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History of
The Florida Cow Cavalry
By: Martha Sue Skinner
Memorials and exhibits are placed to honor special soldiers, groups,
etc. The Plant City Chapter of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy is also establishing an
exhibit to honor the Florida Cow Cavalry soldiers.
During the 1860’s, there was an abundance
of wild cattle roaming the frontier ranges of Florida. The Spanish had brought
these cattle to Florida as they settled in St. Augustine in the 1500’s. Florida
used this abundance of beef in 1863 to supply a large amount of it to the
Confederacy. However increasing Federal incursions into the state greatly
hindered those efforts, causing very little of the precious contraband to get
through to the starving troops.
Other groups were also making Confederate
operations in the Tampa Bay area difficult. Historian Ernest Robinson called
these groups, “marauding parties who were making war on the thinly settled
villages from Cedar Key southward”. “These groups were looked upon as little
better than pirates, as they robbed all ages and sexes”.
As the Confederate armies to the north were
slowly starving, a decision was made by authorities in Florida to combat this
situation. Special units of cowmen were formed on the Florida frontier, to help
fight off the Federals and a large number of Confederate deserters that aided
them.
Known as “The Cow Cavalry, 1st
Battalion Florida, Special Cavalry; there were nine companies with approximately
nine hundred men. These men protected the cattle from the Federal raiders and
rustlers. They also oversaw the cattle drives that supplied the Confederate
Army, as far north as Savannah and Charleston.
One of the companies, Capt. John T.
Lesley’s Co. B 1st Battalion, Florida Special Cavalry, was formed
here in our area of Hillsborough County, Florida. They were stationed in
Ichepucksassa, (Plant City), and patrolled an areas from Lake Okeechobee to
Bayport in Hernando, County.
April 1864 saw the first engagement with
Federal forces at Bowlegs Creek in Polk County. This cost the Sandpipers, as
some called them, their 1st casualties when two of the men were
killed. Second skirmish against the Federal forces, this time at 12 Mile Creek,
Lesley leading only 19 men, reportedly attacked a force of 109 and in the brief,
but bitter battle, routed them successfully.
The night of July 10, 1864 saw the third
incident with Union troops. From Lesley’s own account, these brave men of the
“Cow Cavalry” attacked a force of 800 Yankee soldiers, who were burning and
destroying property on their march. Lesley’s grandson, Theodore Lesley gave a
more detailed description of his grandfather’s part in this engagement and its
aftermath. “In the year 1864, the Yankees made a landing at Bayport, the few
Confederates were instrumental in keeping them from reaching Brooksville, but
they nevertheless, did much damage in burning homes. After they had turned, and
were making back to their boats, the Southerners decided to lay a trap for
them. They split up into two opposite sides and awaited for the Federals.
Capt. Hope, (Lt. David Hope), and his men were fist to arrive and station
themselves. Shortly afterwards they heard and saw movements across the way, and
opened fire.”
John T. Lesley’s “Cow Cavalry”, would take
part later in an abortive raid in February of 1865 on Ft. Myers, which at the
time was a major Union base of operations in South Florida. 200 or so of
Lesley’s men and two other area companies of Cow Cavalry, all under the command
of Major William Footman, slogged through rainy weather to reach the Fort on
February 20; after an inconclusive artillery duel between the two sides, the
Confederates withdrew from the area, hungry and demoralized, they marched back,
175 miles on foot, without food or supplies.
Before the final collapse of the
Confederacy one last adventure awaited the Lesley’s. In May of 1865, a bearded
man in Brooksville inquiring for the home of Rev. Lesley. He revealed his
identity as Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State for the late Confederacy. He
was seeking their aid, as he was in fear for his life and needed to escape.
Benjamin was carried to Ellenton, Florida, where he was hidden away at the
Gamble Mansion. He remained there until a seaworthy boat was obtained; boarding
in Sarasota; Benjamin begins his voyage that took him to the Bahamas and then to
England, where he remained the rest of his life.
The “Cow Cavalry” faded into the mist of
history and legend, as a long and difficult period in our history came to an
end.
Cow Cavalry
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