ground and the animals were slaughtered for the year. “Cane grinding time” appealed to the youngsters as a holiday full of sweets, and the older ones also took part and rejoiced in the hunting of the opossum and other wild game, mostly at night, and fishing. Many of the youngsters of the village had been allowed to go up-country and spend the Christmas holidays with relatives on the plantations but Timothy had never been allowed to do so, as he was too young. The second Christmas week after freedom he was allowed to do so. He had grown to be a very wide-a-wake youngster, very much alive to country life and its many pastimes, which he had watched with his developing years and yearned to share to the full.
He went to the Russ plantation, where he had a lot of kinfolks and where he was very much at home. He stopped with Uncle John and there were plenty of children with whom he could make merry. The country eating was the best possible, with plenty of fish and wild game, and he never got his full of chewing cane and drinking hot syrup, - raw brown sugar, the only sort in common use in those days,- and what youngster did get his fill of such! Fishing in the many ponds and small streams was great sport, but the thing Timothy yearned most for was to go 'possum hunting. He had always heard that that was the greatest of things that go along with Christmas holidays.
'Possum hunts usually got underway about the midnight hour. Uncle John made up his party of six, including Timothy, the night after Timothy reached the plantation, and Timothy’s first experience in hunting 'possum was begun. He was all excitement and enthusiasm and felt as frolicsome as the dogs, who do know what the sport is and take a human interest in it. Dogs have lots of sense, with no instinct about it, just as some folks have, and I have often thought that dogs may be folks but can’t tell us they are, except by their actions, which are often very human.
We had not gone far from the plantation before the dogs gave the signal that they had struck a trail. It led straight to the plantation graveyard. The 'possum took to a small oak. When routed from this he took to a larger one, and then routed, he made for the largest tree in the graveyard. Uncle John decided to cut the tree down. Meanwhile the men and the dogs showed that they felt funny about the whole business from the beginning, a graveyard 'possum being regarded as a spirit and hard to capture. The dogs stood off in the direction the tree should fall, and when it fell they rushed for the prey, howling and whining in a most piteous way, but the 'possum eluded them for the third time, and Uncle John decided that was enough. His superstition took charge of him, and he was for giving up the hunt but was overruled by the others.
“Yoo cain’t have no luck when you start off wid a graveyard 'possum foolin’ yoo,” he said, with a shake of the head.
We got up into the persimmon district of the plantation where there were plenty of opossum. The dogs jumped one of the finest which made for a clump of trees and rock, and was grabbed just as he was going into his hole. Then we had no luck for a long time, when we reached the extreme limits of the farm, and were thinking of giving up the hunt. A big one was captured at this point, and, with his tail in a split white oak limb, he was turned over to Timothy to lug. We had to cross a small stream on logs, at this point. Timothy followed the others and the dogs followed him, and kept up a constant snapping at the 'possum. Timothy struck at the dogs behind him to make them desist and the 'possum drove his teeth through the third finger and second joint of the right hand, making him turn loose the limb and 'possum. They all fell into the creek, some on one side and some on the other of the log fence. All were thoroughly drenched, and it had turned freezing cold.
We got on the other side the creek and cut a big dead pine log resin fat, into sections and built a rousing fire and after awhile were dried and thawed out. Timothy’s finger was very painful, and he has yet a deformity of that finger because of the bite of the opossum.
“We ain’t goin’ to hunt no more tonight,” said Uncle John. “That graveyard 'possum done hoodoo the whole business.”
He had. Although Uncle John and the others were born and reared in that part of the county, they lost their way and did not reach their plantation until broad daylight.”
[Sources: Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, August 27, 1927; Philadelphia Tribune, September 1, 1927]
He went to the Russ plantation, where he had a lot of kinfolks and where he was very much at home. He stopped with Uncle John and there were plenty of children with whom he could make merry. The country eating was the best possible, with plenty of fish and wild game, and he never got his full of chewing cane and drinking hot syrup, - raw brown sugar, the only sort in common use in those days,- and what youngster did get his fill of such! Fishing in the many ponds and small streams was great sport, but the thing Timothy yearned most for was to go 'possum hunting. He had always heard that that was the greatest of things that go along with Christmas holidays.
'Possum hunts usually got underway about the midnight hour. Uncle John made up his party of six, including Timothy, the night after Timothy reached the plantation, and Timothy’s first experience in hunting 'possum was begun. He was all excitement and enthusiasm and felt as frolicsome as the dogs, who do know what the sport is and take a human interest in it. Dogs have lots of sense, with no instinct about it, just as some folks have, and I have often thought that dogs may be folks but can’t tell us they are, except by their actions, which are often very human.
We had not gone far from the plantation before the dogs gave the signal that they had struck a trail. It led straight to the plantation graveyard. The 'possum took to a small oak. When routed from this he took to a larger one, and then routed, he made for the largest tree in the graveyard. Uncle John decided to cut the tree down. Meanwhile the men and the dogs showed that they felt funny about the whole business from the beginning, a graveyard 'possum being regarded as a spirit and hard to capture. The dogs stood off in the direction the tree should fall, and when it fell they rushed for the prey, howling and whining in a most piteous way, but the 'possum eluded them for the third time, and Uncle John decided that was enough. His superstition took charge of him, and he was for giving up the hunt but was overruled by the others.
“Yoo cain’t have no luck when you start off wid a graveyard 'possum foolin’ yoo,” he said, with a shake of the head.
We got up into the persimmon district of the plantation where there were plenty of opossum. The dogs jumped one of the finest which made for a clump of trees and rock, and was grabbed just as he was going into his hole. Then we had no luck for a long time, when we reached the extreme limits of the farm, and were thinking of giving up the hunt. A big one was captured at this point, and, with his tail in a split white oak limb, he was turned over to Timothy to lug. We had to cross a small stream on logs, at this point. Timothy followed the others and the dogs followed him, and kept up a constant snapping at the 'possum. Timothy struck at the dogs behind him to make them desist and the 'possum drove his teeth through the third finger and second joint of the right hand, making him turn loose the limb and 'possum. They all fell into the creek, some on one side and some on the other of the log fence. All were thoroughly drenched, and it had turned freezing cold.
We got on the other side the creek and cut a big dead pine log resin fat, into sections and built a rousing fire and after awhile were dried and thawed out. Timothy’s finger was very painful, and he has yet a deformity of that finger because of the bite of the opossum.
“We ain’t goin’ to hunt no more tonight,” said Uncle John. “That graveyard 'possum done hoodoo the whole business.”
He had. Although Uncle John and the others were born and reared in that part of the county, they lost their way and did not reach their plantation until broad daylight.”
[Sources: Norfolk (VA) Journal and Guide, August 27, 1927; Philadelphia Tribune, September 1, 1927]
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Why all the sudden interest? (not complaining)
This blog, which typically has one or two unique hits each day, has smashed all its (admittedly meager) records over the last two days with more than 80 visitors. Almost all of these hits entered on the Marianna Day posting from September. I'm very curious: can anyone offer an explanation for the sudden popularity of thejacksoncountywar.com?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The Frustration of Limited Sources
While there is extensive documentation of the Jackson County War, most of it comes from limited primary sources. Most contemporary information comes from the extensive Congressional KKK Hearings testimony, numerous newspaper reports, and dozens of private letters among the Republican leaders, Hamilton, Purman, and Dickinson. The words of many African Americans are found in the KKK testimony and the later Walls-Niblack hearings testimony. The missing element, ironically, are the words of the native, Jackson County white community, paricularly the Regulators. The views of their sympathizers are presented in Frank Baltzell's Marianna Courier editorials and several anonymous "letters to the editor" reprinted in the Florida Democratic press. I could not find records from James Coker and only a handful of letters from James McClellan, James McLean, or other white leaders in various archives. Also frustrating are the lack of photographs. For example, there are no known pictures of the leader of the Regulators, James Coker, who remained a prominent Marianna merchant until his death in 1888. In fact, there is no record of the location of Coker's grave, although his widow (his much younger, third wife) Ella Holliday lived well into the 20th century. Nor are there any images, or grave location, for his infamous son, Billy Coker. It is very surprising that there are no images or such information about attorney James F. McClellan, who, in addition to be being a successful attorney who argued numerous times before the state's supreme court in Tallashassee, served as a number of years as a Florida circuit court judge based out of Pensacola before his 1890 death. It is much easier to list the photographs that can be found. Among promiment Jackson County citizens, I've received contemporary images of only William H. Milton (a wartime photograph courtesy of Dale) and Charles W. Davis (courtesy of a family member), plus a group photo that includes an elderly William D. Barnes (also from Dale). There are no images found (yet) from the Reconstruction era of Ely, Bond, Barnes, Lott, Myrick, Alderman, Baker, Baltzell, Bush etc.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
November 1870: A Brutal Election Day
On November 8, 1870, Jackson County witnessed perhaps the most violent election day in its history. After ambivalent, almost disbelieving, responses to previous elections won by Republicans candidates, the Conservative-Democrat whites were determined to win back control. James Coker and Dr. Alexander Tennille set the example for several white men brandishing sticks who intermittently harassed black men lined up at the polls to cast ballots and taunted that there would now be a "white man's government." Several black men were beaten and a riot seemed ready to explode at any moment. At one decisive moment, Jim Baker, a white man, grabbed Coker's pistol to prevent the Regulator's leader from shooting a black voter. Republicans alleged that Judge William Anderson improperly closed the polls before sunset, preventing many men from voting.
These tactics helped eliminate the large Republican majority. While Charles Hamilton had carried the county by 831 votes two years earlier, now the Republican candidate for congress, Josiah Walls, led by only 4 votes. Conservative attorney James C. McLean, a rising leader in Jackson County, took an assembly seat, breaking the Republican hold over Jackson County's seats in the state legislature. John Barfield, a "scalawag" farmer, won a place in the assembly as a Republican, but resigned under pressure soon afterwards. Ben Livingston, an African American grocer, whose son had been murdered at the picnic shootings a year earlier, gained the remaining assembly seat.
These mixed results seemed to infuriate the Regulators even more and frustration at their failure to win back control of the county government through the ballot led to the resumption of more extreme measures.
These tactics helped eliminate the large Republican majority. While Charles Hamilton had carried the county by 831 votes two years earlier, now the Republican candidate for congress, Josiah Walls, led by only 4 votes. Conservative attorney James C. McLean, a rising leader in Jackson County, took an assembly seat, breaking the Republican hold over Jackson County's seats in the state legislature. John Barfield, a "scalawag" farmer, won a place in the assembly as a Republican, but resigned under pressure soon afterwards. Ben Livingston, an African American grocer, whose son had been murdered at the picnic shootings a year earlier, gained the remaining assembly seat.
These mixed results seemed to infuriate the Regulators even more and frustration at their failure to win back control of the county government through the ballot led to the resumption of more extreme measures.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Black Confederates: A Different Viewpoint
The debate over African Americans having served in the Confederate Army is raging across the internet. Much of the discussion focuses on nuance (e.g., did African Americans serve as "soldiers" as opposed to camp attendants, did they serve as slaves or of their volition, etc.) and many of the participants are speaking past each other. I found the following excerpt from Congressional testimony taken in early 1866 fascinating in offering the viewpoint of some Tallahassee blacks that suggests much of this debate is moot or misplaced. It must be considered, however, that this passage is retold by a white, Yankee interlocutor. Rev. L. M. Hobbs toured much of Florida in 1864 and 1865 and became associated with the Freedmen's Bureau's education efforts. Sometime in late 1865, he spoke to some African American young men at a school in the Tallahassee area. The discussion eventually turned to service in the Confederate army, or maybe Florida's militia. Hobbs told his Congressional interviewers the following:
“I asked the boys what they understood freedom to mean. They said that to be free was to be their own; that is, that they were not under the control of another person to be bought and sold. I asked them if they could do as they pleased now that they were free. They said they could not break the law – could not do wrong without being punished. I asked them how they knew they had been made free. They said that when the Union soldiers came and hoisted theUnited States Tallahassee United States
“I asked the boys what they understood freedom to mean. They said that to be free was to be their own; that is, that they were not under the control of another person to be bought and sold. I asked them if they could do as they pleased now that they were free. They said they could not break the law – could not do wrong without being punished. I asked them how they knew they had been made free. They said that when the Union soldiers came and hoisted the
Thursday, October 07, 2010
"The Jackson County War" book
The University of Alabama Press has confirmed that it will publish The Jackson County War. Release is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2012.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
141 Years Ago: The Picnic Shootings
This post is a re-posting from least year's anniversary:
The most tumultuous, and tragic, events in Jackson County’s history have taken place in the autumn, including the Battle of Marianna in 1864, and the infamous Claude Neal lynching seventy years later. The shootings and assaults of the Jackson County War lasted more than two years, but the most virulent phase came during several weeks beginning in late September 1869.
On the morning of Sept. 28th, five years and one day after the Battle of Marianna, a party of about twenty African American women and children set off on a picnic outing. Their destination was the Natural Bridge, a few miles outside of Marianna. A few men, including Constable Calvin Rogers escorted the group. Rogers, an African American, had long been resented by Regulator elements and, after the shootings of Purman, Finlayson and Constable Pooser the previous spring, an assault on Rogers seemed inevitable. At about 9 a.m., assailants concealed behind thick bushes fired thirteen or fourteen shots in "rapid succession." Rogers, sitting in an ox cart, had his clothes and wallet torn by three or four shots, but suffered only a grazed arm. Rogers fired back in the direction of the shooters with the one round in his gun. He called out to Wyatt Young, who had gone on ahead, to bring ammunition. Meanwhile, confusion and fright overcame the party of picnic-goers. An ox pulling a cart carrying two-year-old Stewart Livingston panicked and bolted. Wyatt Young grabbed the little boy from the cart just as a bullet passed through the boy's skull and into the left side of Young's chest, killing both of them instantly.
