BGuthrie Photos: FL -- DeLand -- Volusia County Historic Court House

FL -- DeLand -- Volusia County Historic Court House:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. VOLUS_150811_023.JPG: Legendary Florida [There's an online version of Jackson Walker's paintings on http://www.moartdeland.org/legendaryflorida/index.html ]
2. VOLUS_150811_026.JPG: ORANGE FRITTERS AND A STORY 36" X 54" Oil Painting Author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings at Cross Creek, 1935. One of the nation's most famous writers, a transplant from Rochester, New York, came to Florida in 1928 and purchased a small country home and orange grove at Cross Creek between Ocala and Gainesville. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings discovered the charm of the local country people and their trials and adventures in the backwoods of Florida, writing of them in her moving stories. Her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Yearling," established Rawlings as an important American writer and brought "Cracker Florida" to the world. In this portrayal, Marjorie's dog "Moe" follows along, sensing the delicious aroma from the basket of warm orange fritters. He is oblivious to a family of mallard ducks scurrying into the wild water hyssop, thoroughwort, and bitter weed. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings continued to live at her grove house at Cross Creek and to write. She married her long time friend, Norton Baskin in 1941. Her health became a concern when she was involved in a five-year lawsuit with an individual who felt defamed regarding an uncomplimentary portrayal in the novel Cross Creek. After moving to St. Augustine with Norton, she became ill and died in 1953 at age 57. Rawlings lays at rest in a small country cemetery near Cross Creek in the peace and wild beauty of the rural Florida that she loved. Today, visitors can still find her small house very much as it was when she lived and worked there.
3. VOLUS_150811_042.JPG: RETURN TO BIG CYPRESS 30" X 48" Oil Painting A Seminole family's arrival for the Green Corn Dance celebration. Where the narrow waterway opens into the welcoming cove, the old ones and the chickees of the reserve beckon the young family back to their tribal lands. It is the season of the Green Corn Dance. The annual ritual is generally observed in Native American cultures and the Tribe of the Florida Seminoles place great importance on this springtime event when the stalks of brilliant green display their greatest promise. It is a celebration of feast and thanksgiving. It's a time for atonement and forgiving. It's a time for the tribe's accounting for their affairs and for attending to the matters of the community in the Big Cypress Tribal Reserve. For example, young couples who have eloped during the previous year are welcomed back into their families and accepted into the tribal clan of the bride. The ancient rituals, the telling of the past times and legends, give spirit to the elders. The folklore, dance, and songs bring delight to the young. For generations the tribes have embraced the ceremonial drinking of the Black Drink during this celebration, a curious and mystical practice that has always been a part of the seasonal event and as well as consultations with the tribe's Medicine Man. With a sense of renewed spirit and ties to family and clan redeemed, the Seminoles will go forth into another long and sweltering Florida summer, to be followed by what may be a severe winter. Many trials to body and soul will tempt and temper their hearts until; once again, the narrow waterway will open into the welcoming cove at Big Cypress.
