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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 115/340

Chapter VI

THE ERA OF RECONSTRUCTION, 1865 - 1876

As one might expect, Columbia countians along with other
Floridians were confused as the war ended and concerned over
what the future had in store. It was an established fact that the
North had won the war. Floridians accepted the verdict of the
battlefield that the state would again be a part of the Union. On
May 13, 1865, Acting Governor Abraham K. Allison wrote to
General Edward M. McCook, federal commander in Tallahassee,
that Floridians would abide by the Constitution of the United
States and were ready to “resume the duties and privileges created
by that instrument in a spirit of perfect good faith. . . -”1 Accep­
tance of reality, however, did not necessarily mean an acceptance
by the heart—Independence Day was not celebrated in Lake City
during the summers of 1865 and 1866.2
Acceptance of the Union, moreover, did not, of itself, resolve
many of the problems the state faced. Returning veterans saw
considerable destruction in Jacksonville, Cedar Key, Pensacola,
and other coastal towns. Inland towns such as Lake City, Madison
and Tallahassee escaped destruction, but the war’s strain demon­
strated itself in the generally poor condition of houses, businesses,
and streets. In the countryside many once proud plantations were
overgrown with weeds while former slave quarters were mostly
empty. There was considerable poverty. The state’s railroads, the
key to economic recovery, were likewise in poor shape. The Florida
Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad connecting Lake City with

’A. K. Allison to E. M. McCook, May 13,1865, Governor’s Letterbook, Florida
State Library, Tallahassee.
2 William Watson Davis, The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida (Gaines­
ville, 1964), p. 443; Joe M. Richardson. The Negro in the Reconstruction of Florida,
1865-1877 (Tallahassee, 1965), p. 2.

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