To continue my occasional history of intriguing days in history, I would like to comment on today’s importance to Civil War history. Today, on January 10, 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union (after South Carolina and Mississippi), though hardly anyone knows or remembers this fact [1]. Perhaps for this reason the Tampa Bay History center chose today to commemorate a historical exhibit on Florida’s history in the American Civil War [2]. That history is a strange one. For one, no major battles were fought in Florida during the Civil War (the most famous was Olustee, fought near Lake City in the northern part of the state). Intriguingly enough, Tampa was taken over by a colored infantry unit and no one other than a mule died in the city as a result of the Civil War. Some areas of the state (like Key West) never seceded at all, and the Union controlled some of the major parts of the state (like some of the forts outside of Pensacola, St. Augustine, and Jacksonville) during most of the war.
Some reenacters apparently performed a costume drama today in Tallahassee to commemorate the secession of Florida. I hope I can find pictures of the event to share with the readers [3.] The story of Florida during the Civil War is an interesting one, but an obscure one. For one, Tallahassee was one of two state capitals not taken by Union troops during the Civil War (the other was Austin, Texas). Now, had the Union decided that taking it was important, it could have easily been done since very few troops defended the state, but Florida was considered of very periphery importance for both the Confederacy (who viewed it mainly as a source for beef cattle to feed its troops) and the Union. However, Florida’s leaders took secession very seriously, providing one cabinet member to the Confederate Cabinet (Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory, perhaps the most obscure of Confederate cabinet members), and the governor of the state, one John Milton, ended up killing himself when the South lost the Civil War because he was so distraught. Suicide is not the answer–repentance for one’s rebellion is.
One aspect of Florida’s involvement in the Civil War I would like to know more about is Tampa’s contribution to the Civil War, namely a couple of very small skirmishes and raids and a gunboat trip up the Hillsborough River. Being a fan of obscure history, it would be appealing to me to see a sort of historical cruise (maybe even a dinner cruise–food is good) up the Hillsborough River on a reconstructed gunboat of sorts. There are a lot of passionate fans of the Civil War who might enjoy a perspective of history that occurred here in Florida. We ought not to be ignorant of our past nor the ways in which we can make it come alive again. For too long Florida’s quirky and interesting history has languished without attention, and those of us who care about the subject should do all we can to bring it to life and attention, since it so odd and quirky.
[1] http://www.florida-scv.org/publications/articles/fl_flags.htm
[3] http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/07/071217/confederate-re-enactors-to-observe-anniversary-of-/
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