4. VOLUS_150811_081.JPG: THE AMERICANS AT BARRANCAS American military crosses into Spain's Florida, 1818. It had been five years of uneasy peace since the young America of 1818 won its final war with England. The nation, under the leadership of President James Monroe, turned toward the uncharted West and speculations regarding the Spanish territory to the South, known as Florida. With its dominance of the continent's Southern gulf coast and the vast peninsula jutting towards the trade routes of the Caribbean and beyond, its potential did not go unnoticed by a government with a determined will for the concept of Manifest Destiny. To complicate matters, this frontier wilderness of Florida, sparsely populated by a handful of hardscrabble towns and out-post forts, provided a lawless sanctuary for hostile Indian bands allied with former slaves from the plantations of Southern America, impervious to US authority. In the hands of a weakening Colonial rule, the place was fertile ground for all manner of intrigues and foreign mischief as well. The factious violence spread. Brutal raids by these tribes, Seminoles in particular, into settlements of Alabama and Georgia, became murderous. On their farms and river ways, all white Americans were in peril. It became clear to Americans that the nation would somehow have to bring Florida under some manner of submission and fruitless appeals with Spanish authorities made a military solution likely. Fortunately for Monroe, he had only to turn to a warrior that was the very match to the great Napoleon himself; the most famous American of this age; hero of the triumph at New Orleans and the 1812 war; General Andrew Jackson. The victorious Commander accepted the task while on an extended respite at his Tennessee home and began raising a force. The purpose for this expedition was to pursue and destroy the Seminole tribes that waging war in the American Southeast; however, knowing that the objections of Spain over this "international incident" would be easily weathered by the sheer dynamics of America's diplomatic powers, an undertone of the order was evident in the statement "... You may find there are other objectives for you to accomplish." Jackson understood clearly the interpretation of this vague language. As commander of the Southern 7th Military District, he gathered the US Army's 4th Regiment of Infantry and guns from the US 1st Corps of Artillery and his faithful Tennessee Militia Volunteers. Young junior officers selected for this campaign considered it a stroke of good fortune to serve at the side of this great warrior. Many in this command served with Jackson during the War of 1812 and were veterans of the Battle of New Orleans. The Army moved West and South stopping on the banks of the Apalachicola River at the ruins of "Negro Fort" that had been destroyed by US Navy gunboats two years earlier. Jackson assigned his Engineer Officer, Lt. James Gadsden and a work party to remain there to reconstruct the fort. The army moved again, pursuing and putting to death all Seminoles who resisted or stood to fight while seeking Chief Billy Bowlegs, believed to have a stronghold in the region of the Suwannee River. In May of 1818, the combined military expedition crossed the Georgia border and began their campaign into Spain's Florida. The army came upon the Fort at St. Marks, where Jackson "suggested" that the Spanish garrison relinquish the fort to the Americans during their campaign. From this position, Jackson's soldiers led forays into the wilderness. Two British citizens; Robert Ambrister, an adventurer, along with Scottish trader Alexander Arbuthnot, were encountered and captured. The General quickly concluded they were spies aiding the Indians and after a brief court-martial, had the two executed, an international outrage that Britain would severely protest when the facts were later disclosed. With most of the Seminole villages burned and warriors eliminated, Jackson turned back to the North with an additional, less heralded agenda to lead his armies west towards the Spanish stronghold and port town of Pensacola, on the Gulf of Mexico. This was the unspoken objective - the back channel orders that Washington had inferred to Jackson regarding "other objectives" while in Florida. Permitting British troops to operate against America in the recent War of 1812, and the support, harboring and providing for warring Indians seemed justification for the siege and occupation of the town. On May 27, the Americans were positioned to the north of the town where an exchange of cannon fire commenced. A cease fire was declared briefly as Jackson and his staff met with Spanish Governor, Col. Jose Masot and city officials protested with outrage the invasion and Jackson's demanded surrender of the town immediately. No compromise was attained, so Jackson declared that the siege would continue at dawn, During the night, Masot and his governmental staff made their way to Ft. San Carlos de Barrancas where they would oversee the defense of the town. Jackson moved his men around a bayou to the west of the fort and waited for first light. With the coming of dawn, another brief exchange of guns began during which Masot clearly realized the power arranged before him and the futility of his own position. He conceded the town to Jackson. No further hostilities were committed. General Andrew Jackson, seeing his mission concluded, returned again to his home in Tennessee. The power of the American military and her determination of continental expansion convinced the King of Spain to sell off the troublesome colony of Florida to the Americans who were obviously prepared to shed blood. Andrew Jackson would return to the new American territory of Florida as the first governor. In 1829, Andrew Jackson became the seventh President of the United States and his administration would again go to war with the Seminoles beginning in 1835 and lasting throughout his term and beyond until 1842 and a third time a decade later. With this tortuous beginning, Florida eventually found its way to becoming the 27th State in 1845 ...a long journey from the humid and hostile Spanish outpost from which it began.