As abruptly as it had begun, the firing ended. Within ninety minutes, news of this tragedy reached Marianna. John Quincy Dickinson, the senior law enforcement authority remaining in Jackson County, organized a posse of thirty men to search for the killers. They scoured the area around the site of the shooting for evidence. "A mysterious buggy-track" leading from Marianna to the Natural Bridge and out toward Greenwood was discovered, but nightfall ended the investigation.
This account is adapted from the forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War.
The most tumultuous, and tragic, events in Jackson County’s history have taken place in the autumn, including the Battle of Marianna in 1864, and the infamous Claude Neal lynching seventy years later. The shootings and assaults of the Jackson County War lasted more than two years, but the most virulent phase came during several weeks beginning in late September 1869.
On the morning of Sept. 28th, five years and one day after the Battle of Marianna, a party of about twenty African American women and children set off on a picnic outing. Their destination was the Natural Bridge, a few miles outside of Marianna. A few men, including Constable Calvin Rogers escorted the group. Rogers, an African American, had long been resented by Regulator elements and, after the shootings of Purman, Finlayson and Constable Pooser the previous spring, an assault on Rogers seemed inevitable. At about 9 a.m., assailants concealed behind thick bushes fired thirteen or fourteen shots in "rapid succession." Rogers, sitting in an ox cart, had his clothes and wallet torn by three or four shots, but suffered only a grazed arm. Rogers fired back in the direction of the shooters with the one round in his gun. He called out to Wyatt Young, who had gone on ahead, to bring ammunition. Meanwhile, confusion and fright overcame the party of picnic-goers. An ox pulling a cart carrying two-year-old Stewart Livingston panicked and bolted. Wyatt Young grabbed the little boy from the cart just as a bullet passed through the boy's skull and into the left side of Young's chest, killing both of them instantly.
As abruptly as it had begun, the firing ended. Within ninety minutes, news of this tragedy reached Marianna. John Quincy Dickinson, the senior law enforcement authority remaining in Jackson County, organized a posse of thirty men to search for the killers. They scoured the area around the site of the shooting for evidence. "A mysterious buggy-track" leading from Marianna to the Natural Bridge and out toward Greenwood was discovered, but nightfall ended the investigation.
This account is adapted from the forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Celebration of Marianna Day in the 20th Century
Coinciding with last year’s 145th anniversary of the Battle of Marianna, the town of Marianna and Jackson County revived the celebration of Marianna Day. The commemoration of the Battle of Marianna has a long history and, early in the twentieth century, many Florida communities observed the anniversary. The events were typically organized by United Daughters of the Confederacy chapters and were refined affairs, involving recitations, musical performances and readings. Local veterans and children were invited to participate. The following accounts are probably representative:
“Wednesday afternoon at two-thirty, Mrs. Jos. E. Wilson entertained the veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy at the beautiful home of her father, Col. W. T. Weeks, on Cherry street.
The house was elaborately decorated with large and small flags, ferns and roses. On the front veranda was placed a large punch bowl and Mrs. J. M. Brownlee served the arriving guests with this refreshing beverage.
The chapter historian, Mrs. J. M. Alvarez, arranged a program suitable to the occasion, which was the anniversary of the Battle of Marianna, and was as follows:
Invocation, Rv. W. G. Law
“A Medley of Southern Airs” – Played by Victrola
Solo, “Somewhere a Voice is Calling” – Mrs. A. Z. Adkins
A paper on the Battle of Marianna by Mr. H. Robinson, of Jacksonville, sole surviving Confederate participant, read by Mrs. R. A. Weeks.
Paper, “Wrongs of History Righted” – Mrs. J. M. Alvarez
Song, “Silver Threads Among the Gold” – Victrola
Solo, “Mother McCree” – Mrs. A. Z. Adkins
The approach of refreshments was announced by white paper napkins being distributed among the guests . . .
The veterans thoroughly appreciated the occasion and were enthusiastic in the praise of the honors shown them.”
Bradford County Telegraph, Sept. 29, 1916.
Pensacola was disorganized in 1908 but then held two Marianna Day events in 1909:
“At eight o’clock this evening there will be special services at Christ church in celebration of the anniversary of the battle of Marianna, Rev. P. H. Whaley conducting the services. All the southern organizations are extended a special invitation to attend. The crosses of honor for the veterans will not be presented at this time, owing to the fact that the order for them could not be filled immediately.”
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 27, 1908
“The United Daughters of the Confederacy held a very interesting exercise at the armory hall Monday at 10:30 a.m., to commemorate Marianna Day and Raphael Semmes’ birthday. The president, Mrs. W. R. Snead, presided. The following program was rendered:
Prayer – Rev. Clyde Johnson
Suwanee River – Chapter
Report of Chapter – Miss. M. F. Milton
Instrumental Solo – Miss Gussie Whitaker
Recitation, 'Marianna' - Miss Clara Lorley
Poem of 'Battle of Marianna,' written by Mrs. F. B. Chapman, read by Mrs. B. S. Liddon.
'Dixie' – By children of Confederacy"
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 29, 1909
At the Hotel Escambia, a reception, given “in honor of Marianna Day… and also in compliment to the Confederate Veterans…proved a success in every particular.” At this event “Members of all the Confederate associations in the city together with many of their friends were present.” The program was similar in format, although different in content, from the armory hall event. The evening concluded with the presentation of “crosses of honor.”
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 28, 1909
Also in 1909, Gainesville’s Kirby Smith UDC Chapter gathered for a “meeting of historical nature” that was “well attended” at the residence of the chapter’s president, Mrs. H. H. McCreary. This event included music and readings, featuring the recitation of a paper titled “The Battle of Marianna and Reminiscences of the War” by the chapter’s historian, Mrs. F. M. Prewitt.
Gainesville Daily Sun, Sept. 28 and 30, 1909
In 1913, the Miami UDC chapter held a picnic to commemorate Marianna Day and marked the occasion by unveiling a “handsome monument” to Confederate soldiers at the courthouse.
Orlando Daily Sentinel, Sept. 19, 1913
One account of an early Marianna commemoration suggests a less formal and, perhaps, one hopes, a less sedate event: “S. M. Robertson, J. B. Locky, D. C. Buie, W. H. Waldon and J. Baxley attended the meeting of Confederate Veterans at Marianna Friday. The occasion was a celebration of commemoration of the Battle of Marianna. They say they had a most enjoyable time and were treated royally.”
Chipley Banner, Oct. 3, 1912
A journalist reported a poignant moment during the 1927 observance. That year, the Florida division of the United Confederated Veterans held their reunion in Marianna to coincide with Marianna Day. For the first time, the elderly veterans in attendance rode the parade route in automobiles rather than march on foot. An official explained that this change was necessary because the “cost” for these aged veterans of walking “was too high in past years…invariably the task has overtaxed a man and we have lost a part of the precious few.” The 1927 event also saw the participation of Union army veterans who returned the flag of Gen. Finley’s Florida brigade captured at the Battle of Franklin.
Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 28, 1927
As can be seen from the above accounts, the observance of Marianna Day was often the preserve of the UDC. The role assumed by the UDC and the popularity of these early twentieth century Marianna Day celebrations may have been spurred, to some degree, by Mrs. Fannie B. Chapman. Mrs. Chapman, the widow of Washington Chapman, lived in Marianna during the war years and Reconstruction before moving to Pensacola. She became very involved in the UDC, rising to leadership positions. Around 1908-10, Mrs. Chapman wrote a series of articles for the Pensacola newspapers recollecting ante-bellum and war-time Jackson County. Her account of the Battle of Marianna is an important source. Interestingly, during the chaos of the fall of 1869, Mrs. Chapman displayed her implacable courage when she probably saved the life of her servant’s friend, a young African American named Joseph Nelson, who had been seized by the Regulators taking control of the town. Mrs. Chapman marched up to the chief of the Regulators and declared Nelson’s innocence from involvement in violence and then demanded and obtained Nelson’s release from custody. The Chapmans may also have played a role in 1869 in protecting other persecuted African American families.
The commemoration of Marianna Day, at least as a public event, slowly faded over the course of the twentieth century as the last individuals with memories of the War passed away. Also, as Florida’s population changed rapidly during the mid and late twentieth century, the explicitly nostalgic “Lost Cause” nature of the programs greatly limited their appeal. We do have an account, however, of the centennial celebration held at Marianna in 1964, featuring an appearance by U.S. Senator (and former governor) Spessard Holland:
“The Celebration of the Centennial of the Battle of Marianna, was held in Marianna at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, on Sunday afternoon, September 27, at two o’clock, with the William Henry Milton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in charge.
The services began with a religious service held in the main body of the church, and then the assembly filed out to the Parish House for the main program with Senator Spessard Holland as speaker. Mrs. Wilson L. Baker of Tampa, president of the Florida Division of the U.D.C. presented Senator Holland to the assembly, after the singing of “Dixie” by the group and a choral number by a group from Chipola Junior College.
Senator Holland gave a resume of the battle, stating that it was fought on the grounds where the first Episcopal Church stood, that it was burned during the battle, along with two fine residences, that there were casualties on both sides, that the Federals retreated to Pensacola with their wounded. The Federals were trained militia, sent to take the territory as a valuable farming source of Confederacy supplies along with the salt works on the coast, and the Confederate forces doing the defending were of “The Cradle to Grave,” being boys under fifteen and men too old for army service, who were at home farming. They only had old fire arms, no military weapons, but made a brave effort to defend their homes.”
Gadsden County Times, Oct. 1, 1964
The organizers of Marianna Day in 2009 preserved the historical origin of the celebration - to commemorate the valiant defense of the town and remember the fallen – while broadening its scope to encompass a festival with music and events that welcomed the entire community. Hopefully, with such an inclusive program, Marianna Day will continue be a great success and the precedent for an annual celebration.
“Wednesday afternoon at two-thirty, Mrs. Jos. E. Wilson entertained the veterans and Daughters of the Confederacy at the beautiful home of her father, Col. W. T. Weeks, on Cherry street.
The house was elaborately decorated with large and small flags, ferns and roses. On the front veranda was placed a large punch bowl and Mrs. J. M. Brownlee served the arriving guests with this refreshing beverage.
The chapter historian, Mrs. J. M. Alvarez, arranged a program suitable to the occasion, which was the anniversary of the Battle of Marianna, and was as follows:
Invocation, Rv. W. G. Law
“A Medley of Southern Airs” – Played by Victrola
Solo, “Somewhere a Voice is Calling” – Mrs. A. Z. Adkins
A paper on the Battle of Marianna by Mr. H. Robinson, of Jacksonville, sole surviving Confederate participant, read by Mrs. R. A. Weeks.
Paper, “Wrongs of History Righted” – Mrs. J. M. Alvarez
Song, “Silver Threads Among the Gold” – Victrola
Solo, “Mother McCree” – Mrs. A. Z. Adkins
The approach of refreshments was announced by white paper napkins being distributed among the guests . . .
The veterans thoroughly appreciated the occasion and were enthusiastic in the praise of the honors shown them.”
Bradford County Telegraph, Sept. 29, 1916.
Pensacola was disorganized in 1908 but then held two Marianna Day events in 1909:
“At eight o’clock this evening there will be special services at Christ church in celebration of the anniversary of the battle of Marianna, Rev. P. H. Whaley conducting the services. All the southern organizations are extended a special invitation to attend. The crosses of honor for the veterans will not be presented at this time, owing to the fact that the order for them could not be filled immediately.”
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 27, 1908
“The United Daughters of the Confederacy held a very interesting exercise at the armory hall Monday at 10:30 a.m., to commemorate Marianna Day and Raphael Semmes’ birthday. The president, Mrs. W. R. Snead, presided. The following program was rendered:
Prayer – Rev. Clyde Johnson
Suwanee River – Chapter
Report of Chapter – Miss. M. F. Milton
Instrumental Solo – Miss Gussie Whitaker
Recitation, 'Marianna' - Miss Clara Lorley
Poem of 'Battle of Marianna,' written by Mrs. F. B. Chapman, read by Mrs. B. S. Liddon.
'Dixie' – By children of Confederacy"
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 29, 1909
At the Hotel Escambia, a reception, given “in honor of Marianna Day… and also in compliment to the Confederate Veterans…proved a success in every particular.” At this event “Members of all the Confederate associations in the city together with many of their friends were present.” The program was similar in format, although different in content, from the armory hall event. The evening concluded with the presentation of “crosses of honor.”
Pensacola Journal, Sept. 28, 1909
Also in 1909, Gainesville’s Kirby Smith UDC Chapter gathered for a “meeting of historical nature” that was “well attended” at the residence of the chapter’s president, Mrs. H. H. McCreary. This event included music and readings, featuring the recitation of a paper titled “The Battle of Marianna and Reminiscences of the War” by the chapter’s historian, Mrs. F. M. Prewitt.
Gainesville Daily Sun, Sept. 28 and 30, 1909
In 1913, the Miami UDC chapter held a picnic to commemorate Marianna Day and marked the occasion by unveiling a “handsome monument” to Confederate soldiers at the courthouse.
Orlando Daily Sentinel, Sept. 19, 1913
One account of an early Marianna commemoration suggests a less formal and, perhaps, one hopes, a less sedate event: “S. M. Robertson, J. B. Locky, D. C. Buie, W. H. Waldon and J. Baxley attended the meeting of Confederate Veterans at Marianna Friday. The occasion was a celebration of commemoration of the Battle of Marianna. They say they had a most enjoyable time and were treated royally.”
