Florida cattle range, Fort Meade
Supply base, Fort Meade, Florida.
- Side
- Confederate
- Kind
- Supply base
- Where
- Fort Meade, Florida
- Years
- 1864-1865
- Today
- Built over
FLORIDA CATTLE RANGE
Florida hides and beef were shipped north to the Army of Tennessee. The 1st Florida Special Cavalry, the Cow Cavalry, was raised in 1864 to guard the herds from Union raiders. Union forces burned Fort Meade in 1864, and Hendry's company was posted there in early 1865.
Then
Hides and beef from Florida cattle were a critical Confederate supply, shipped north to the Army of Tennessee. The 1st Florida Special Cavalry, the Cow Cavalry under Charles J. Munnerlyn, was raised in 1864 to guard the herds from Union raiders, and Hendry's company was posted at Fort Meade in early 1865.
Union cavalry from Fort Myers took more than 4,000 head of cattle from Florida ranches by 1865. Fort Meade was burned by Union forces in 1864, and the last of the Cow Cavalry surrendered at Bayport on June 5, 1865.
Now
Built over
Fort Meade is a city in Polk County with over 300 homes on the National Register.
Lines owned by CSX run through Fort Meade today.