5. VOLUS_150811_086.JPG: WARRIORS FROM BONDAGE 30" X 48" Oil Painting The attack of Negro Fort on the Apalachicola River, 1816. In the summer of 1816, as the morning sun burned off the storm clouds over the Gulf of Mexico to the south, a showdown developed on the Apalachicola River. At a place known as Prospect Bluff, an abandoned British fort from the war of 1812 was now occupied by a fugitive collection of escaped slaves from the plantations of the southern United States and the "Indian Negroes," who found refuge and acceptance among the local tribes. These men, along with their women and children, lived in precarious security under the rule of a fierce leader known only by the name of "Garson." The fort and the Spanish control of Florida offered some defense against the bands of slave hunters from the American states to the north. However, the American government soon tired of this band of "lawless banditti" and their perceived threat to America's southern border. When Spain did nothing to return the slaves, the U.S. government determined to send an expeditionary military raid to terminate the outlaw colony. On July 27, a U.S. Naval detachment of two small vessels armed with cannons sailed up the river to the fort and began exchanging fire. After a short while, one of the vessels fired a heated red-hot cannon ball, known as a "hot shot" into the fort. The hot shot scored a direct hit on the powder magazine, igniting a massive explosion that destroyed the colony and nearly all its inhabitants.
6. VOLUS_150811_092.JPG: TRIBAL DUEL 27" X 30" Oil Painting Major David Moniac leads the Creek Regiment into the battle at Wahoo Swamp during the Second Seminole War, 1836. The bitter separation of the Creeks and those later known as Seminoles occurred at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The new tribe moved south into Florida, where they established their homeland. The emigration led to violence and unrest with the white settlers of the new U.S. Territory, leading to the outbreak of the Second Seminole War in 1835. In 1816, a young Creek boy from Alabama, David Moniac, was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. David graduated in 1822. Shortly after receiving a commission to the U.S. Army, he resigned from the military to return home to assist the family business of planting and horse breeding. David remained there and began a family, unconcerned with the troubles brewing to the south. By 1836, in spite of the harsh Indian removal policies initiated against his own people, Moniac was reappointed his commission in the Army in order to lead a regiment of Creek volunteers to go to Florida, where they fought their old enemies, the Seminoles. In late summer of 1836, Moniac and his Creeks found themselves in a desperate battle in the abysmal Wahoo Swamp of west central Florida. At a critical point, the heroic Moniac initiated an assault that took his men across a dark stream into the face of the hidden Seminoles. He leapt into the waist deep water, sword and pistol in hand, but was struck fatally by a rifle shot and sank into the black water. His body was recovered after the battle and buried nearby. Major David Moniac was both a gallant officer and a brave Creek warrior. He also had the distinction of being the first Native American graduate of West Point.
7. VOLUS_150811_101.JPG: EYES TO THE OKEECHOBEE 31" X 60" Oil Painting Colonel Zachary Taylor on the eve of the battle of Okeechobee, December 24, 1837. As the Second Seminole War dragged into a second full year, U.S. Army Commander General Sydney Jesup initiated a state-wide sweep intended to engage and capture the numerous bands of fugitive Seminole warriors. In December of 1837, one of the armies in this operation was commanded by Col. Zachary Taylor. His three regiments of Infantry, a regiment of Missouri Volunteers and a militia unit known as "Morgan's Spies," moved from the west of Florida to the east, seeking a large band of Seminoles believed to be somewhere near the great lake of Okeechobee. They encountered the warriors on the shores of the lake on Christmas Day and a bitter battle raged. The Seminoles were well positioned in the thick hammocks and had a clear fire zone as the armies approached their front. Casualties were great for the soldiers, especially the Missouri Volunteers at the forward position as they advanced. Their Commander, Col. Richard Gentry died on the field leading his men. The Seminoles were eventually routed from their positions but many escaped from to fight again. It was the last time that the Indians faced the military in a conventional engagement. They would hereafter fight a running, guerrilla style war. The painting portrays Col. Zachary Taylor and the massed column of his command on Christmas Eve, looking south toward the distant Lake Okeechobee where the following day they would fight the largest battle of the wars. Zachary Taylor later commanded troops in the war with Mexico and eventually became the twelfth President of the United States.