Chipley Banner, Oct. 3, 1912
A journalist reported a poignant moment during the 1927 observance. That year, the Florida division of the United Confederated Veterans held their reunion in Marianna to coincide with Marianna Day. For the first time, the elderly veterans in attendance rode the parade route in automobiles rather than march on foot. An official explained that this change was necessary because the “cost” for these aged veterans of walking “was too high in past years…invariably the task has overtaxed a man and we have lost a part of the precious few.” The 1927 event also saw the participation of Union army veterans who returned the flag of Gen. Finley’s Florida brigade captured at the Battle of Franklin.
Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 28, 1927
As can be seen from the above accounts, the observance of Marianna Day was often the preserve of the UDC. The role assumed by the UDC and the popularity of these early twentieth century Marianna Day celebrations may have been spurred, to some degree, by Mrs. Fannie B. Chapman. Mrs. Chapman, the widow of Washington Chapman, lived in Marianna during the war years and Reconstruction before moving to Pensacola. She became very involved in the UDC, rising to leadership positions. Around 1908-10, Mrs. Chapman wrote a series of articles for the Pensacola newspapers recollecting ante-bellum and war-time Jackson County. Her account of the Battle of Marianna is an important source. Interestingly, during the chaos of the fall of 1869, Mrs. Chapman displayed her implacable courage when she probably saved the life of her servant’s friend, a young African American named Joseph Nelson, who had been seized by the Regulators taking control of the town. Mrs. Chapman marched up to the chief of the Regulators and declared Nelson’s innocence from involvement in violence and then demanded and obtained Nelson’s release from custody. The Chapmans may also have played a role in 1869 in protecting other persecuted African American families.
The commemoration of Marianna Day, at least as a public event, slowly faded over the course of the twentieth century as the last individuals with memories of the War passed away. Also, as Florida’s population changed rapidly during the mid and late twentieth century, the explicitly nostalgic “Lost Cause” nature of the programs greatly limited their appeal. We do have an account, however, of the centennial celebration held at Marianna in 1964, featuring an appearance by U.S. Senator (and former governor) Spessard Holland:
“The Celebration of the Centennial of the Battle of Marianna, was held in Marianna at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, on Sunday afternoon, September 27, at two o’clock, with the William Henry Milton Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in charge.
The services began with a religious service held in the main body of the church, and then the assembly filed out to the Parish House for the main program with Senator Spessard Holland as speaker. Mrs. Wilson L. Baker of Tampa, president of the Florida Division of the U.D.C. presented Senator Holland to the assembly, after the singing of “Dixie” by the group and a choral number by a group from Chipola Junior College.
Senator Holland gave a resume of the battle, stating that it was fought on the grounds where the first Episcopal Church stood, that it was burned during the battle, along with two fine residences, that there were casualties on both sides, that the Federals retreated to Pensacola with their wounded. The Federals were trained militia, sent to take the territory as a valuable farming source of Confederacy supplies along with the salt works on the coast, and the Confederate forces doing the defending were of “The Cradle to Grave,” being boys under fifteen and men too old for army service, who were at home farming. They only had old fire arms, no military weapons, but made a brave effort to defend their homes.”
Gadsden County Times, Oct. 1, 1964
The organizers of Marianna Day in 2009 preserved the historical origin of the celebration - to commemorate the valiant defense of the town and remember the fallen – while broadening its scope to encompass a festival with music and events that welcomed the entire community. Hopefully, with such an inclusive program, Marianna Day will continue be a great success and the precedent for an annual celebration.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Charles Hamilton and the 5th PA Reserves at Antietam
Corporal Hamilton and his Company A of the 5th PA Reserves fought in a sharp, fierce action charging up steep, rocky terrain at South Mountain. They then marched along with the rest of Seymour's First Brigade of Pennsylvania Reserve regiments in Meade's 3rd Division of Hooker's I Corps to Sharpsburg. On the early evening of Sept. 16th, they came down the Smoketown Road to the East Woods, bordering on the north east and east side of the cornfield to be become infamous the next day.
(The edge of the East Woods)
The 5th PA Reserves formed the extreme left of the I Corps. There was heavy skirmishing that night, and Col. Fisher reconnoitered the ground to the east of the woods, coming into contact with the 4th Alabama in the darkness. Early the next morning, Sept. 17th, the 5th advanced through the east edge of the East Woods, driving out any Confederates and supporting the left of the 13th PA (the "Bucktail" regiment). Moving just to the east of the Smoketown Road, the 5th emerged at the south-east corner of the East Woods.
(South east area of the East Woods from the Smoketown Road)
According to Ezra Carmen, the 5th PA Reserves "lining up behind the fence, opened fire upon Trimble's Brigade, in line across the plowed field near the Mumma grave-yard, 300 yards distant. The fighting was severe, the Confederates suffering most, being on open ground, while the Pennsylvanians had the cover of trees."
(Fence along original fence line at bend in the Smoketown Road where it emerges from the East Woods, the Mumma graveyard in a brick enclosure in front of the trees in the center).
At this point the Bucktails ran out of ammunition and pulled back to be relieved by the 2nd Reserves. Col. Fisher saw the 13th pull back but not the 2nd coming into the line. Apparently, believing his right was gone, leaving the 5th exposed now on the right as well as left, Fisher led his regiment back through the East Woods and out of action for the rest of the day.
(The edge of the East Woods)
The 5th PA Reserves formed the extreme left of the I Corps. There was heavy skirmishing that night, and Col. Fisher reconnoitered the ground to the east of the woods, coming into contact with the 4th Alabama in the darkness. Early the next morning, Sept. 17th, the 5th advanced through the east edge of the East Woods, driving out any Confederates and supporting the left of the 13th PA (the "Bucktail" regiment). Moving just to the east of the Smoketown Road, the 5th emerged at the south-east corner of the East Woods.
According to Ezra Carmen, the 5th PA Reserves "lining up behind the fence, opened fire upon Trimble's Brigade, in line across the plowed field near the Mumma grave-yard, 300 yards distant. The fighting was severe, the Confederates suffering most, being on open ground, while the Pennsylvanians had the cover of trees."
At this point the Bucktails ran out of ammunition and pulled back to be relieved by the 2nd Reserves. Col. Fisher saw the 13th pull back but not the 2nd coming into the line. Apparently, believing his right was gone, leaving the 5th exposed now on the right as well as left, Fisher led his regiment back through the East Woods and out of action for the rest of the day.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
August 1870: Debacle - Hamilton and Purman return to Marianna
Facing a serious challenge for the Democratic nomination for the congress, Hamilton planned to rally his support base by campaigning in Jackson County. The dedication of a new schoolhouse in Marianna in early August provided the occasion for a public rally and Hamilton’s first visit to Jackson County in nearly two years. Hamilton arrived accompanied by Purman, and a small band of supporters. From the start, this visit was a disaster. Hearing rumors of a planned assault, they fortified their lodgings, posted armed guards at the windows. The night was full of "great excitement" with the "running of horses and blowing of horns."
The rally was a catastrophe. To Hamilton’s complete surprise, J. C. Gibbs, Florida’s Secretary of State and a challenger for the Democratic nomination, appeared and attacked Hamilton, blaming him for the recent violence. This denunciation from Florida’s most prominent African American office-holder delighted the audience filled with the former Bureau Agents’ white antagonists.
After the meeting ended, Hamilton and Purman faced the daunting prospect of leaving Jackson County alive. Reliable information indicated their lodging would be stormed, but that all the routes heading east toward Gadsden County were picketed by waiting assassins. Purman and Hamilton upped the ante by proposing to raise a posse of several hundred armed blacks to escort them out of Jackson County. News of this proposal alarmed leading Marianna citizens who assembled to negotiate with Hamilton and Purman over measures to ensure their safe and swift exit from Jackson County. Hamilton and Purman prepared a list of twenty prominent white citizens and announced that if ten of the proposed men would escort them over the Apalachicola River, they would retract their call to raise a posse of blacks. The ten men gathered and the party left Marianna, selecting an unfrequented road northward toward the Georgia border and Bainbridge, rather than one of the main roads leaving east to Quincy.
Upon their safe arrival in Bainbridge, Purman and Hamilton thanked their escorts, treated them to champagne, and released them. Marianna Courier editor Frank Baltzell later accused the leading citizens who provided the escort as having "tarnished their honor and contaminated their characters" by consenting to protect Hamilton and Purman.
The rally was a catastrophe. To Hamilton’s complete surprise, J. C. Gibbs, Florida’s Secretary of State and a challenger for the Democratic nomination, appeared and attacked Hamilton, blaming him for the recent violence. This denunciation from Florida’s most prominent African American office-holder delighted the audience filled with the former Bureau Agents’ white antagonists.
After the meeting ended, Hamilton and Purman faced the daunting prospect of leaving Jackson County alive. Reliable information indicated their lodging would be stormed, but that all the routes heading east toward Gadsden County were picketed by waiting assassins. Purman and Hamilton upped the ante by proposing to raise a posse of several hundred armed blacks to escort them out of Jackson County. News of this proposal alarmed leading Marianna citizens who assembled to negotiate with Hamilton and Purman over measures to ensure their safe and swift exit from Jackson County. Hamilton and Purman prepared a list of twenty prominent white citizens and announced that if ten of the proposed men would escort them over the Apalachicola River, they would retract their call to raise a posse of blacks. The ten men gathered and the party left Marianna, selecting an unfrequented road northward toward the Georgia border and Bainbridge, rather than one of the main roads leaving east to Quincy.
Upon their safe arrival in Bainbridge, Purman and Hamilton thanked their escorts, treated them to champagne, and released them. Marianna Courier editor Frank Baltzell later accused the leading citizens who provided the escort as having "tarnished their honor and contaminated their characters" by consenting to protect Hamilton and Purman.
Monday, July 19, 2010
"Bloody Settlement of an Old Feud in Jackson County"
Recent studies have shown that Florida was among the most violent states during the nineteenth century. Prior to the War, however, Jackson County held the reputation of one of the most peaceful regions in that state. The post-war period quickly ended that. Although occuring at the beginning of the Reconstruction era, the remarkable confrontation recounted in the following newspaper extract seems to have arisen from a personal dispute, not some political cause. This story is not directly pertinent to The Jackson County War, but gives a fascinating depiction of extra-legal dispute resolution:
"A serious shooting affair occurred at Neely's Store, in Jackson county, on Wednesday, 29th ult. [ed. Nov. 29, 1865]. The parties concerned were two men by the name of Williams, and one named Clare, on one side, and two Hams, father and son, on the other. The cause was an old feud existing for sometime. For the purpose of settlement they met at the precinct on election day, armed with rifles and double-barreled guns. At the first fire, one of the Williams was killed, and Ham, Sr., firing at the other brother, Newton Williams, missed his aim, the ball unfortunately taking effect on the body of a Baptist preacher, named Grantham, and inflicting what is believed to be a mortal wound. Meanwhile, the younger Ham was shot down, and his father, standing over him, defended his body with clubbed, but empty gun. While thus engaged, Newton Williams approached, and firing one barrel with fatal effect, into the breast of the father, turned and discharged the other through the head of the prostrate and disabled son. This ended the difficulty. Newton Williams remained on the ground nearly all day, assisted in the burial of his brother, and defied arrest. Next day, Captain [ed. Charles C.] Rawn of the Seventh Infantry, in command at Marianna, with a rifle of men, proceeded to the spot, and arrested Williams at his own house. Clare, at last accounts, was still at large. - Quincy Commonwealth,"
quoted in the Richmond Daily Dispatch, Dec. 28, 1865. [recovered from http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr ]
3 men face off against 2 to settle "an old feud," and 3 of them, and possibly a 4th man, a bystander, are killed! Some searching around on the census records gives information about the individuals involved. Newton Williams, also referred to as Jasper Newton Williams (not to be confused with a man born in 1847 in Jackson County with the same name) was about 31 at the time of this incident. Williams was allegedly to have killed Green White and Sancho Turner during their botched attempt to seize Sgt. Bond described in the Aug. 1869 post. In addition, Williams is said to have shot his friend Sgt. Bond in the leg during a drunken card game, giving him a total of 5 men shot and 4 murdered. Williams had two brothers, James Williams, about one year older, and William Williams Jr., 5 years younger. I'm not sure which brother was killed by the Hams, but I'm guessing it is James since the Williams brothers' father, William Williams Sr., was living with James in the 1860 census, but lives with Newton's family in the 1870 records.
The Hams are most likely William Ham, about 53 at the time of his death, based on the 1860 census, and his son is possibly Patrick, who, again according to the 1860 census, would have been about 19 when Newton Williams shot him in cold blood. William Ham was fairly prosperous, listed as owning 120 acres of land in the 1860 records. The only Grantham who is plausible as a victim is Daniel, about 40 in 1865, but listed as a farm laborer, not a minister.
I cannot find any information about Williams brothers ally, Clare.
