Though it seceded from the Union during the Civil War, no major battles were fought within its horders and Reconstruction was somewhat less painful than in many other southern states. Even after the war, northern Florida remained an agricultural belt. Its hard-working farmers and later rural settlers became known as “crackers,” a nickname of debated origin but one that has come to be associated with folks whose roots lie deep in Florida soil.
In 1850 the state of Florida consisted of just 60,000 people, scattered about in small settlements, traveling by water and rough roads. During the Civil War, a few battles took place in the north end of the state and a few fortifications went up in Key West, but South Florida played little part in that national nightmare. However, what many feared would happen to plantations without slave labor did happen: during Reconstruction, Florida went broke. But recovery came in the form of Henry , a millionaire who’d made his fortune helping John D. Rockefeller get Standard Oil off the ground
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