8. VOLUS_150811_106.JPG: THE CAPTIVE OSCEOLA 42" X 60" Oil Painting Seminole War leader Osceola escorted to prison in St. Augustine, 1837. After two years of widespread fighting across Florida known as the Second Seminole War, desperate measures were initiated to defeat the Seminole Tribe's resistance to the removal policy put in place by the U.S. Government. It was determined by the Federal Army and the Territorial Militia of Florida, in combat with the Indians, that the war could be ended and the spirit of the Seminoles broken if their charismatic war leader Osceola was eliminated. A controversial plan was initiated to meet with the leader and his followers under a flag of truce and then apprehend them by force. The plot was successfully executed at a place ten miles south of St. Augustine known as Moultrie Creek. The trap was sprung and the entire delegation of Seminoles was abducted in minutes. The captives were herded back to St. Augustine. The procession wound through the narrow streets, creating a spectacle that drew the citizens to line the doorways and verandas along the way. They all wished to see the fabled Osceola, who was already becoming a legend. Of the more than eighty captured Seminoles, some escaped. The others were later removed to the Western Territory. Osceola fell ill and was transported to Ft. Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina. His health continued to decline and the legendary War Leader died there on January 31, 1838. Osceola has become one of the greatest Native American leaders in our history. His followers fought for four more years, never fully capitulating to their enemy. They receded into the Everglades, where today their descendants still live with honor.
9. VOLUS_150811_115.JPG: COW CAVALRY 30" X 48" oil Painting Florida Home Guard Militia skirmish with Union cattle raiders, 1863. As the Civil War devastated the Southern states, Florida's remote farmland and cattle ranges became the Confederacy's food source for their struggling armies fighting throughout the states to the north. Union forces eventually invaded and occupied the coastal towns and ports of Florida. In this posture, they were able to strike into the interior to destroy agricultural holdings and to commandeer the beef-producing cattle herds. To combat the Union raiders, a home guard was initiated. The irregular units comprised of volunteers too young or old to serve in the Southern army. Recovering wounded veterans and cattle ranchers were included, thus providing valuable combat experience and knowledge of local terrain. One of these units was commanded by Captain J.J. Dickison, whose effective leadership was well known among Union forces. Moving swiftly by horseback, the guerrilla-like bands would engage the enemy on the open countryside or lie in wait to snipe at the mounted Union patrols. The Union moved a strong force westward from Jacksonville, attempting to cut the line of supply in northern Florida at Olustee in 1864. The bitter battle was won by the Confederacy. But eventually the entire South gave way to defeat under the overwhelming force of the Federals, as did the citizen soldiers of Florida's "Cow Cavalry." The capitulation of the Confederacy in 1865 and Reconstruction decimated the farms and ranches of Florida for many years after.
10. VOLUS_150811_126.JPG: DEPARTING FOR DESTINY 36" X 60" Oil Painting Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at Tampa, 1898. It was June of the year 1898. America was on the brink of invading the island nation of Cuba to liberate it from the rule of Spain and in the wake of the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine. In the Florida town of Tampa, the population exploded as soldiers and sailors from the entire country assembled at this coastal outpost selected as the port of departure for the Spanish-American War. On the outer edge of town, the Plant System Railroad delivered whole regiments of horse soldiers and equipment. Among the teeming troops were men of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry arriving from the West. With their spirited mounts and new khaki uniforms, the former cowboys, frontier lawmen, scouts, and college sportsmen, under the command of Colonel Leonard Wood and Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, had already attained their heroic nickname of "Rough Riders". They spent uneasy days enduring Florida's subtropical summer heat in bivouacs and road marches before embarkation. In the painting, the Rough Riders are seen in mounted drill on Lafayette Street, a dusty sand road that passed before the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel. The opulent resort, built by Henry B. Plant in the late 1880s, was the gathering place for society swells as well as headquarters for officers, adventurers, newsmen, and war correspondents. Central in the painting is Lt. Colonel Roosevelt, second in command. At the right is Colonel Wood, Commander of the Regiment. To the left, behind Roosevelt, are Captains Allyn Capron and Bucky O'Neill, two young officers who would distinguish themselves bravely and become casualties during the campaign in Cuba. The figure at the left, in the hunting attire and holding a sketchbook, is the famous Western artist Frederic Remington, sent to Cuba by William Randolph Hearst as a war correspondent and illustrator to document the action. Among the many scenes he captured is his famous portrayal of Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at the Battle of San Juan Hill.