"A serious shooting affair occurred at Neely's Store, in Jackson county, on Wednesday, 29th ult. [ed. Nov. 29, 1865]. The parties concerned were two men by the name of Williams, and one named Clare, on one side, and two Hams, father and son, on the other. The cause was an old feud existing for sometime. For the purpose of settlement they met at the precinct on election day, armed with rifles and double-barreled guns. At the first fire, one of the Williams was killed, and Ham, Sr., firing at the other brother, Newton Williams, missed his aim, the ball unfortunately taking effect on the body of a Baptist preacher, named Grantham, and inflicting what is believed to be a mortal wound. Meanwhile, the younger Ham was shot down, and his father, standing over him, defended his body with clubbed, but empty gun. While thus engaged, Newton Williams approached, and firing one barrel with fatal effect, into the breast of the father, turned and discharged the other through the head of the prostrate and disabled son. This ended the difficulty. Newton Williams remained on the ground nearly all day, assisted in the burial of his brother, and defied arrest. Next day, Captain [ed. Charles C.] Rawn of the Seventh Infantry, in command at Marianna, with a rifle of men, proceeded to the spot, and arrested Williams at his own house. Clare, at last accounts, was still at large. - Quincy Commonwealth,"
quoted in the Richmond Daily Dispatch, Dec. 28, 1865. [recovered from http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr ]
3 men face off against 2 to settle "an old feud," and 3 of them, and possibly a 4th man, a bystander, are killed! Some searching around on the census records gives information about the individuals involved. Newton Williams, also referred to as Jasper Newton Williams (not to be confused with a man born in 1847 in Jackson County with the same name) was about 31 at the time of this incident. Williams was allegedly to have killed Green White and Sancho Turner during their botched attempt to seize Sgt. Bond described in the Aug. 1869 post. In addition, Williams is said to have shot his friend Sgt. Bond in the leg during a drunken card game, giving him a total of 5 men shot and 4 murdered. Williams had two brothers, James Williams, about one year older, and William Williams Jr., 5 years younger. I'm not sure which brother was killed by the Hams, but I'm guessing it is James since the Williams brothers' father, William Williams Sr., was living with James in the 1860 census, but lives with Newton's family in the 1870 records.
The Hams are most likely William Ham, about 53 at the time of his death, based on the 1860 census, and his son is possibly Patrick, who, again according to the 1860 census, would have been about 19 when Newton Williams shot him in cold blood. William Ham was fairly prosperous, listed as owning 120 acres of land in the 1860 records. The only Grantham who is plausible as a victim is Daniel, about 40 in 1865, but listed as a farm laborer, not a minister.
I cannot find any information about Williams brothers ally, Clare.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
The Fourth of July during Reconstruction days
For a description of Fourth of July celebrations in Jackson County during Reconstruction, refer to my post from last year:
http://www.thejacksoncountywar.com/2009/06/excellant-barbecue-celebration-of-4th.html
http://www.thejacksoncountywar.com/2009/06/excellant-barbecue-celebration-of-4th.html
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
May 1870: A Grand Tournament
The image of the old South as a society role playing the chivalrous world of a Sir Walter Scott novel is not entirely Hollywood myth. Riding skill competitions and feasts with fanciful medieval-like pageantry and ritual had been common in the South since the 1850s. In the post-war years, these events became even more popular. Jackson County held a particularly "grand tournament" in May 1870:
The field of play was set up midway between Marianna and Greenwood where a ring was suspended from an arch and a rostrum erected for the judges. In a nearby grove, a throne and dinner table were assembled. Captain Joseph Barnes of Greenwood commanded the band of twenty knights, dressed in "tasty and attractive costumes," who rode "their noble and beautifully caparisoned steeds with an ease and grace that challenged the admiration of all." John M. F. Erwin, serving as "Field Marshall," read the program and William D. Barnes addressed the audience. After tilting for the suspended ring, the champion, Robert Hearn, crowned Miss Lizzie Bryan the Queen of Love and Beauty. Other successful Knights chose four Maids of Honor. After a sumptuous dinner, the crowd returned to Marianna for a ball held across three large halls, and dancing lasted until dawn."
Such festivities must have been cathartic after the violence of the previous fall. Black citizens, however, did not attend, except for members of the "delightful band which discoursed sweet music the while." At least for a few hours, some Jackson County residents could pretend that nothing had changed.
This account is adapted from the forthcoming book, The Jackson County War.
The field of play was set up midway between Marianna and Greenwood where a ring was suspended from an arch and a rostrum erected for the judges. In a nearby grove, a throne and dinner table were assembled. Captain Joseph Barnes of Greenwood commanded the band of twenty knights, dressed in "tasty and attractive costumes," who rode "their noble and beautifully caparisoned steeds with an ease and grace that challenged the admiration of all." John M. F. Erwin, serving as "Field Marshall," read the program and William D. Barnes addressed the audience. After tilting for the suspended ring, the champion, Robert Hearn, crowned Miss Lizzie Bryan the Queen of Love and Beauty. Other successful Knights chose four Maids of Honor. After a sumptuous dinner, the crowd returned to Marianna for a ball held across three large halls, and dancing lasted until dawn."
Such festivities must have been cathartic after the violence of the previous fall. Black citizens, however, did not attend, except for members of the "delightful band which discoursed sweet music the while." At least for a few hours, some Jackson County residents could pretend that nothing had changed.
This account is adapted from the forthcoming book, The Jackson County War.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Recognition for the "Samuel Fleishman" article
Serendipitously, I discovered yesterday that "Samuel Fleishman: Tragedy in Reconstruction-Era Florida" Southern Jewish History 8 (2005), 31-76, is listed among 36 articles nominated by the Organization of American Historians for its Best American History Essays of 2008 competition. Fleishman didn't make the final cut of ten essays chosen for reprint in the OAH's annual book, but apparently it was culled from among thousands of essays to receive the honor of nomination.
Monday, March 01, 2010
The Sound of the Rebel Yell
John Quincy Dickinson wrote that on Oct. 2, 1869, Marianna men pursuing Calvin Rogers through the town's streets let loose the clarion call of the Rebel Yell. A Union army veteran of combat in the Louisiana theater, Dickinson was certainly familiar with the Rebel Yell from battlefield exprience. From my brief research, I've found contradictory statements about the sound of this legendary battlefield call. The Museum of the Confederacy staff think they've confirmed its sound. Check out these fascinating videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfHylwlq9Ow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ1M3iN-UE
[credit to Ken Levin's excellent www.cwmemory.com blog for finding these videos]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfHylwlq9Ow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZ1M3iN-UE
[credit to Ken Levin's excellent www.cwmemory.com blog for finding these videos]
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Remembering Calvin Rogers (c. 1831 - Jan. 26, 1870)
This African American farmer, a former slave, first entered the historical record when he signed a petition in March 1867 addressed to Florida Bureau chief Col. John T. Sprague asking that William J. Purman be reassinged to Jackson Co. after the Bureau had tranferred Purman away from Marianna. By the following year, Rogers was serving as president of Jackson County's newly formed Republican Party. Under his leadership the county party ratified the new state constitution and issued public messages offering reconciliation with white neighbors allied with the Democratic-Conservative opposition. In the elections in the spring of 1868, Rogers became the first African American elected to public office in the history of Jackson County when he was elected Constable.
A noted "stump speaker," Rogers spoke at mass public gatherings, such as the 4th of July picnic hosted by the county's African American community in 1869. Henry Reed, a free-born African American active in public affairs during the early years of Reconstruction in Jackson Co., testified that Rogers was "a good man and as true a man as ever there was in the world." Rogers made a memorable impression on twelve-year-old T. Thomas Fortune, who, years later, memorialized Rogers in his poem "Bartow Black." Fortune recalled Rogers as "far above the average of his race in intelligence and courage."
Jackson County whites, however, viewed Rogers quite differently. They bristled at the unprecedented situation of a black man holding a law enforcement position with the authority to arrest whites. They resented Rogers's "domineering manner" and accused him of "repeated acts of oppression in his office of both white and colored." White opinion regarded him as "a bad, bold and dangerous man." The country board of commissioners tried to discourage his service as constable by imposing the onerous obligation of posting a $1,500 bond for guarantee of his performance of the official duties. By the fall of 1869, the Regulators had targetted Rogers for assassination.
The story of Calvin Rogers's role in the terrible events of the fall of 1869 are told in detail in previous posts on this blog. After being wounded at the picnic shooting in late September, Rogers was accused, on very thin evidence, of culpability in the murder of Maggie McClellan. He was hunted relentlessly until finally cornered in Marianna on this day, 140 years ago. If Rogers was responsible for the reprisal shootings on Oct 1, 1869, when intended targets were clearly James McClellan and James Coker, he showed gravely poor judgment. He may have hoped to forstall his own inevitable murder by decapitating the Regulators' leadership. Instead, recklessness merely compounded the tragedies.
A noted "stump speaker," Rogers spoke at mass public gatherings, such as the 4th of July picnic hosted by the county's African American community in 1869. Henry Reed, a free-born African American active in public affairs during the early years of Reconstruction in Jackson Co., testified that Rogers was "a good man and as true a man as ever there was in the world." Rogers made a memorable impression on twelve-year-old T. Thomas Fortune, who, years later, memorialized Rogers in his poem "Bartow Black." Fortune recalled Rogers as "far above the average of his race in intelligence and courage."
Jackson County whites, however, viewed Rogers quite differently. They bristled at the unprecedented situation of a black man holding a law enforcement position with the authority to arrest whites. They resented Rogers's "domineering manner" and accused him of "repeated acts of oppression in his office of both white and colored." White opinion regarded him as "a bad, bold and dangerous man." The country board of commissioners tried to discourage his service as constable by imposing the onerous obligation of posting a $1,500 bond for guarantee of his performance of the official duties. By the fall of 1869, the Regulators had targetted Rogers for assassination.
The story of Calvin Rogers's role in the terrible events of the fall of 1869 are told in detail in previous posts on this blog. After being wounded at the picnic shooting in late September, Rogers was accused, on very thin evidence, of culpability in the murder of Maggie McClellan. He was hunted relentlessly until finally cornered in Marianna on this day, 140 years ago. If Rogers was responsible for the reprisal shootings on Oct 1, 1869, when intended targets were clearly James McClellan and James Coker, he showed gravely poor judgment. He may have hoped to forstall his own inevitable murder by decapitating the Regulators' leadership. Instead, recklessness merely compounded the tragedies.
Monday, January 04, 2010
January 1870: Closing the Circle
After the reimposition of order and the arrival of the troops, normal life resumed in Jackson County. The circuit court judge finally deemed it safe enough to travel to Marianna and Calvin Rogers, still in hiding, was charged with Maggie McClellan's murder. Aleck Dickens was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact. Murder charges were also brought against Jack Myrick, who was safely far removed from Florida and justice. Judge Anderson's county criminal court charged Myrick with assault with intent to kill and resisting an officer. Billy Coker, long since disappeared, was accused of only assault and battery. Quiet was not complete, however, as evidenced by some unidentified gunman's taking pot shots at the guard posted in front of the troops' quarters and the unexplained murder of Lassiter Shadrach, an African American farm laborer, in December.
The Regulators still had one score left to settle. On January 26, 1870, Calvin Rogers was finally tracked down. "Several citizens" cornered him at the home of a black resident of Marianna. The Courier reported that Rogers "in attempting to break arrest was killed by the constable and posse." Thus, the life of Jackson County's first black law-enforcement officer ended in a vigilante lynching. No evidence was ever put forth to prove Rogers's responsibility for the murder of Maggie McClellan other than James Coker's claim that he recognized Rogers's voice calling "fire" in the darkness.
The same day that Calvin Rogers was slain, the murder that had initiated the year of terror was remembered in Tallahassee. In the Florida legislature, Senator Purman had introduced a bill calling for state financial support of Dr. Finlayson's two orphaned children. The state assembly approved the proposal and awarded John and Sallie Finlayson, sheltered by their grandparents in Mobile, a grant of three hundred dollars per year to be paid out for ten years.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War.
The Regulators still had one score left to settle. On January 26, 1870, Calvin Rogers was finally tracked down. "Several citizens" cornered him at the home of a black resident of Marianna. The Courier reported that Rogers "in attempting to break arrest was killed by the constable and posse." Thus, the life of Jackson County's first black law-enforcement officer ended in a vigilante lynching. No evidence was ever put forth to prove Rogers's responsibility for the murder of Maggie McClellan other than James Coker's claim that he recognized Rogers's voice calling "fire" in the darkness.
The same day that Calvin Rogers was slain, the murder that had initiated the year of terror was remembered in Tallahassee. In the Florida legislature, Senator Purman had introduced a bill calling for state financial support of Dr. Finlayson's two orphaned children. The state assembly approved the proposal and awarded John and Sallie Finlayson, sheltered by their grandparents in Mobile, a grant of three hundred dollars per year to be paid out for ten years.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War.
Monday, December 21, 2009
December 1869: President Grant
At the end of December, Florida Congressman Charles Hamilton and Florida Secretary of State Jonathan C. Gibbs called upon President Grant and Secretary of War William Belknap to appeal for help in preventing future violence in Jackson County. They argued that recently "a bitter spirit" prevailed in West Florida, and the formation of a militia to keep the peace required a nucleus of United States soldiers. They asked that three or four companies of soldiers, preferably colored troops, be sent to "overawe the lawless element." President Grant and Secretary Belknap reportedly responded with great interest to this presentation and assured the Florida Republicans that the federal government would assist in the preservation of law and order. No additional troops were sent, but the soldiers who arrived in Marianna in late October stayed there until the following April (1870). This would not be the last time President Grant showed personal interest in the situation in Jackson County.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
William J. Purman biography blog
William James Purman may not be my favorite Florida Carpetbagger, but he is the most interesting and, perhaps, the most controversial of his peers. He is a fascinating subject for a biographical article. I considered writing a "formal" article for a scholarly journal, such as the FHQ, but past experience has proven that journal articles about long-forgetten Reconstruction Era figures garner little, if any, attention. The blog format is appealing because of the informality which encourages revisions, digressions, and copies of long quotations. Furthermore, more readers will stumble across a blog page, either through google searches, or just accidentally, than will ever see an article in a local history journal. I've assembled quite a lot of information about Purman, and I'll be posting over at www.williamjpurman.blogspot.com over the next few months.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Speaking of baseball.... an 1874 game in Jax between the Fat Men and the R.E. Lee Club
From Jacksonville's The New South newspaper dated July 25, 1874:
"Fat Man's Club
There will be a contest between the above named Club and the R.E. Lee's second nine. The name and weights of the Fat nine are as follows:
Captain - Peter Jones, Catcher, 190.
