Source
State Library of Florida, WPA - Historical Records Survey, County Histories
Description
Brief history of Gadsden County, Florida collected by the Works Progress Administration's Historical Records Survey.
Note to Researchers:
Though the WPA field workers included extensive citations for the factual information contained in these county histories, it should be noted that these historical narratives were produced in the 1930s by federal government employees, and might reflect the inherent social biases of the era.
WPA
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HISTORY OF GADSDEN COUNTY
When Andrew Jackson was Governor of the Territory of Florida in 1821 the first division of the state into counties was made, but it was not until 1823 that Gadsden County was created, being the fifth county to be apportioned out. Gadsden County was named in honor of James Gadsden, a West Point graduate who came here about 1817, as a young lieutenant. Gadsden County at that time extended from the Suwannee river to the Apalachicola river and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Georgia State line, embracing the territory now occupied by the counties of Taylor, Dixie, Lafayette, Madison, Jefferson, Leon, Wakulla, Liberty, Gadsden and that part of Franklin, east of the Apalachicola river.
In 1830, although Gadsden County covered a lot of territory, still had but 4,895 persons, while the population of Florida was 34,730. In twenty years the population of Gadsden County was doubled. The last census shows that Gadsden County has a population of 26,941 persons.
Some Historians accredited the building of “Old Fort Gadsden” to the British during the War of 1812, while one or two others claim that General Andrew Jackson marched down the courses of the Apalachicola river, at the head of 1,100 hardy frontiersmen, and built the earthwork, log buildings and palisades. The exact history of the fort is a mooted one, and it is claimed that after the War of 1812, it was taken over by a mixed and motley crew of Indians, and negroes. It is said that Jackson had to revisit the scene backed up by the U.S. Gunboat, went up the river and killed 384 of them and captured the rest.
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