11. VOLUS_150811_137.JPG: Timber and Citrus Industries: Portrait figures shown are Arthur Hamlin, who developed an early ripening strain and Lue Gim Gong, a Chinese citrusman who developed a late juice orange. Symbolized in the background is a productive sawmill which stood in Lake Helen about 1874.
12. VOLUS_150811_141.JPG: Development of Stetson University: DeLand Hall, Elizabeth Hall and the Sampson Library symbolize successive stages in the development of Stetson University. John B. Stetson, Henry DeLand, and O.T. Sampson survey the site, while in the "Grove" young President Lincoln B. Hulley gives a prayer at a graduation exercise.
13. VOLUS_150811_147.JPG: THE WRATH OF THE PRIVATEERS 36" X 60" Oil Painting Sir Francis Drake's Raid on St. Augustine, 1586. 1586 was a bad year for the modest Spanish colony of St. Augustine. The twenty-one year old garrison post survived poor agricultural production, epidemic, and missing or delayed supply ships from Spain and Cuba. However, the nearly-starving citizens persevered through these afflictions, as well as violent reprisals from nearby Indians retaliating against cruelties and mistreatment at the hands of the Spaniards. At this low point, the sails of English privateer Sir Francis Drake's fleet appeared on the horizon. Drake and his men rampaged against the Spanish in the New World, plundering and setting ablaze Spanish towns throughout the Caribbean. At St. Augustine, girded for battle, the English and their foreign sailors and mercenaries came ashore to find the colony deserted, the inhabitants fled into the countryside. Finding little to plunder, the raiders set the fields and dwellings aflame, including the abandoned wooden fort. The inhabitants returned to begin rebuilding from the ashes. St. Augustine would be attacked many times throughout its history, but remained the oldest inhabited community in what would eventually be known as America.
14. VOLUS_150811_160.JPG: THE GUNS OF ANASTASIA 42" X 66" Oil Painting British Colonial artillery shell Spanish St. Augustine, 1740. In the first half of the eighteenth century, the old conflicts that dominated the fate of Europe spread to the colonial regions in the Americas. The encroachment of British colonists from the Carolinas into the frontier and coastal islands that separated them from Spanish Florida became the catalyst for an exchange of hostilities both on the Atlantic coast and inland. In June of 1740, General James Oglethorpe, governor and military leader of the British colony of the Carolinas and the Georgia frontier, launched a siege on St. Augustine by land and sea. This portrayal depicts one of the British batteries preparing to shell the Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine from the island of Anastasia. The assembly of invaders included red-coated soldiers of Oglethorpe's own 47th Regiment of Foot, Carolinian Militia volunteers, Scottish immigrant volunteers, naval crews, Royal artillerymen, and their allied Creek Indian scouts. Conscripted black slaves were brought to labor in the construction and the operation of the battery. Oglethorpe is seen in the center foreground observing the preparation of a gun position as other batteries fire upon the fort. Resources depleted on the barren island, the English abandoned the siege after nearly a month of conflict. The Spanish defender's successful resistance to the cannonade insured the survival of their colony once more.