F. E. Little, Pitcher, 195.
M. S. Littlefield, Short Stop, 205.
J. H. Dove, 1st Base, 177.
R. P. Moody, 2d Base, 179.
J. J. Holland 3d Base, 215.
H. Vandolen, Centre Field, 282.
H. A. Pattison, Left Field, 200.
Charles Fridenberg, Right Field, 185.
P. Bettelini, Lieratary, 265.
T. W. Osborn, Umpire, 230.
J. J. Finley, Scorer, 200.
R. L. Wood, Long Stop, 195.
Total 2,718.
The above named members of the Fat Man's Club, will be promptly on hand on the ground known as the R. E. Lee grounds, at the head of Hogan street, at 3 o'clock P. M., Tuesday the 28th of July. The public are invited to attend, especially the Phat ladies.
J. H. Dove, Secretary.
Peter Jones, Captain."
Notice that the svelte short stop, M. S. Littlefield, was the culprit in the most infamous railroad financing scandal in Florida's history. Former U.S. Senator Thomas W. Osborn, no stranger to railroad schemes himself, was the umpire. The scorer, J. J. Finley, was a former Confederate general and later U.S. congressman from Florida. Surprising that he didn't play with the R. E. Lee's. What is a Lieratary? This may be only baseball team fielded in history where the first baseman was the lightest and the center fielder the heaviest. No wonder a "long stop" was needed.
"Fat Man's Club
There will be a contest between the above named Club and the R.E. Lee's second nine. The name and weights of the Fat nine are as follows:
Captain - Peter Jones, Catcher, 190.
F. E. Little, Pitcher, 195.
M. S. Littlefield, Short Stop, 205.
J. H. Dove, 1st Base, 177.
R. P. Moody, 2d Base, 179.
J. J. Holland 3d Base, 215.
H. Vandolen, Centre Field, 282.
H. A. Pattison, Left Field, 200.
Charles Fridenberg, Right Field, 185.
P. Bettelini, Lieratary, 265.
T. W. Osborn, Umpire, 230.
J. J. Finley, Scorer, 200.
R. L. Wood, Long Stop, 195.
Total 2,718.
The above named members of the Fat Man's Club, will be promptly on hand on the ground known as the R. E. Lee grounds, at the head of Hogan street, at 3 o'clock P. M., Tuesday the 28th of July. The public are invited to attend, especially the Phat ladies.
J. H. Dove, Secretary.
Peter Jones, Captain."
Notice that the svelte short stop, M. S. Littlefield, was the culprit in the most infamous railroad financing scandal in Florida's history. Former U.S. Senator Thomas W. Osborn, no stranger to railroad schemes himself, was the umpire. The scorer, J. J. Finley, was a former Confederate general and later U.S. congressman from Florida. Surprising that he didn't play with the R. E. Lee's. What is a Lieratary? This may be only baseball team fielded in history where the first baseman was the lightest and the center fielder the heaviest. No wonder a "long stop" was needed.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Oct. 26, 1869: U.S. Troops enter Jackson County
After demands for intervention from the Internal Revenue officials were finally joined by Florida's indecisive Gov. Reed, the War Department dispatched a detachment of twenty soldiers from the 8th U.S. Infantry stationed in Atlanta. The troops arrived in Marianna on Oct. 26. By this time, however, the violence had largely died down. Frank Baltzell, the young editor of the Marianna Courier, vehemently opposed to the entry of soldiers in Marianna, angrily pointed out that "peace and harmony" had already been restored. Baltzell feared that, instead of ensuring calm, the arrival of the soldiers would only serve to embolden the few remaining Republicans in Jackson County.
The arrival of the troops on October 26 certainly did not quiet James Coker. Coker announced that anyone who claimed a reward for the arrest of his son for the murder of Nichols family would not live to benefit from it. At a dinner a few nights later, Coker insulted and menaced Sheriff West and "damned" Hamilton, Purman, Assessor Lowe, Dickinson, "and any man that would take an office to 'boot-lick' these fellows." He regaled anyone who would listen about his past plots to kill Hamilton and Purman.
The arrival of the troops on October 26 certainly did not quiet James Coker. Coker announced that anyone who claimed a reward for the arrest of his son for the murder of Nichols family would not live to benefit from it. At a dinner a few nights later, Coker insulted and menaced Sheriff West and "damned" Hamilton, Purman, Assessor Lowe, Dickinson, "and any man that would take an office to 'boot-lick' these fellows." He regaled anyone who would listen about his past plots to kill Hamilton and Purman.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Mid-October, 1869
On October 12, Dickinson learned that the dead man on the road was Fleishman, but he was warned not to retrieve the body. Dickinson held an inquest and the jury quickly returned the usual verdict of "killed by unknown." Only the next day was Fleishman's body recovered and his identity confirmed.
After Billy Coker, Jack Myrick, and Edward Alderman disappeared, violence continued only sporadically. A few freedmen's houses were shot at or broken into. A black woman, Lucy Griffen was "attacked three times on the street and frightened." Warnings were circulated that "a crowd had determined to kill" Matt Nickels's surviving daughter. Dickinson remained vigilant. Once, he reported seeing someone at his windows around midnight. Another time, he received a warning that Jack Myrick was on his track.
By mid-October news of the horrific events in Jackson County had begun spread. From Washington, both Congressman Charles M. Hamilton and State Senator William J. Purman reacted to Dickinson's letters reporting the violence. Purman confided to Dickinson that his "remedy" for the "bloody ills" of Jackson County was to dispatch "a battalion of colored militia." Then, he wrote, "the vermin and demons would leave for Texas and Hell" and "all good people would then find safety for their lives and property." Hamilton gave a statement to the press representing "a bad condition of affairs" with "eleven attempted or successful assassinations of prominent men since last spring." He feared going back to Jackson County since, he believed, there was a "strong probability" should he return "that his life will pay the penalty of his politics."
At the same time, an IRS assessor visiting Marianna, who had been threatened by Coker, reported to his supervisor that Jackson and Washington counties were "under the control of an armed mob" that prevented "the execution of the internal revenue laws." This report was printed in newspapers across the country. With a federal official fearing for his life and prevented from carrying out his duty, pressure begin to build for the dispatch of federal troops into Jackson County.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
After Billy Coker, Jack Myrick, and Edward Alderman disappeared, violence continued only sporadically. A few freedmen's houses were shot at or broken into. A black woman, Lucy Griffen was "attacked three times on the street and frightened." Warnings were circulated that "a crowd had determined to kill" Matt Nickels's surviving daughter. Dickinson remained vigilant. Once, he reported seeing someone at his windows around midnight. Another time, he received a warning that Jack Myrick was on his track.
By mid-October news of the horrific events in Jackson County had begun spread. From Washington, both Congressman Charles M. Hamilton and State Senator William J. Purman reacted to Dickinson's letters reporting the violence. Purman confided to Dickinson that his "remedy" for the "bloody ills" of Jackson County was to dispatch "a battalion of colored militia." Then, he wrote, "the vermin and demons would leave for Texas and Hell" and "all good people would then find safety for their lives and property." Hamilton gave a statement to the press representing "a bad condition of affairs" with "eleven attempted or successful assassinations of prominent men since last spring." He feared going back to Jackson County since, he believed, there was a "strong probability" should he return "that his life will pay the penalty of his politics."
At the same time, an IRS assessor visiting Marianna, who had been threatened by Coker, reported to his supervisor that Jackson and Washington counties were "under the control of an armed mob" that prevented "the execution of the internal revenue laws." This report was printed in newspapers across the country. With a federal official fearing for his life and prevented from carrying out his duty, pressure begin to build for the dispatch of federal troops into Jackson County.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Oct. 11, 1869: The murder of Samuel Fleishman - 140 years ago
During the week following his expulsion, Fleishman had not been idle. After being ejected across the Georgia border, he proceeded to nearby Bainbridge. There he encountered Marianna merchant Louis Gamble who, on his return to Marianna, reported that Fleishman had informed him that he intended to go first to Quincy and then back to Marianna. Fleishman traveled to Quincy, where his relatives lived, but he soon departed for Tallahassee.
Fleishman was undaunted and determined to return to his family, home, and property. He was next spotted at the Chattahoochee penitentiary where he asked Malachi Martin for protection. Martin responded that he had no power in Jackson County and advised Fleishman not to cross the river. Fleishman, Martin later testified, insisted that he must return to Marianna as "all he had in the world was there...his family,... his store and stock of goods and all his interests." The two men proceeded to the village where they learned that communication with Jackson County had been cut and all were afraid to go there except those who were "one of the white people who belonged to the party there." Disregarding these warnings, Fleishman set off for Marianna. After crossing over the Apalachicola River, Fleishman encountered Martin's employee, Sims, who stold Martin he had warned Fleishman that he would be murdered should he proceed on his route and offered to drive him in his buggy back to Chattahoochee. Fleishman insisted on continuing his journey. Sims was the last person to report seeing Fleishman alive.
On Monday night, Fleishman's bullet-riddled body was spotted about a half mile from the place where he encountered Sims.
The story of the Fleishman family in Jackson County ended abruptly at this point. Fleishman's burial site is unknown and the county records contain no file of his estate. Shortly after the murder of her husband, Sophia Fleishman and her children left Jackson County for New York City. Unconfirmed stories suggest that the Altman store was ransacked. A final inquest held two months after the murder reiterated the previous inconclusive verdict. Despite the extreme likelihood that Fleishman's slaying was an orchestrated ambush, no suggestion as to the identity of the murderer was ever publicly offered.
Fleishman was undaunted and determined to return to his family, home, and property. He was next spotted at the Chattahoochee penitentiary where he asked Malachi Martin for protection. Martin responded that he had no power in Jackson County and advised Fleishman not to cross the river. Fleishman, Martin later testified, insisted that he must return to Marianna as "all he had in the world was there...his family,... his store and stock of goods and all his interests." The two men proceeded to the village where they learned that communication with Jackson County had been cut and all were afraid to go there except those who were "one of the white people who belonged to the party there." Disregarding these warnings, Fleishman set off for Marianna. After crossing over the Apalachicola River, Fleishman encountered Martin's employee, Sims, who stold Martin he had warned Fleishman that he would be murdered should he proceed on his route and offered to drive him in his buggy back to Chattahoochee. Fleishman insisted on continuing his journey. Sims was the last person to report seeing Fleishman alive.
On Monday night, Fleishman's bullet-riddled body was spotted about a half mile from the place where he encountered Sims.
The story of the Fleishman family in Jackson County ended abruptly at this point. Fleishman's burial site is unknown and the county records contain no file of his estate. Shortly after the murder of her husband, Sophia Fleishman and her children left Jackson County for New York City. Unconfirmed stories suggest that the Altman store was ransacked. A final inquest held two months after the murder reiterated the previous inconclusive verdict. Despite the extreme likelihood that Fleishman's slaying was an orchestrated ambush, no suggestion as to the identity of the murderer was ever publicly offered.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Oct. 5 - Oct. 9, 1869
On Tuesday morning, Oct. 5, while Reed hid under the Ely house fearing for his life, Fleishman returned to Coker's store where found an "organized meeting" of "persons of influence in the county" in progress. Coker spoke first and informed Fleishman the attendees were a committee that represented the whole community and that it was their desire that Fleishman "should leave for the good of said community." If Fleishman did not leave, Coker announced, he would "be killed on account of certain expressions" he allegedly made on the day of the picnic shootings. The committee hoped that Fleishman would comply, and they would not to have to kill him. They were concerned, Coker continued, that Fleishman's death would lead to twenty or thirty more killings. His departure, they believed, would "save bloodshed."
Before this large gathering, Fleishman stood his ground. He insisted that he was not leaving. Fleishman now bargained with Coker and the committee over the terms of his banishment. He was informed he had two hours to leave. This deadline was pushed back until 5 p.m. and then sundown. Fleishman still refused to agree to exile. He declared that he would "rather die than leave." If he was accused of a crime, he argued, he should stand trial and accept the punishment. At the very least, he demanded that he be given until January to wrap up his business. With some exasperation, the committee members repeated that they had no desire to take his life, but rather "wished to save it, and to do the best thing they could for the safety of the community." Exasperated, the committee finally declared that Fleishman would be carried off at sundown, "willing or unwilling."
Leaving Coker's store, Fleishmen went straight to Dickinson, "the only officer of the law in the town," to protest the threatened eviction. Dickinson transcribed Fleishman's account and Fleishman signed the resulting statement in the form of an affidavit. A few hours later, Coker entered Fleishman's store and demanded that Fleishman turn over all the arms in his stock "for the men in defense of the town during the present excitement." When Fleishman hesitated, Coker assured Fleishman that he would take responsibility for returning his property. Wilbur Jenkins, Fleishman's clerk who had joined the earlier meeting at Coker's store, handed Coker the key and Coker left with eight guns, eleven pistols, powder, shot, and caps. Fleishman ran back to Dickinson and swore out another affidavit to report Coker's appropriation of his merchandise. At sundown, Fleishman still had not complied with the committee's order, stubbornly remaining in his home. After 9 p.m., four men came to take him from his wife and six children and carried him off to the Georgia border, about twenty-five miles from Marianna.
