THE MAGAZINE OF THE FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL

Carlton Ward, Jr.
ent herds sometimes mixed. Ownership
was determined by the cows’ brands and
distinctive ear-crops. Rustlers took advantage
of the open range and altered
or duplicated brands in order to claim
cattle that didn’t belong to them.
Rustling was a problem in Florida as
far back as 1702, when British colonials
and their Creek Indian allies took cattle
and slaves during invasions in Spanish
Florida. Rustling continued throughout
the centuries, worsening during times
of war; it was particularly rife in Florida
during the Civil War. Union patrols
and Confederate deserters often took
cattle from Cracker settlers for their own
needs. During Reconstruction, some
merchants even specialized in stolen
cattle.
Stealing cattle was one of the infractions
that often led to violence on
the Florida range. In the 1890s, an
epidemic of cattle thieving broke out
in the Arcadia section. On one occasion,
a quartet of rustlers stole 200 head
of cattle in DeSoto County and drove
them as far as Titusville. A posse of cowmen
eventually overtook the four, killed
two of them in a shootout, and hanged
the other two from a large oak tree. This
was an example of frontier justice, vigilante
style, which was widely accepted at
the time. Lawmen frequently endorsed
such killings. It was a way of trying to
establish some order in a violent, lawless
territory.
Castleman, the French visitor to
Florida, described the atmosphere of
violence, noting “the universal practice
of men carrying arms and the amount
of lawlessness, drinking and gambling”
that prevailed. “It often happens that
men of responsible position are found
rolling drunk in the streets…I have seen
two hostile planters meet on horseback
in the street and immediately start fighting
with pistol and bowie knife…”
The lynch law was invoked in dealing
with horse thieves. Fights were commonplace,
and differences were often
settled with guns and knives. Gun duel-
Above left, Cracker whip. Above right, Doug Jones, Cracker cattleman from Myakka City, leads his horse.
Below, Three riders armed with shotguns patrol woods in Wakulla County in search of cattle rustlers
(circa 1890).
Florida State Archives
1 10 WWI IN NT TE ER R 2 20 0 06 6 / / FFOO RRUU M FFLL O ORRI I D DA A H U M MAA N NI ITTI IEES S CC O U N NCCI ILL ing was as common among cowmen in
Florida as among those on the Western
Frontier. In 1832, the problem of dueling
in Florida was so bad that the Territorial
Council voted on a law that would
have made it illegal. The dilemma of trying
to impose law in a lawless territory
is illustrated by a clause that was written
into and then struck from the Territorial
Constitution in 1838–39: It “would
have rendered any man ineligible to a
position of honor or involvement under
the government who was a duelist, a
bank director or a minister of God.”
Judge E.C. May gave one of the most
vivid accounts of the Florida frontier at
the turn of the century in his book, Gators,
Skeeters and Malary. He wrote of the
Carlton Ward, Jr.
thousands of Winchester rifles (“Winnies”)
in the state at this time and
how “they were turned loose on the
community whenever the owner had
enough money to buy ammunition.”
He described one gunman named
John Fields who shot three cowmen
from their horses as they attempted to
ride into a saloon he owned. (It was
strange Fields became angered, because
this was a common way to approach
the bar in Florida.)
One of Florida’s many shootouts
took place in Branford in 1890 between
the nephew of the legendary Kit
Carson (the nephew’s name was also
Kit Carson) and a man named Garner
who had shot Carson’s best friend.
While a mob of over 200 looked on,
Garner retreated to the second story of
a store while firing two pistols. Standing
in the middle of the main street,
Carson seemed oblivious to Garner’s
bullets kicking up dust near his feet.
Garner was finally flushed out and was
almost lynched by the mob, but he