15. VOLUS_150811_166.JPG: Jackson Walker (c) 1999 From http://www.moartdeland.org/legendaryflorida/artist.html Jackson Walker was born in Panama City, FL in 1946. He grew up in Stuart, FL and graduated from Martin County High School in 1965. Later he served in the US Army completing two tours of combat in the Vietnam War. He moved to Tampa and lived there for over 10 years where he was a graphic artist and spent time performing as a solo guitarist, singer and songwriter. Jackson Walker's work is know nationally for his accurate portrayals of historical circumstances. Through the execution of finely detailed oil paintings, he has become recognized as a reliable source of historic vision. His portrayals have been featured on television productions of The A&E Network and The History Channel and many publications and books, as well as various private and institutional collections. The Florida National Guard has commissioned nine major works depicting subjects from their long history, and the National Guard Bureau in Washington DC has commissioned heritage paintings for the states of Georgia and West Virginia. Jackson Walker has also been awarded the Florida Commendation Medal and other awards for his work in documenting the military history of Florida. Walker's most ambitious project is an ongoing collection of paintings of historic Florida subjects. The paintings are a touring exhibition entitled LEGENDARY FLORIDA, which has been featured at many locations throughout the state - including four separate exhibits and special events at the State Capitol building and major exhibits at The Appleton Museum in Ocala, Florida, and The Elliott Museum in Stuart, Florida. This collection is a moving time travel into the expanse of his native home's history. These true historical events are faithfully rendered in the vivid realm of Florida's lush nature and dynamic vistas. Walker's paintings have received the official recognition of two Florida Secretaries of State and the endorsement of the Florida Historical Society. FROM THE ARTIST ABOUT THE LEGENDARY FLORIDA SERIES My blood runs through this place. For many generations, my clan has survived this intemperate and sometimes deadly place. This evolution of family, among them cattlemen, lawmen and the occasional soldier when events of history required, along with their women companions who were both brave in the face of the pioneer struggles and bountiful providers in the comforts of the home, the trail that they blazed leads directly to me. Their bones lie buired in the sand the length and breadth of this land known as Florida - they rest in the very earth that provided their every need in life and that will forever embrace them in its history. When I determined that I had finally evolved in my studies of painting pictures to the point where I felt I had attained the ability to create a convincing portrayal, I began the task that I believe every artist must address - I sought a sense of purpose. I endeavored to find the way that presented both a challenge to my skills and a true personal satisfaction. After many tentative starts and faltering ends in this quest, I had but to realize that I should heed the advice I had once been given and which I have often related to others: That is quite simply, "Paint what you know." With this epiphany, my eyes were opened to the wonderous spectacle that began at my own front door. I became profoundly aware of the humanity that has populated this place and the remarkable circumstances that they and their descendants had experienced. I sought the drama and spectacle of the history that they created. Like an opened book whose pages are set to flight in the wind, more and more tales of this land and its people floated into my view and it was then that I knew I had discovered that purpose for the labors of my craft. I offer this labor of love to you, gentle reader, in hopes that you may share my life-long fascination with this place of romance and drama. For those who are born to this land as well as those who only pass this way once, I hope this work will give evidence of who we are and from where we have come. Jackson Walker
16. VOLUS_150811_170.JPG: ENCOUNTER AT GULLY HOLE CREEK 15" X 20" Oil Painting British ambush Spanish Florida invaders from St. Augustine at St. Simons Island, Georgia frontier, 1742. During the eighteenth century, the continent of North America was colonized by the old kingdoms of Europe. Foremost in these activities were the nations of Britain and Spain. Conflicts between these kingdoms carried over to the new continent. The English built colonies along the mid-Atlantic seaboard in the areas of Virginia and the Carolinas. Spain concentrated its interests in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico coastline. The point of friction between these two empires centered in the coastal area of what is now Georgia. British General James Oglethorpe petitioned King George of England to expand the colonial territory southward from the Carolinas into an area he was to name Georgia in his honor. A fort was constructed on the coastal island of St. Simons and named Fort Frederica. Alarmed by this expansion southward toward Spanish-owned Florida, a military force was recruited with Grenadiers from Havana and City Militia from St. Augustine. The Spanish sailed from St. Augustine to the island, where they disembarked to attack the British fort. While the Spanish wound through the thick, wooded swamp, the British Highlanders and their Indian allies advanced to meet them. At a spot known as Gully Hole Creek, the invaders were attacked head on. Severely injured, the Spaniards retreated from the fight. Later, the Spanish were again ambushed by the British at a point in the swamp thereafter known as "Bloody Marsh". The beaten invaders struggled back to their ships and returned to Florida. After this successful defense of Fort Frederica, Oglethorpe took the offensive by following the vanquished Spanish into Florida. His efforts were defeated at Fort Mosa, located on the north side of St. Augustine. The conflict was settled when England eventually prevailed and Spain ceded Florida to Britain's rule.