The night riders continued to terrorize the black community. By now, however, some likely targets took precautions by hiding and were not found in their homes when the anticipated knock came in the middle of the night. Richard Pooser, who had been shot the previous spring, did not show such foresight. Edward Alderman and E. Butler drew him out of his house in Marianna and ordered him to march down a street leading into the countryside. Pooser broke and ran, evading shotgun and pistol blasts, and found refuge under Dr. Theophilus West's dining room. Joseph Nelson, who was Henry Reed's step-son, saw how the Reeds had narrowly escaped with their lives and made his own plans to leave for Jacksonville. He arranged to escape by accompanying Washington Chapman to Gadsden County. Nelson joined a train of Chapman's wagons and managed to get out of Jackson County alive, despite being stopped several times along the way by groups of armed white men. Together with his dog, Sherman, Nelson continued on his journey until he arrived at the railroad in Quincy, where he boarded the train to Jacksonville.
By Thursday, Oct. 7, divisions began to emerge in the white community. At a meeting of white citizens, William D. Barnes, William H. Milton, and James C. McLean "favored peace on all sides" and spoke out against "drunkenness and abuse of power." James Coker, however, took offense at these comments and protested against this abuse of "our young men who had taken a little too much, or had acted a little irregularly." An appointed committee resolved to "use every lawful effort in our power to arrest and punish the guilty parties." They further condemned "all acts of violation of the laws by whomsoever committed," called for exertions "to restore peace and quiet to our distracted county." The committee closed by offering "a reward of One Thousand Dollars for the apprehension of Calvin Rogers, one of the perpetrators of the deed." As an afterthought, a motion was passed offering a one thousand dollar reward "for the apprehension of the murderers of Wyatt Scurlock and child."
On Thursday afternoon, Billy Coker's band committed their most barbaric atrocity. Matt Nickels may have dodged their bullets previously, but Billy Coker, "Pete" Alderman, and Jack Myrick were determined to finish him off. The Courier provided chilling details. The three young men came to Nickels's house and "conversed several minutes, pretending to have an order [from] an officer." They marched Nickels, his wife, Mariah, and his sixteen year old son, Matt Jr. "forward to town but changed their course after getting a short distance from the house." The family was led to a lime pit in the woods about one half-mile away. There, the family was brutally murdered, their throats slit. Only a daughter escaped death.
The slaying of the Nickels family was deemed excessive even by previously silent whites. On Friday, Oct. 8, Justice of the Peace Adam McNealy issued a warrant for the arrest of the suspected murderers. This time an inquest into the killings was held, and after one minute the jury returned a verdict indicting Myrick, Coker, and Alderman. By the next day, all three men were reported missing and were presumed to have fled the county. One legend placed them in France where Myrick's sister lived with her husband, the Comte de Lautrippe. Other rumors located Myrick in Texas years later. The departure of these young men facilitated the reestablishment of calm.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Before this large gathering, Fleishman stood his ground. He insisted that he was not leaving. Fleishman now bargained with Coker and the committee over the terms of his banishment. He was informed he had two hours to leave. This deadline was pushed back until 5 p.m. and then sundown. Fleishman still refused to agree to exile. He declared that he would "rather die than leave." If he was accused of a crime, he argued, he should stand trial and accept the punishment. At the very least, he demanded that he be given until January to wrap up his business. With some exasperation, the committee members repeated that they had no desire to take his life, but rather "wished to save it, and to do the best thing they could for the safety of the community." Exasperated, the committee finally declared that Fleishman would be carried off at sundown, "willing or unwilling."
Leaving Coker's store, Fleishmen went straight to Dickinson, "the only officer of the law in the town," to protest the threatened eviction. Dickinson transcribed Fleishman's account and Fleishman signed the resulting statement in the form of an affidavit. A few hours later, Coker entered Fleishman's store and demanded that Fleishman turn over all the arms in his stock "for the men in defense of the town during the present excitement." When Fleishman hesitated, Coker assured Fleishman that he would take responsibility for returning his property. Wilbur Jenkins, Fleishman's clerk who had joined the earlier meeting at Coker's store, handed Coker the key and Coker left with eight guns, eleven pistols, powder, shot, and caps. Fleishman ran back to Dickinson and swore out another affidavit to report Coker's appropriation of his merchandise. At sundown, Fleishman still had not complied with the committee's order, stubbornly remaining in his home. After 9 p.m., four men came to take him from his wife and six children and carried him off to the Georgia border, about twenty-five miles from Marianna.
The night riders continued to terrorize the black community. By now, however, some likely targets took precautions by hiding and were not found in their homes when the anticipated knock came in the middle of the night. Richard Pooser, who had been shot the previous spring, did not show such foresight. Edward Alderman and E. Butler drew him out of his house in Marianna and ordered him to march down a street leading into the countryside. Pooser broke and ran, evading shotgun and pistol blasts, and found refuge under Dr. Theophilus West's dining room. Joseph Nelson, who was Henry Reed's step-son, saw how the Reeds had narrowly escaped with their lives and made his own plans to leave for Jacksonville. He arranged to escape by accompanying Washington Chapman to Gadsden County. Nelson joined a train of Chapman's wagons and managed to get out of Jackson County alive, despite being stopped several times along the way by groups of armed white men. Together with his dog, Sherman, Nelson continued on his journey until he arrived at the railroad in Quincy, where he boarded the train to Jacksonville.
By Thursday, Oct. 7, divisions began to emerge in the white community. At a meeting of white citizens, William D. Barnes, William H. Milton, and James C. McLean "favored peace on all sides" and spoke out against "drunkenness and abuse of power." James Coker, however, took offense at these comments and protested against this abuse of "our young men who had taken a little too much, or had acted a little irregularly." An appointed committee resolved to "use every lawful effort in our power to arrest and punish the guilty parties." They further condemned "all acts of violation of the laws by whomsoever committed," called for exertions "to restore peace and quiet to our distracted county." The committee closed by offering "a reward of One Thousand Dollars for the apprehension of Calvin Rogers, one of the perpetrators of the deed." As an afterthought, a motion was passed offering a one thousand dollar reward "for the apprehension of the murderers of Wyatt Scurlock and child."
On Thursday afternoon, Billy Coker's band committed their most barbaric atrocity. Matt Nickels may have dodged their bullets previously, but Billy Coker, "Pete" Alderman, and Jack Myrick were determined to finish him off. The Courier provided chilling details. The three young men came to Nickels's house and "conversed several minutes, pretending to have an order [from] an officer." They marched Nickels, his wife, Mariah, and his sixteen year old son, Matt Jr. "forward to town but changed their course after getting a short distance from the house." The family was led to a lime pit in the woods about one half-mile away. There, the family was brutally murdered, their throats slit. Only a daughter escaped death.
The slaying of the Nickels family was deemed excessive even by previously silent whites. On Friday, Oct. 8, Justice of the Peace Adam McNealy issued a warrant for the arrest of the suspected murderers. This time an inquest into the killings was held, and after one minute the jury returned a verdict indicting Myrick, Coker, and Alderman. By the next day, all three men were reported missing and were presumed to have fled the county. One legend placed them in France where Myrick's sister lived with her husband, the Comte de Lautrippe. Other rumors located Myrick in Texas years later. The departure of these young men facilitated the reestablishment of calm.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Oct. 3 & 4, 1869
The next two days were comparatively calm. Dickinson continued to be frustrated in his attempts at initiating legal proceedings into the McClellan and Granberry murders. It would be best, he reluctantly concluded, to "await the return of quiet."
On Monday, the 4th, prominent white citizens drafted an account of the past week's events, which they sent to Governor Reed and the Weekly Floridian newspaper. The letter's authors insisted that Rogers had shot the McClellans and strongly suggested that Granberry was complicit in that murder. They "felt compelled to state" that Rogers was to blame for "much of our troubles" because of his "domineering manner" and "repeated acts of oppression" as constable. The letter's authors advised, however, that the situation was now under control and that "[o]ur people are doing all in their power to keep down further violence, and we expect to be able to do so."
On the same afternoon Samuel Fleishman was summoned to a meeting at Coker's store with leading citizens, which was then adjourned to the next morning. Fleishman was one of the few openly Republican whites remaining in Jackson County. In the days following the picnic shootings, a rumor spread in Marianna that Fleishman had advised blacks gathered at his store to avenge the slaying of Stewart Livingston and Wyatt Young by murdering whites. Various versions of this story circulated.
After dark fell, the night riders again set out. Their target that night was Henry Reed, a freeborn black carpenter. At one o'clock in the morning, Reed heard a knock on his door. A voice told him that Dickinson was waiting for him at the courthouse. Reed saw through this ridiculous ruse and replied that he was too sick to go out and Dickinson would have to wait until morning. The besiegers insisted he come out. When Reed announced he was getting his coat and hat, he was told he would not need them and to come out immediately. Reed's fifteen-year-old son, William, jumped out of a window and, as he ran past the garden gate, a blast of buckshot missed him except for nicking his ear. Reed peeked outside and seeing a double-barreled shotgun pointed at him, quickly closed the door. Now the night riders were more insistent, yelling that they would bring more men to tear the house down and would blow out Reed's brains if he didn't comply. Reed's wife, Harriet, began to cry, fearing that her son was already dead and her husband was to be murdered momentarily. Reed observed the men guarding the back of his house move around to the front and he quickly leapt out the back-window. He ran in the darkness toward the Ely house where he hid underneath until the next afternoon.
On Monday, the 4th, prominent white citizens drafted an account of the past week's events, which they sent to Governor Reed and the Weekly Floridian newspaper. The letter's authors insisted that Rogers had shot the McClellans and strongly suggested that Granberry was complicit in that murder. They "felt compelled to state" that Rogers was to blame for "much of our troubles" because of his "domineering manner" and "repeated acts of oppression" as constable. The letter's authors advised, however, that the situation was now under control and that "[o]ur people are doing all in their power to keep down further violence, and we expect to be able to do so."
On the same afternoon Samuel Fleishman was summoned to a meeting at Coker's store with leading citizens, which was then adjourned to the next morning. Fleishman was one of the few openly Republican whites remaining in Jackson County. In the days following the picnic shootings, a rumor spread in Marianna that Fleishman had advised blacks gathered at his store to avenge the slaying of Stewart Livingston and Wyatt Young by murdering whites. Various versions of this story circulated.
After dark fell, the night riders again set out. Their target that night was Henry Reed, a freeborn black carpenter. At one o'clock in the morning, Reed heard a knock on his door. A voice told him that Dickinson was waiting for him at the courthouse. Reed saw through this ridiculous ruse and replied that he was too sick to go out and Dickinson would have to wait until morning. The besiegers insisted he come out. When Reed announced he was getting his coat and hat, he was told he would not need them and to come out immediately. Reed's fifteen-year-old son, William, jumped out of a window and, as he ran past the garden gate, a blast of buckshot missed him except for nicking his ear. Reed peeked outside and seeing a double-barreled shotgun pointed at him, quickly closed the door. Now the night riders were more insistent, yelling that they would bring more men to tear the house down and would blow out Reed's brains if he didn't comply. Reed's wife, Harriet, began to cry, fearing that her son was already dead and her husband was to be murdered momentarily. Reed observed the men guarding the back of his house move around to the front and he quickly leapt out the back-window. He ran in the darkness toward the Ely house where he hid underneath until the next afternoon.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Oct 2, 1869: A small hell on earth
The morning after the slaying of Maggie McClellan, fifty to sixty armed white men patrolled Marianna’s streets. John Q. Dickinson’s diary records the events of this terrible day and his frustration at being shut out from information. Calvin Rogers appeared and was immediately pursued by Coker’s son, Billy, and his friends. For the first time since the Battle of Marianna, and perhaps the last time, the hoots of the rebel yell resounded in Marianna as the young men chased Rogers through the town. Rogers escaped but Billy Coker, Jack Myrick and another man seized two black men, Oscar Granberry and Matt Nickels, ordering them to help track down Rogers. After the two men were instructed to march ahead, Granberry was shot down dead, but Nickels managed to escape into the woods.
Throughout the morning, white men continued to stream into Marianna from the countryside. By noon, Dickinson estimated that at least two hundred men, most armed with double-barreled shot-guns and many mounted, roamed the town and scoured the surrounding area. Dickinson found "wild excitement" with young men "drunk and desperate" and "elder and better men" afraid and keeping out of sight.
Dickinson pleaded for the restoration of the rule of law and proper procedure, but he was threatened by Coker and ignored by everyone else. Eventually, James McClellan agreed to swear to an affidavit and Dickinson issued a warrant for the arrest of Calvin Rogers for the murder of Maggie. Dickinson, however, was warned not to hold an inquest over the killing of Granberry.
The rest of that Saturday, "drunkenness and misrule and excitement abounded" in the streets. In Dickinson's words, Marianna had become "a small hell on earth." After dark, the night riders ventured forth, for the first time since the spring, to terrorize black families in their isolated homes in the countryside.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Throughout the morning, white men continued to stream into Marianna from the countryside. By noon, Dickinson estimated that at least two hundred men, most armed with double-barreled shot-guns and many mounted, roamed the town and scoured the surrounding area. Dickinson found "wild excitement" with young men "drunk and desperate" and "elder and better men" afraid and keeping out of sight.
Dickinson pleaded for the restoration of the rule of law and proper procedure, but he was threatened by Coker and ignored by everyone else. Eventually, James McClellan agreed to swear to an affidavit and Dickinson issued a warrant for the arrest of Calvin Rogers for the murder of Maggie. Dickinson, however, was warned not to hold an inquest over the killing of Granberry.
