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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 85/340

Chapter V

EVENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR 1861 - 1865

In his study of Florida during the Civil War, historian John E.
Johns relates an incident involving ex-Governor Richard Keith
Call the day after Florida seceded from the United States. Call was
approached by a group of jubilant secessionists who shouted,
“Well, Governor, we have done it.” The old unionist answered back,
“You have opened the gates of Hell, from which shall flow the
curse of the damned to sink you to perdition.”1
Such was the situation in 1861 when Florida seceded and
emotions were running strong. The time for compromise had
passed, and the state was about the embark on one of its most
trying periods. Prior to this dramatic event, during the previous
decade of the 1850’s, a series of events in the sectional controversy
between the North and the South had been unfolding which set the
stage for the final confrontation on the field of battle.
To an observer in the United States during the 1850’s it was
not so apparent that the issues of the decade would lead to war. A
compromise had been worked out in 1850 settling the sectional
issues for a time. In 1854 the situation became emotion-laden when
Congress debated the Kansas-Nebraska Act which disrupted the
pattern of territorial slavery which had prevailed since the
Missouri Compromise of 1820. The events of the mid-1850’s did not
lead to dissolution of the Union, but they did serve to weaken
seriously the Whig party in national politics.
Many Floridians, especially the large plantation owners, had
found the conservative, pro-business persuasion of the Whig party
to their liking. Prior to 1852 the Whigs constituted a powerful
force in Florida politics. Yet the defeat of the Whig candidate
’John E. Johns, Florida During the Civil War (Gainesville, 1963), p. 1.

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