17. VOLUS_150811_179.JPG: THE FLOWER HUNTER 60" X 48" Oil Painting Early American Botanist William Bartram explores the East Florida Wilderness, 1774. In the year 1773, a young man appeared in the Florida wilderness. He quietly went about the task of sketching and noting in his journal all of the many plants, flowers, and wildlife he encountered along the St. Johns River in the British colony of East Florida. His name was William Bartram, son of King George's Royal botanist in the American Colonies. Under the patronage of Dr. John Fothergill of London, William explored the Southeast, documenting his travels in words and pictures. In his lifetime, Bartram associated with such notable Americans as Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who later asked Bartram to accompany the expedition of Lewis and Clark but he declined for reasons of health. The solitary wanderer was content to exist among the rivers and backwoods, absorbed in his observations and recording his discoveries in his journal. He never married and his attempts at farming and business were unsuccessful. But the writings of this quiet, gentle man revealed the wonders of an unknown land to all who read his accounts. In a time when to wander away from the safety of the white man's settlements was to invite peril at the hands of hostile Indians, this peaceful man was left unharmed as he made his way through the hunting grounds of the warriors, observing in wonder the man they called "Puc Puggy," "The Flower Hunter."
18. VOLUS_150811_191.JPG: Transportation by River and by Rail: Riverboats bring mail to Beresford. A steamboat captain watches while E.W. Bond goes over plans for his Orange Ridge, DeLand and Atlantic rail system with Cyrenius H. Wright, first Mayor of DeLand. Irish workers carry rails for Black laborers who are driving spikes.
19. VOLUS_150811_197.JPG: DeLand in 1880: Early public buildings in the downtown section of DeLand include the First Baptist Church and the first Courthouse. A typical family group is shown after they have planted a young tree in the center of Woodland Boulevard.
20. VOLUS_150811_208.JPG: SEMINOLE STEER 24" X 36" Oil Painting Family Cattle Camp at Brighton Reservation in South Florida, 1950. From the early sixteenth century, when the Spanish first unloaded their livestock from wooden boats onto the prairies of Florida, the Native tribes of this land demonstrated their expertise in handling cattle. In the early settlements, local Indians, working as indentured laborers on the sprawling Spanish ranches, tended to the herds. Later, the Lower Creek Nation and the Seminoles raised their own cattle and traded the beef to the Spanish and British settlements and even to Cuba as well as the American colonies to the north. When the Second Seminole War began in 1835, the outcome of many campaigns against the Indians was determined by the amount of cattle that were destroyed or captured by the military. At the end of the war in 1842, the Seminoles were reduced to a fugitive band near starvation, evading the Army. Their land, crops, and vast cattle herds were gone. For many years after the war, violent disputes were reported between the Indians and Florida pioneers over the ownership of cattle, even bringing a return of the Army to uphold order in the 1850s. It would be almost one hundred years before the Seminoles would again tend the large herds of cattle over the prairies of Florida. It was during the Great Depression of the 1930s that a WPA program imported livestock from the west to Florida, thus giving the Seminoles a new breed to cultivate into the hearty livestock that became the pride of our state. This painting portrays the noon camp of a Seminole family during a modern day cattle drive.
