Florida's Peace River Frontier

The economic, social,political, and racial history of southwest Florida in the nineteenth century

Formost of the nineteenth century, southwest Florida and the Peace River Valleyremained a frontier as unknown to outsiders as the frontiers of the AmericanWest. In this book, Canter Brown, Jr. records the area's economic, social,political, and racial history in an account of violence, passion, struggle,sacrifice, and determination.

The Peace River originates in Polk County's LakeHamilton, one of the many lakes that dot the heart of interior Florida. Itflows past the towns of Bartow, Fort Meade, Bowling Green, Arcadia, Fort Ogden,and Punta Gorda, finally meeting the sea at Charlotte Harbor on Florida'ssouthwest Gulf Coast. No great cities line its banks; no commerce passes alongits waters. Still, the river has bent and molded events of lasting significanceto Florida and to the nation.

Using such primary materials as government records,manuscript collections, and newspapers published throughout the country, Browndocuments the presence of Native Americans and African Americans in the area inthe aftermath of the First Seminole War. He examines the Civil War andReconstruction periods, paying particular attention to the Union/Confederate, Republican/Democraticsplit among the area's residents. In the final sections of the book hedescribes the arrival of the railroad and the growth of towns, the phosphateboom, and consequences of the Great Freeze of 1895.

Throughout this account, the author identifies byname hundreds of persons who participated in these events, believing, he says,that the stories of individuals and families are a vital part of the area'shistory. Florida's Peace River Frontierwill appeal to readers interested in Florida history, the Civil War andReconstruction eras, African American history, and the history of the American frontier.