Florida Cracker Cattle in the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century: How Florida’s Economic Growth, Military Involvement, and Population Diversity Was Directly Impacted by the Spanish Criollo Cattle

Florida is an ancient and wild land. Florida’s landscape is tropical and sub-tropical. It is inhospitable to most flora and fauna found in other locations around North American. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Florida was scarcely populated, and its marshy land was undesirable. The story of Florida is often told through the lens of the Spanish exploration, frontier politics, and global tourism. However, Florida history arguably misses the greatest factor that led to the development of the ancient land. The history of Florida can be told through its most precious commodity, and its single biggest contribution to the country in times of war and peace, its cattle. Florida’s land was the first land that cattle hooves touched in the New World. Furthermore, cattle and the beef industry defined both the emergent and developed economy of Florida. Early Florida Crackers were literally defined by their work with cattle. The governing powers of Tallahassee were entirely controlled by wealthy cattle barons until the mid-20th century. Florida cattlemen stridently advocated and politically campaigned to maintain open grazing rights. Florida was the last state in the union to mandate fencing laws. Fredric Remington, John Muir, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings all tried to capture the beauty and wildness of Florida. Ponce de Leon, Andrew Jackson, and Osceola all shed blood for its salty land. Henry Flagler and Walt Disney tried to develop Florida. However, it was the Florida cattlemen who learned to work with the natural rhythms of nature and the land, and made indelible formative contributions to the economy and larger social fabric. This work tells the seldom narrated story of Florida through cattle.