21. VOLUS_150811_212.JPG: U-123 27" X 42" Oil Painting Sinking of the S.S. Gulfamerica by German submarine off the coast of Jacksonville, 1942. It was the second year of World War II. The German Submarine force had begun "Operation Drumbeat," a large scale plan to attack shipping routes along the eastern seaboard of North America, sinking supply and oil vessels destined for the Allied Forces in Europe. During this time, the oil tanker SS Gulfamerica had set sail from Texas on her maiden voyage, laden with oil and petroleum bound for the war. The new ship rounded the tip of Florida and sailed parallel to the east coast, northward. At a point just four miles off of Jacksonville, on the night of April 11, U-boat 123 struck the tanker with torpedoes, igniting the fuel aboard into a massive firestorm. But the ship was slow to sink. The submarine then surfaced and, with her deck gun, began to shoot into the hull to expedite the sinking. U-boat Commander Kapitanleutenant Reinhard Hardigan prepared to engage the ship but observed the nearness of the shore. There he could see evidence of the well populated coast of Jacksonville. Realizing that if he fired there was a possibility that over-shots could hit the shore, putting civilians at risk. He navigated around the Gulfamerica to a place where his fire would be directed to sea. In doing so, he lost valuable time and was engaged by American warships. The damaged U-123 made a narrow escape back to Europe. The Gulfamerica sank, losing nineteen of her crew, but Hardigan's humane conduct in not firing on the shores of the city was recognized. Long after the war, the former U-Boat Commander visited Jacksonville and was warmly hosted by the community that was once in his gun sights. The friendship remained.
22. VOLUS_150811_230.JPG: A DEADLY BOND 22" X 30" Oil Painting The Ma Barker shootout at Lake Weir, near Oklawaha. January, 1935. During the worst years of the Great Depression, one of the most notorious of the gangland figures was Kate "Ma" Barker. As the matron of the Barker-Karpis gang, a band of bank robbers and kidnappers that included her four sons, operated throughout the Midwest of America. With one son in prison and the rest facing the increasing concentration of lawmen and the FBI, the gang elected to split up and wait until the pressure subsided. In 1934, Ma and her son Fred, with some others of the gang, arrived in the little Florida town of Oklawaha. There they rented a comfortable home on the shore of Lake Weir and lived as quiet, reclusive vacationers. The FBI eventually learned of this retreat and early on the morning of January 16, a band of agents, along with other lawmen, approached the door of the house. The lawmen called for Fred, but Ma quickly shut them out... the four hour battle began. Ma and Fred were the only two at home that morning. Possessing an arsenal of machine guns, shotguns, and pistols, the two kept the lawmen at bay for hours with their marksmanship and firepower. But, the overwhelming number of armed lawmen, along with the use of tear gas, would eventually prevail. The shooting stopped. The agents ordered the hired man of the Barker house to enter the dwelling and inform them of the condition of the fugitives. The mother and son were found dead of massive gunshot wounds, their guns at hand, amidst a clutter of weapons and spent shells. The little town of Oklawaha, known for its quiet, easy living and good fishing, would never again see a day like that January morning in 1935, when history came to call.
23. VOLUS_150811_239.JPG: WHERE PEACEFUL WATERS FLOW 30" X 48" Oil Painting Steamboat METAMORA on the Oklawaha River, 1900. At the turn of the nineteenth century, times were good along the rivers of Florida. Steam driven river craft like the METAMORA wound the bends of the Oklawaha River from Palatka to Silver Springs, bringing freight and visitors from the northern states. Florida was known worldwide as a haven for sport fishing and hunting. These early tourists also benefitted from the warm climate that offered comfort and healing. Those who lived along the banks and labored hard for their simple livelihood could always count on a few fresh pan fish from the river for dinner and flowering blooms from the water plants to dress up the table of their little cabins. The METAMORA, outfitted with her stateroom accommodations, offered sightseeing, fishing, and fowling from her decks. At night, the craft cruised the narrow river with blazing "lighter pine" logs burning in a pan on the roof of the wheelhouse, casting a dramatic light ahead of their course. However, the METAMORA was destined to a sad fate. She was the only steamer on the rivers to suffer a crash that involved casualties. One night, she hit an underwater snag that caused her to sink, drowning two deckhands sleeping in the rope locker. But for the most part, life on the river and the gentle motion of the steamboat traffic made Florida a place of tranquil wonders for both visitors as well as those who made their homes here.
24. VOLUS_150811_252.JPG: Sharon Fithian Sugar Mill Ruins -- New Smyrna Beach
25. VOLUS_150811_256.JPG: Sharon Fithian Green Springs -- Enterprise
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