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SUMTER COUNTY, FLORIDA  |
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Sumter County HistorySumter County, Florida, originally named Sumpter, was passed by both Houses and approved by the Governor on January 8, 1853. The county was named in honor of the Revolutionary War hero, General Thomas Sumter, who died in Sumter, South Carolina. The area has been the site for two of the Seminole Wars. The Dade Massacre in 1835 led to the start of the 2nd Seminole War. The Dade Battlefield Historic Site is a historical landmark in Sumter County. This battlefield was named in recognition of Major Francis Dade, who with 106 men in his troop were ambushed by the Seminole Indians in a fight to protect their land. Less than a year later on November 21, 1836 the Battle of Wahoo Swamp took place. The death toll of this battle has yet to have been deciphered, because it still is not known how many of the Seminoles and their allies were killed. It is known however, that Major David Moniac, the first minority ( and a Creek Indian who fought on the U.S. Side.) to graduate from West Point, was killed in this battle. He was laid to rest at the Dade Battlefield, but later reinterred at the National Cemetery with honors in St. Augustine, Florida with men who were killed in the Dade Battle. His family has wanted to have a memorial stone placed at the National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida, because this was the county of his death. In late 1855, Colonel Harvey Brown, commander at Fort Myers, dispatched Lt. Hartstuff and some troops to scout the country SE of Lake Okeechobee. Two weeks into the mission, they were attacked by several Indians and four army soldiers were killed. This started the 3rd Seminole War which came to a rapid conclusion. In 1860, the first census was taken with a population of 1,429. Early inhabitants were farmers, and many early pioneers were volunteers in the Southern Indian Wars. In the Secession Convention of 1861, Sumter County Representative, David G. Leigh, voted to leave the union. There were a number of boundary modifications in the county towards the end of the century. In 1871, boundary between Polk and Sumter were altered. In 1872, a portion of Sumter was annexed to Orange County. On May 27, 1887, Lake County took portions of Sumter and Orange County, leaving Sumter with 574 square miles. |
Of the Florida GenWeb Project
Donna McGuire, County
Coordinator
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This Site was last update May 4, 2010