THE MAGAZINE OF THE FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL

The cattle raised during the 19th
century came from the same Andalusian
stock that was left to forage in the
wild some 300 years before. This was a
hardy breed—sometimes referred to as
scrub, woods, native, or cracker cows.
Preconditioned in Spain by centuries
of environmental extremes and selective
breeding, they were tougher than
any other European stock. While other
breeds vanished, the Spanish foundlings
survived. These cattle were small, but reproduced
rapidly in the wilderness; they
soon spread over many parts of the peninsula
and over parts of the Southeast.
The early Cracker pioneers had to
be as tough as the cattle in order to survive
on the Florida frontier. They had a
labor-hard existence in a hot, subtropical
wilderness fraught with panthers,
wolves, bears, hordes of mosquitoes,
and the occasional outbreak of Indian
hostilities. Perhaps for this reason, they
A sketch showing locations of major Florida
cattle families in mid-19th century, according to
information in state tax rolls. By Joe A. Akerman, Jr.
didn’t make the best of impressions on
some observers: “…a rude, uneducated
class,” wrote Bishop Whipple in 1853;
“…dirty, ragged, and dusty, seated upon
Carlton Ward, Jr.
At top, aerial view of herd under palm trees at
Adams Ranch. At left, a page from the 1860 Marks
and Brands Book of Manatee County, recording
how several families marked their cattle. Above,
1905 photo of Willie and Frank Walker with
horses and dog.
Sketch of brands used by some early cattle families.
By Joe A. Akerman, Jr.
Florida State Archives
long-tailed and short-eared horses, with
the deadly rifle in front…and the broad
brim hat,” wrote John T. Sprague during
the Second Seminole War (1835–1842).
But others saw them differently: “…plain
people in this area who lived simply and
roughly…but never wanted or went in
debt…all had cattle which represented a
cash crop,” wrote Richard Daniel in the
1850s.
Journalist James Sterling explained
in the 1850s how these early Cracker
pioneers were able to acquire cattle herds
so quickly with such little effort:
Having established himself on a land
of his own or a patch of Uncle Sam’s, he…
may become a grazier at small expense of
labor or money. Having borrowed or bought
a few head of cattle, he simply marks them
and turns them out into the woods. In the
spring he collects the calves and puts his
brand on them…In this way some of these
Florida squatters accumulated vast herds
of cattle…
These pioneers also caught wild
horses, which became key to herding
and ranching. The horses, like the cattle,
were direct descendants of Andalusian
livestock. Frenchman Francis de Castleman,
who traveled in Florida in 1837,
described the “Florida horse” this way:
“It is called generally Indian pony and
is small, long haired and bright-eyed,
lively, stubborn and as wild as the Indians
themselves; it has a wonderful endurance
of fatigue and hardship; it has a
singular instinct in finding its way in the
dense woods.” Over the years, the horses
became known as “cracker” ponies or
“marshtackies.”
Dogs also became essential to the
work of Florida cowmen. There were
several breeds of cow dogs, but most
were mixed-blooded. Some mixes included
hound and bulldog; others have
included the Australian Blue Healer
(part dingo) and the so-called Leopard
breed. It is said that the leopard dog was
derived from a combination of Florida’s
native black wolf and the Spanish war
dog used by the early conquistadors.
The dogs and the horses helped find and
round up cows that were foraging in the
deep woods, snake-infested marshes, and
dense brush.
There were no fences, so the differ-
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