The rest of that Saturday, "drunkenness and misrule and excitement abounded" in the streets. In Dickinson's words, Marianna had become "a small hell on earth." After dark, the night riders ventured forth, for the first time since the spring, to terrorize black families in their isolated homes in the countryside.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Oct 1, 1869: Revenge gone astray
On the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 1, the grand jury that convened two days earlier after the slaying of Wyatt Young and two-year-old Stewart Livingstone abandoned its deliberations and returned the verdict of "shot by unknown person." Tempers that had simmered with anger since the Finlayson murder the previous spring now exploded. Some Marianna African Americans plotted to settle accounts once and for all. The targets for their vengeance were not the rumored shooters at the picnic, but the leadership of Jackson County's Regulators - the secretive, organization of whites determined to resist Reconstruction policy and Republican control.
At about 9 p.m., merchant James P. Coker and attorney James F. McClellan stood on the porch of Marianna's hotel, speaking with some other men. McClellan's eighteen-year-old daughter, Maggie, sat beside the two leaders of Jackson County's Regulators. Shots burst out from the darkness, apparently from quite nearby. Tragically, the assailants blundered just as badly as the ambushers who botched the attempted assasination of Calvin Rogers earlier in the week and another child suffered the consequences. Maggie, "a beautiful and amiable girl," fell dead, and her father was wounded in the shoulder. Coker, unhurt, fired back with his pistol into the night. McClellan or Coker, depending on the account, claimed to have recognized the voice of Calvin Rogers giving the command to fire.
Coker sprung into action, summoning all men from his organization to gather in Marianna. His Regulators immeidately seized control of the town and detained any black men who dared venture out of their homes. A number of riders galloped out into the countryside to sound the alarm. Decades later, Joseph Barnes told historian William W. Davis that he had ridden that night "almost to the Choctawhatchee" River to rouse the white men of Jackson County.
Maggie McClellan's tombstone (pictured above) with its faded inscription can be found in the graveyard of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Marianna. The burial location of Stewart Livingstone is unknown.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sept 29 & 30, 1869
The morning after the picnic shootings, the investigation of the picnic site continued, but no new evidence turned up. The same morning, Dickinson convened a grand jury in Marianna. Amid speculation about the identity of the shooters, one young white man affiliated with the town's Regulators was named. In the meantime, another shooting was reported. About nine miles outside of Marianna, Columbus Sullivan, a white preacher, and George Cox, black, were hauling cotton when they were riddled with buckshot. Cox was lightly wounded. Sullivan's face was mutilated and he died from his wounds about a week later. The gunman escaped. Dickinson wrote to his friend Congressman Charles M. Hamilton about the need for "a first-class detective" in Marianna or, alternatively, "a few Henry rifles" which, he wrote, "would have an excellent moral effect here." During these tense days, rumors began to spread in the white community that dry goods merchant Samuel Fleishman had made some kind of statement advising a group of African American men gathered in his store to avenge the picnic shootings.
Friday, September 25, 2009
September 28, 1869: the War erupts
The most tumultuous, and tragic, events in Jackson County’s history have taken place in the autumn, including the Battle of Marianna in 1864, and the infamous Claude Neal lynching seventy years later. The shootings and assaults of the Jackson County War lasted more than two years, but the most virulent phase came during several weeks beginning in late September 1869.
On the morning of Sept. 28th, five years and one day after the Battle of Marianna, a party of about twenty African American women and children set off on a picnic outing. Their destination was the Natural Bridge, a few miles outside of Marianna. A few men, including Constable Calvin Rogers escorted the group. Rogers, an African American, had long been resented by Regulator elements and, after the shootings of Purman, Finlayson and Constable Pooser the previous spring, an assault on Rogers seemed inevitable. At about 9 a.m., assailants concealed behind thick bushes fired thirteen or fourteen shots in "rapid succession." Rogers, sitting in an ox cart, had his clothes and wallet torn by three or four shots, but suffered only a grazed arm. Rogers fired back in the direction of the shooters with the one round in his gun. He called out to Wyatt Young, who had gone on ahead, to bring ammunition. Meanwhile, confusion and fright overcame the party of picnic-goers. An ox pulling a cart carrying two-year-old Stewart Livingston panicked and bolted. Wyatt Young grabbed the little boy from the cart just as a bullet passed through the boy's skull and into the left side of Young's chest, killing both of them instantly.
As abruptly as it had begun, the firing ended. Within ninety minutes, news of this tragedy reached Marianna. John Quincy Dickinson, the senior law enforcement authority remaining in Jackson County, organized a posse of thirty men to search for the killers. They scoured the area around the site of the shooting for evidence. "A mysterious buggy-track" leading from Marianna to the Natural Bridge and out toward Greenwood was discovered, but nightfall ended the investigation.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly. Updates to thejacksoncountywar.com will be more frequent over the coming weeks as the 140th anniversary is remembered.
On the morning of Sept. 28th, five years and one day after the Battle of Marianna, a party of about twenty African American women and children set off on a picnic outing. Their destination was the Natural Bridge, a few miles outside of Marianna. A few men, including Constable Calvin Rogers escorted the group. Rogers, an African American, had long been resented by Regulator elements and, after the shootings of Purman, Finlayson and Constable Pooser the previous spring, an assault on Rogers seemed inevitable. At about 9 a.m., assailants concealed behind thick bushes fired thirteen or fourteen shots in "rapid succession." Rogers, sitting in an ox cart, had his clothes and wallet torn by three or four shots, but suffered only a grazed arm. Rogers fired back in the direction of the shooters with the one round in his gun. He called out to Wyatt Young, who had gone on ahead, to bring ammunition. Meanwhile, confusion and fright overcame the party of picnic-goers. An ox pulling a cart carrying two-year-old Stewart Livingston panicked and bolted. Wyatt Young grabbed the little boy from the cart just as a bullet passed through the boy's skull and into the left side of Young's chest, killing both of them instantly.
As abruptly as it had begun, the firing ended. Within ninety minutes, news of this tragedy reached Marianna. John Quincy Dickinson, the senior law enforcement authority remaining in Jackson County, organized a posse of thirty men to search for the killers. They scoured the area around the site of the shooting for evidence. "A mysterious buggy-track" leading from Marianna to the Natural Bridge and out toward Greenwood was discovered, but nightfall ended the investigation.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, The Jackson County War, to be published shortly. Updates to thejacksoncountywar.com will be more frequent over the coming weeks as the 140th anniversary is remembered.
Friday, August 07, 2009
August 1869: A Plot Foiled
After the Finlayson/Purman shootings, Florida's Governor Reed posted a two thousand dollar reward for the arrest of Dr. Finlayson's murderer. The leading suspect, Sergeant Thomas Bond, was supposed to have fled to Texas, but in August, rumors spread that Bond had appeared in Jackson County. Green White, a Jackson County freedman, decided to take advantage of Bond's return to claim the money. White devised a plot seemingly taken straight from the Bible. Bond was known to visit a house of prostitution on Jackson Co. side of the Chattahoochee River. White enlisted a woman at the House in his plan. On Bond's next visit, the woman was to grab Bond's guns, presumably while he was in a vulnerable state, and White, waiting outside the House, would then enter and seize Bond. White recruited two black soldiers stationed as guards at the Chattahoochee penitentiary to join this conspiracy.
The result was a complete debacle. Instead of Bond's capture, the attempt ended in the shooting deaths of two of the conspirators: Sergeant Sancho Turner and Green White, and the wounding of a bystander.
Despite the murder of one his soldiers, Malachi Martin, the prison's warden, feared provoking Bond and his friends. Martin tried to convince his guards to accompany him without their weapons to investigate and recover the bodies. Naturally, the soldiers refused to disarm themselves. Instead, Martin and a Mr. Sims hired the ferry to carry them and two coffins across the river. Martin found the corpses about twenty paces apart with their loaded guns at their feet. Because the bodies were too decomposed to be moved, he buried them where they lay. No one was ever brought to account for the murder of Green White and Sgt. Turner.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, “The Jackson County War,” to be published shortly.
The result was a complete debacle. Instead of Bond's capture, the attempt ended in the shooting deaths of two of the conspirators: Sergeant Sancho Turner and Green White, and the wounding of a bystander.
Despite the murder of one his soldiers, Malachi Martin, the prison's warden, feared provoking Bond and his friends. Martin tried to convince his guards to accompany him without their weapons to investigate and recover the bodies. Naturally, the soldiers refused to disarm themselves. Instead, Martin and a Mr. Sims hired the ferry to carry them and two coffins across the river. Martin found the corpses about twenty paces apart with their loaded guns at their feet. Because the bodies were too decomposed to be moved, he buried them where they lay. No one was ever brought to account for the murder of Green White and Sgt. Turner.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, “The Jackson County War,” to be published shortly.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
"Excellent Barbecue": Celebration of the 4th of July in Jackson County during Reconstruction
During the Reconstruction years, the commemoration of the Fourth of July in Jackson County reflected not just the turmoil of the era, but also hinted at the possibility of racial and community reconciliation. There is no record of celebration of the nation’s birthday in 1865 when the county was still recovering from the shock of both defeat and emancipation while under military occupation. The next year, however, after the arrival of Freedman’s Bureau’s agents Charles Hamilton and William Purman, dramatic developments ensued.
In late June, 1866, Hamilton was approached by a delegation of African Americans who sought permission to organize a parade through Marianna to be followed by a barbecue to celebrate the Fourth of July. The marchers intended to carry the stars and stripes and portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Hamilton gave his tentative approval, but immediately dispatched a message to Tallahassee requesting the consent of Florida's Governor David S. Walker and Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, commander of both the Bureau and the military Department of Florida. The general and governor approved, but warned Hamilton to take precautions to avoid disorder and ensure that no arms were carried at the parade. Meanwhile, Jackson County whites, learning of the proposed event, angrily objected, insisting that the freedmen had no right to celebrate. The sheriff asked General Foster to reconsider his approval. Dr. Ethelred Philips reflected the suspicions of many when he remarked in a letter to his brother that the "pest" of a Bureau agent had "put up the negroes to celebrate the 4th." Anger was inflamed by rumors that Hamilton had ordered the freedmen to attend the event bearing arms. With more than one thousand freedmen expected to take part, Philips admitted that whites felt "a little uneasy." It was now hinted that some white men were ready to stop the celebration by force and shoot anyone who dared carry the banners and United States flag in Marianna.
Hamilton next consulted attorney William H. Milton, who served as Marianna's mayor and judge of the county court. Milton did not object to the celebration on principle but advised that it was not a wise idea. Parading Lincoln's portrait would appear, he warned, as though the blacks were "flaunting defiance in our faces." Hamilton took it upon himself to bargain terms and agreed to persuade the freedmen to abandon the plan of bearing the portraits. Hamilton insisted, however, that the stars and stripes must be carried. "The time had passed," he declared "when the American flag could not be unfurled anywhere within the National domains."
Hamilton became increasingly anxious and confessed that he feared for his personal safety. He requested that General Foster dispatch U.S. troops, but the response from Tallahassee was less than reassuring. Because of illness, the only soldiers available to send to Marianna were the 82nd U.S. Colored Troops. Instead of sending in black soldiers, Foster advised that it would be better to let "matters take their natural course...to test the feeling prevailing" in Jackson County.
In a welcome anticlimax, the Fourth of July celebration of 1866 was a complete success. The event passed "with remarkable quietness and good feeling on all sides." Not only did they not interfere, but most white males of the area came to partake of the "excellent barbecue." At first, Hamilton was at a loss to explain this surprising outcome. He surmised that the approvals of General Foster and Governor Walker had proved decisive in persuading the whites to relent. After further thought, he supposed that the threats had been mere bluster and that he and the freedmen had called their opponents' bluff by insisting on holding the celebration regardless of intimidation.
The following year’s festivities were not preceded by the same tension and near hysteria. More than 5,000 people, including many local whites and visitors from neighboring counties and states, attended a peaceful celebration that was even more successful than the previous year's event. The day began with a long procession through Marianna led by the Stars and Stripes and, this time, the parade included portraits of Washington and Lincoln. A speaker’s stand was erected by the Chipola River, and the barbecue was opened with a prayer and a recitation of the Declaration of Independence. Resolutions venerating the memory of fallen patriots were read along with addresses advocating the Republican party. The speeches were followed by an "excellent & abundant barbecue."
The murder of Dr. John Finlayson and the other killings and shootings early in 1869 did not discourage Jackson County blacks from continuing their new tradition of hosting a mass Fourth of July celebration. Once again bringing together both races, the 1869 event was a success. The day was beautiful as was the setting "upon the slope of an extensive hill that was covered with grand and massive oaks." The festivities were presided over by Jesse Robinson, one of Jackson County’s African American state assemblymen. Robinson was followed by a diverse list of speakers, including Democrats William H. Milton, William E. Anderson, Dr. West, and Republicans Calvin Rogers and Purman, who had returned to Marianna for the occasion despite narrowly escaping assassination just over three months earlier. All orators were met with "the ringing applause of the large assemblage."
With this triumphant celebration, however, ends the record of grand Fourth of July barbecues organized by the black community for the enjoyment of both races. It may well be that such events continued to occur but became so routine that they did not merit reports in newspapers. It is more likely that as the Republican Party weakened and collapsed under the pressure of white resistance and redemption during Reconstruction, the capability and willingness of African Americans to sponsor such celebrations faded along with their freedoms.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, “The Jackson County War,” to be published shortly.
