Open-Range Cattle Herding in Antebellum South Florida (1842-1860)

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 26, No. 1, May 1986, pp. 55-67 OPEN-RANGE CATTLE HERDING IN ANTEBELLUM SOUTH FLORIDA (1842-1860)* John Solomon Otto Forty years ago, historian Frank L. Owsley first drew attention to the cattle herders of the Old South (1784—1860) who possessed little land and few slaves, but who owned sizable cattle herds. Despite their lack of land and slaves, herders were economically significant, for they raised impressive numbers of beef cattle for domestic and foreign markets. Herders owned small homesteads, but they grazed their cattle on the unfeneed public lands, or "open-range," at no charge—a practice which was safeguarded by state laws until after the Civil War. Although cattle herders were found throughout the Old South, they were especially numerous on the coastal plain, where most of the land was unfeneed public domain. From Florida to Texas, herders raised cattle on the open-range, producing beef for Southern cities as well as for the West Indies. (J) During the past two decades, geographers and historians have rediscovered the Southern cattle herders and their economic significance. (2) The economic importance of cattle herding in the Old South is reflected in the federal census of 1860. From Florida to Texas, there was a patchwork of counties in 1860 which contained three or more cattle for each person in the county. Any antebellum county with a cattle-topeople ratio in excess of three to one was capable of producing a marketable surplus of beef cattle. (3) The highest cattle-to-people ratios in the Old South were found in south Texas. In 1860, the four south Texas counties of Refugio, San Patricio , Live Oak, and Bee recorded cattle-to-people ratios of 98 to one, 83 to one, 44 to one, and 41 to one respectively. (4) Given this huge cattle surplus, south Texas was the scene of an antebellum cattle herding industry which has been studied by scholars ranging from historian Walter P. Webb to geographer Terry G. Jordan. (5) The second highest cattle-to-people ratios in the Old South were * Research funds were provided by a National Endowment for the Humanities "State, Local and Regional Studies" grant. Dr. Otto is Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. 56Southeastern Geographer found in south Florida. By 1860, three south Florida counties of Manatee , Brevard, and Hillsborough (Fig. 1) posted cattle-to-people ratios of 37 to one, 31 to one, and 13 to one respectively. (6) And given this sizable cattle surplus, south Florida was also the scene of commerical cattle herding. But unlike south Texas, the antebellum cattle industry of South Florida has been largely overlooked by historians and geographers . (7) This scholarly neglect of antebellum south Florida is hardly surprising , since the region was the ultima Thule of the Old South. It was an isolated frontier, which attracted little attention during the antebellum years. South Florida, however, did attract some settlers, and occasionally one of them described the region in articles which were published in antebellum agricultural journals. Few antebellum settlers in south Florida failed to mention the sandy pinewoods which dominated the landscape. (8) These barren lands supported little more than scattered pine trees, "dwarf palmettos ," and "wiregrass." (9) Though pinewoods land was "worthless for agricultural purposes," it was unsurpassed "as a grazing country." Thanks to the mild south Florida winters, grass grew "most luxuriantly ," and cattle were "amply supplied" at "all seasons of the year." Consequently, the "large majority of the population on the southern portion of the [Florida] peninsula" were cattle herders, grazing their stock on the expanses of pinewoods range. (JO) SETTLEMENT OF ANTEBELLUM SOUTH FLORIDA. Cattle herders first began entering Florida in 1821, the year that the United States acquired the territory from Spain, but few settled in south Florida since this region lay within the Seminole Indian Reservation. The Treaty of Moultrie Creek (1823) had reserved the interior of Florida, south of what is now Ocala, for the Seminole Indians. Yet, disputes soon arose between the reservation Seminóles and the Florida cattle herders. Seminóles accused herders of trespassing in their reservation, while herders blamed Seminóles for stealing...