Page 12 - history-of-military-units-in-columbia-county-fl-(1970)-robert-gary-shields

History of Military Units in Columbia County, FL (1970) Robert Gary Shields

was included in Columbia; Columbia County was bounded on the West

by the Suwannee River. He held the following offices in Columbia
County: Justice of the Peace, Judge of the County Court, County
Surveyor, State Representative, Delegate to the Constitutional

convention at Port St. Joe in 1838, Chairman of the.Committee on
Election in the State Legislature in 1848, and Postmaster at

Little River in 1841. - He was also'a Trustee of East Florida
Seminary at Micanopy until 1856. He was serving as Probate Judge
in Suwannee County when he died in 1866. ( Suwannee County had

been established in 1859 )

George E. McClellan is recorded as having served as a private

and Captain in Militia units before enlisting as a Captain under
Col F. L. Dancy on 28 Nov. 1840, at Alligator. Under the Militia
Act of 1827, one regiment had been assigned to Alachua County.
?
Columbia had become a County in 1832 which led to the reappont- -
ionment of State Troops and Col. Dancy's organizing of the

Second Regiment in the area North of Alachua County.

The service record of Dancy's Regiment lists these remarks:

"Casualties are recorded as having occurred at the following
dates and places;
Feb. 20, 1841 at Alligator

Feb. 23, 1841 at Mineral Springs ( White Springs )■

Since the companies stationed at Alligator were in service

at this time it is reasonable to assume that these units were in
action at these places.

Service records for militia of that period show that men we're
enlisted for periods of three or four months and then discharged

for a time to look after tlieir farms or businesses.

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