In late June, 1866, Hamilton was approached by a delegation of African Americans who sought permission to organize a parade through Marianna to be followed by a barbecue to celebrate the Fourth of July. The marchers intended to carry the stars and stripes and portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Hamilton gave his tentative approval, but immediately dispatched a message to Tallahassee requesting the consent of Florida's Governor David S. Walker and Maj. Gen. John G. Foster, commander of both the Bureau and the military Department of Florida. The general and governor approved, but warned Hamilton to take precautions to avoid disorder and ensure that no arms were carried at the parade. Meanwhile, Jackson County whites, learning of the proposed event, angrily objected, insisting that the freedmen had no right to celebrate. The sheriff asked General Foster to reconsider his approval. Dr. Ethelred Philips reflected the suspicions of many when he remarked in a letter to his brother that the "pest" of a Bureau agent had "put up the negroes to celebrate the 4th." Anger was inflamed by rumors that Hamilton had ordered the freedmen to attend the event bearing arms. With more than one thousand freedmen expected to take part, Philips admitted that whites felt "a little uneasy." It was now hinted that some white men were ready to stop the celebration by force and shoot anyone who dared carry the banners and United States flag in Marianna.
Hamilton next consulted attorney William H. Milton, who served as Marianna's mayor and judge of the county court. Milton did not object to the celebration on principle but advised that it was not a wise idea. Parading Lincoln's portrait would appear, he warned, as though the blacks were "flaunting defiance in our faces." Hamilton took it upon himself to bargain terms and agreed to persuade the freedmen to abandon the plan of bearing the portraits. Hamilton insisted, however, that the stars and stripes must be carried. "The time had passed," he declared "when the American flag could not be unfurled anywhere within the National domains."
Hamilton became increasingly anxious and confessed that he feared for his personal safety. He requested that General Foster dispatch U.S. troops, but the response from Tallahassee was less than reassuring. Because of illness, the only soldiers available to send to Marianna were the 82nd U.S. Colored Troops. Instead of sending in black soldiers, Foster advised that it would be better to let "matters take their natural course...to test the feeling prevailing" in Jackson County.
In a welcome anticlimax, the Fourth of July celebration of 1866 was a complete success. The event passed "with remarkable quietness and good feeling on all sides." Not only did they not interfere, but most white males of the area came to partake of the "excellent barbecue." At first, Hamilton was at a loss to explain this surprising outcome. He surmised that the approvals of General Foster and Governor Walker had proved decisive in persuading the whites to relent. After further thought, he supposed that the threats had been mere bluster and that he and the freedmen had called their opponents' bluff by insisting on holding the celebration regardless of intimidation.
The following year’s festivities were not preceded by the same tension and near hysteria. More than 5,000 people, including many local whites and visitors from neighboring counties and states, attended a peaceful celebration that was even more successful than the previous year's event. The day began with a long procession through Marianna led by the Stars and Stripes and, this time, the parade included portraits of Washington and Lincoln. A speaker’s stand was erected by the Chipola River, and the barbecue was opened with a prayer and a recitation of the Declaration of Independence. Resolutions venerating the memory of fallen patriots were read along with addresses advocating the Republican party. The speeches were followed by an "excellent & abundant barbecue."
The murder of Dr. John Finlayson and the other killings and shootings early in 1869 did not discourage Jackson County blacks from continuing their new tradition of hosting a mass Fourth of July celebration. Once again bringing together both races, the 1869 event was a success. The day was beautiful as was the setting "upon the slope of an extensive hill that was covered with grand and massive oaks." The festivities were presided over by Jesse Robinson, one of Jackson County’s African American state assemblymen. Robinson was followed by a diverse list of speakers, including Democrats William H. Milton, William E. Anderson, Dr. West, and Republicans Calvin Rogers and Purman, who had returned to Marianna for the occasion despite narrowly escaping assassination just over three months earlier. All orators were met with "the ringing applause of the large assemblage."
With this triumphant celebration, however, ends the record of grand Fourth of July barbecues organized by the black community for the enjoyment of both races. It may well be that such events continued to occur but became so routine that they did not merit reports in newspapers. It is more likely that as the Republican Party weakened and collapsed under the pressure of white resistance and redemption during Reconstruction, the capability and willingness of African Americans to sponsor such celebrations faded along with their freedoms.
This account is adapted from my forthcoming narrative history, “The Jackson County War,” to be published shortly.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
June 1869: Secession (to Alabama) Agitation
With the heat of summer, violence waned. The races settled into simmering, but peaceful, co-existance. Meanwhile, the attention of the Jackson County political leadership and business community turned toward renewed discussions between the states of Florida and Alabama over a proposal for Alabama to annex the Florida Panhandle in exchange for financial assistance. Purman, who left Marianna as soon as he recuperated from the February shooting sufficiently to travel, had been appointed by Governor Reed as a commissioner to negotiate on behalf of Florida.
Jackson County residents had long been frustrated by the state's inability to support the building of a railroad to Marianna. The most desirable plan was the extension of the tracks that ended in Quincy to Chattahoochee and over the Apalachicola, thereby finally connecting Marianna by rail with Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Plans included extending this line west from Marianna to Pensacola to traverse the entire state. Democrats already predisposed to despise Gov. Reed's Republican "carpetbagger" administration found further cause for outrage in the state's continuing financial crisis and the backroom deals with politically-connected speculators that later erupted into the Swepson-Littlefield scandal.
In an unique confluence of both Republicans and Democrats, Jackson County residents supported secession of Florida counties west of the Apalachicola to Alabama. Hopes for the eastern route abandoned, plans were floated and companies incorporated to build a rail line north to Dothan and south to St. Andrew's Bay. In the pages of his Marianna Courier, Frank Baltzell enthusiastically endorsed the plan negotiated by Purman, the man he detested most.
Frank Baltzell gave voice to the frustration of his fellow citizens:
"The whole railroad scheme is a sham and humbug, and instead of commencing a road they are squabbling over precedents of incorporations, rights of franchise and other stuff of like nature to postpone beginning until after the election in November. The bills making the appropriations were framed in such a manner that a subterfuge can be sought and obtained, in case extension to the Apalachicola river will better conserve the interest of the Middle and East.
The only hope for facilities and improvement lies in annexation, and we appeal to our citizens to abandon the irretrievably indebted State of Florida, that is unwilling to give them their rightful part of the internal improvement fund and would deceive them in the last breath of connection, and rally to the annexation and Alabama, and our long neglected section will soon see the smoky signals of prosperity and happiness hovering over our valleys and the echo of its pulses throbbing among our lonely hills.
If our aprehensions are unfounded it would behoove our friends to vote for annexation that would at least, make these companies develope their pretended intended intentions."
[Pensacola West Florida Commercial, July 16, 1869]
A public meeting was held in Marianna in August attended by one of Alabama's negotiators, and a referendum was scheduled for the Panhandle counties for October. With the endorsement of both Republican and Democratic leaders, Jackson County residents were certain to approve annexation by a wide majority. In the fall, however, other events intervened to draw attention away from annexation. Marianna did not get its railroad connection to the east until early 1883. [Greg Turner, A Short History of Florida Railroads, 85]
Jackson County residents had long been frustrated by the state's inability to support the building of a railroad to Marianna. The most desirable plan was the extension of the tracks that ended in Quincy to Chattahoochee and over the Apalachicola, thereby finally connecting Marianna by rail with Tallahassee and Jacksonville. Plans included extending this line west from Marianna to Pensacola to traverse the entire state. Democrats already predisposed to despise Gov. Reed's Republican "carpetbagger" administration found further cause for outrage in the state's continuing financial crisis and the backroom deals with politically-connected speculators that later erupted into the Swepson-Littlefield scandal.
In an unique confluence of both Republicans and Democrats, Jackson County residents supported secession of Florida counties west of the Apalachicola to Alabama. Hopes for the eastern route abandoned, plans were floated and companies incorporated to build a rail line north to Dothan and south to St. Andrew's Bay. In the pages of his Marianna Courier, Frank Baltzell enthusiastically endorsed the plan negotiated by Purman, the man he detested most.
Frank Baltzell gave voice to the frustration of his fellow citizens:
"The whole railroad scheme is a sham and humbug, and instead of commencing a road they are squabbling over precedents of incorporations, rights of franchise and other stuff of like nature to postpone beginning until after the election in November. The bills making the appropriations were framed in such a manner that a subterfuge can be sought and obtained, in case extension to the Apalachicola river will better conserve the interest of the Middle and East.
The only hope for facilities and improvement lies in annexation, and we appeal to our citizens to abandon the irretrievably indebted State of Florida, that is unwilling to give them their rightful part of the internal improvement fund and would deceive them in the last breath of connection, and rally to the annexation and Alabama, and our long neglected section will soon see the smoky signals of prosperity and happiness hovering over our valleys and the echo of its pulses throbbing among our lonely hills.
If our aprehensions are unfounded it would behoove our friends to vote for annexation that would at least, make these companies develope their pretended intended intentions."
[Pensacola West Florida Commercial, July 16, 1869]
A public meeting was held in Marianna in August attended by one of Alabama's negotiators, and a referendum was scheduled for the Panhandle counties for October. With the endorsement of both Republican and Democratic leaders, Jackson County residents were certain to approve annexation by a wide majority. In the fall, however, other events intervened to draw attention away from annexation. Marianna did not get its railroad connection to the east until early 1883. [Greg Turner, A Short History of Florida Railroads, 85]
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 1869: Return of Frank Baltzell's Marianna Courier
From the Tallahassee Sentinel of May 15, 1869:
SALUTATORY- The first number of the resuscitated Courier, published at Marianna, is before us, with the salutatory address of the Editor, from which we extract the following:
With this number we resume the publication of the Marianna Courier, suspended in December last.
It is customary on such an occasion to open with an elaborate editorial article setting forth the interests to which it will be devoted, the opinions to which it will adhere, the doctrines it will advocate, the political party it will support, and at the same time showing up the wants of expectant readers with a prospectus or bill of fare of the interesting articles to be introduced. But we will deviate from this honored custom, let our bastling speak for itself, and make our dissertation brief.
To advance the interests of Jackson county and West Florida, to have a local expositor of the opinions of the town and county, and to disseminate information important to the advancement of the farmer and mechanic are the objects to which the Courier aims it efforts.
FRANK BALTZELL
Frank Baltzell was still a teenager when he joined his brother George A. as editor and publisher of the Courier newspaper which they had founded in 1866 with their father George F. Baltzell, the prominent jurist. An 1870 newspaper directory listed the Courier as consisting of four pages, appearing each Thursday, with a circulation of 850. It was described as the "only paper publshed in the five eastern counties of west Florida, where it has an extensive circulation and commanding influence" (The Men who Advertise, Geo. Rowell & Co., NY, 1870, p. 627).
Frank Baltzell had already gained reknown for his feats as a boy during the Battle of Marianna. A committed Democrat and opponent of Reconstruction policy, Baltzell soon gained attention for his caustic and eloquent editorials and became a favorite of Charles Dyke, editor of the Tallahassee Weekly Floridan, the state's leading Democratic newspaper. Baltzell can be blamed for inciting hatred of Hamilton and Purman, but his views apparently accurately reflected the opinion of most of Jackson County's white community towards the Bureau agents and their allies. Baltzell did not reserve his criticism solely for Republicans, but also attacked the young "chivalry" who failed, in his view, to adapt to the post-war situation through economic industry and initiative. As conditions deteriorated in Jackson County, however, Baltzell came increasingly to rationalize inexcusable offenses committed by local whites. Unfortunately, no intact copies of the Courier remain from the years that Frank edited the newspaper. Numerous extracts in other Florida papers, however, give a strong impression of Frank's powerful and influential, and sometimes irresponsible, writing style and opinions.
SALUTATORY- The first number of the resuscitated Courier, published at Marianna, is before us, with the salutatory address of the Editor, from which we extract the following:
With this number we resume the publication of the Marianna Courier, suspended in December last.
It is customary on such an occasion to open with an elaborate editorial article setting forth the interests to which it will be devoted, the opinions to which it will adhere, the doctrines it will advocate, the political party it will support, and at the same time showing up the wants of expectant readers with a prospectus or bill of fare of the interesting articles to be introduced. But we will deviate from this honored custom, let our bastling speak for itself, and make our dissertation brief.
To advance the interests of Jackson county and West Florida, to have a local expositor of the opinions of the town and county, and to disseminate information important to the advancement of the farmer and mechanic are the objects to which the Courier aims it efforts.
FRANK BALTZELL
Frank Baltzell was still a teenager when he joined his brother George A. as editor and publisher of the Courier newspaper which they had founded in 1866 with their father George F. Baltzell, the prominent jurist. An 1870 newspaper directory listed the Courier as consisting of four pages, appearing each Thursday, with a circulation of 850. It was described as the "only paper publshed in the five eastern counties of west Florida, where it has an extensive circulation and commanding influence" (The Men who Advertise, Geo. Rowell & Co., NY, 1870, p. 627).
Frank Baltzell had already gained reknown for his feats as a boy during the Battle of Marianna. A committed Democrat and opponent of Reconstruction policy, Baltzell soon gained attention for his caustic and eloquent editorials and became a favorite of Charles Dyke, editor of the Tallahassee Weekly Floridan, the state's leading Democratic newspaper. Baltzell can be blamed for inciting hatred of Hamilton and Purman, but his views apparently accurately reflected the opinion of most of Jackson County's white community towards the Bureau agents and their allies. Baltzell did not reserve his criticism solely for Republicans, but also attacked the young "chivalry" who failed, in his view, to adapt to the post-war situation through economic industry and initiative. As conditions deteriorated in Jackson County, however, Baltzell came increasingly to rationalize inexcusable offenses committed by local whites. Unfortunately, no intact copies of the Courier remain from the years that Frank edited the newspaper. Numerous extracts in other Florida papers, however, give a strong impression of Frank's powerful and influential, and sometimes irresponsible, writing style and opinions.
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