Florida in the Civil War

Exhibits

• Significant Documents: Civil War Period
  This exhibit provides historically significant documents from the State Library and Archives of Florida's collections.
• Distant Storm: Florida’s Role in the Civil War
  Beginning with a background to secession, this exhibit explores Florida’s Civil War history through an online narrative and descriptive presentation of original documents and manuscripts.
• “Lincoln Letters” at the State Archives of Florida
  This exhibit includes documents that refer to Lincoln as a presidential candidate and the leader of the Union during the Civil War.

Collections

• Call and Brevard Family Papers
  Richard Keith Call was territorial governor of Florida from 1835-1840 and again from 1841-1844. He expressed his pro-slavery and pro-Union views in letters and publications.
• Confederate Pension Applications
  The first Confederate pensions in Florida were authorized in 1885 and granted to veterans the sum of $5.00 per month.
• Florida's Early Constitutions
  This collection documents the evolution of Florida's political framework before and after the Civil War.
• The Jefferson County Freedmen's Contracts
  The Freedmen's Bureau, established in 1865 by the United States government to assist former slaves through the difficulties attending the end of the Civil War, helped landowners and laborers write these contracts, and filed them in the county's records.
• McLeod Diary
  William McLeod’s diary describes his experiences as a Confederate soldier in the Civil War from June 1864 through January 1865.
• Milton Letterbook
  This collection consists of the first of Governor John Milton’s two letterbooks, covering the years 1861 to 1863.
• Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home
  This collection consists of applications for admission to the Florida Old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Home.
• Voter Registration Rolls, 1867-68
  These records list individuals who registered to vote in the State of Florida in 1867 and 1868. The lists are unique in that they are the first voter rolls in Florida to systematically include African-Americans.
  

Guides

• A Guide to Civil War Records
  This guide describes the state, federal and private records pertaining to Florida’s Civil War era (1860-1865) housed at the State Archives of Florida.

Video

Full-Length Films

• Confederate Veterans Convention (1914)
  This silent film shows the meeting of 40,000 Confederate war veterans in Jacksonville.
• Billy Lundy, Civil War Vet (1955)
  This film’s first scenes are of Bill Lundy, a Civil War veteran, on his 107^th birthday.

Blog Posts

Pre-Civil War

• United States vs. Schooner Emperor (1839)
  One consequence of Florida’s coastal geography and proximity to the Caribbean was that the territory served as a frequent terminus for the illicit slave trade.
• In Plain Sight: Secrets Beneath the Sands of Higgs Beach
  This peaceful beach in Key West is also the final resting place for nearly three hundred victims of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe in Florida
  Most often remembered for advocating abolition before the Civil War, Stowe also wintered in Florida and wrote about her experiences.
• Florida's Underground Railroad (Part 1)
  Harriet Tubman fought for freedom as a nurse, cook, and spy during the Civil War.
• Florida’s Underground Railroad (Part Two)
  Free blacks established Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose just north of St. Augustine in 1739.
• Florida’s Underground Railroad (Part Three)
  Runaway slaves forged close alliances with the Florida Seminoles in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
  

Civil War

• The Music of the Civil War
  Folk Festival performances help preserve songs from both sides of this epic American conflict.
• Civil War Letters Home: Roderick Gospero Shaw
  A young lieutenant’s story comes to life in a series of letters held by the State Archives of Florida.
• What in the World is a Zouave?
  These uniquely named soldiers fought at the Battle of Santa Rosa Island in 1861.
• Detour to Liberty: Black Troops in Florida during the Civil War
  African-American soldiers fought bravely for the Union Army in Florida during the Civil War.
• Florida and the Civil War (1862)
  This series of blog post chronicles Florida and the Civil War in 1862.
• Florida and the Civil War (1863)
  This series of blog post chronicles Florida and the Civil War in 1863.
• Civil War Voices
  Each day in October 2014 featured a document from the collections of the State Archives of Florida written exactly 150 years before that date, in October 1864.
• Love and War
  Distance and duty did nothing to diminish young Albert Chalker’s love for his sweetheart.
• Natural Bridge As Told by J.H. Frier
  Remembering the battle on its 150th anniversary.
• Death of a Governor
  This post marks the 150th anniversary of the untimely passing of Florida’s 5th Governor, John Milton.

Post-Civil War and Reconstruction

• Edmund Cottle Weeks
  The nation’s existential crisis of civil war brought to the forefront many individuals who were mature, tested, and ready to act as leaders for both sides.
  

Examining the Civil War Documents

• Hidden History in Civil War Documents
  The challenges of writing during the conflict.
• Doing Genealogy with Pension Records
  How to learn more about your Civil War-era ancestors.