Derrick Wheeler's History of Florida Blog

 Castillo de San Marcos I was unable to visit any sites this week due to the incoming storm as well as other reasons so today I will post about a site visit from earlier this year to Castillo de San Marcos. On May 1st, 2022 I visited St. Augustine and toured around Castillo de San Marcos. I went with my brother and my mom and we visited Castillo de San Marcos at my request. We spent time there from around 1:00-2:30, so around an hour and a half. C astillo de San Marcos is the Spanish fortification that was built into the area to serve as an outpost for the Spanish military.  It is relevant to the text because it is within St. Augustine which is mentioned a lot not only in the early history of Florida but also in its later history as well. We spent time walking around the areas like the fort's cell, barracks, top-side, and the minor fortifications around the fort. It was quite the experience because we took the time to actually stay still and read the information given to us. For ex

Chapter 15 Worksheet  Who is the author of this chapter and what information can you find about the author elsewhere in the text?                                   Jerell H. Shofner. The contributors section says that he is a “retired professor of history at the University of Central Florida” as well as “the author of numerous books, including Nor Is It Over Yet: Florida in the Era of Reconstruction, 1863-1877, he became editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly in 1995” (Gannon 2018).   According to this chapter, list 2 things that were in desperate need of “reconstruction”  2 things that were in desperate need of reconstruction were the economy and transportation.   Florida stands apart from other areas of the South in the way that General Newton handled two main areas: politics & freedmen.  Discuss both In politics, seeing the “existing political vacuum” caused General Newton to seize the reins and start making decisions until the federal government could fully est

The horse race is something small but very enjoyable to me. Firstly, I find it funny that Ishmael is so special that they have no doubt whatsoever that they can win against a racehorse. I also find it interesting that Tobias used his knowledge of racehorses to wager that the horse could not last 3 miles going full speed against Ishmael. Then, the suspense of the horse getting far ahead of Ishmael contrasted with the calm nature of Zech. Then at that very moment "Ishmael sprang forward as if until this point he had not been running at all. He stretched his neck out like a heron in flight, and his hooves barely touched the ground as he streaked across the rutted sand. In five seconds he was abreast of the bay and moving ahead; and when they reached the finish line, he was fifty yards in front of Thunder" (A Land Remembered 99). The icing on it all is that Hendry was a good sport about it all and even gave up their land.  Source Cited: Smith, P. D. (2011). A land remembered . Pi

  (2) Cite your Article (in proper APA format): Parker, Susan et Coker, William Chapter 10: The Second Spanish Period in the Two Floridas . History of Florida. 1 pgs 162-178  Focus Questions: (1)    Who are the authors?  Susan Richbourg Parker and William S. Coker (5) Identify and discuss the issue of “perspective” with regards to Anglo writings of Spanish Government The issue of perspective with regards to Anglo writings of Spanish Government is that they “reflected the Anglophile viewpoints of earlier viewpoints” (Parker 163). They had presented a viewpoint of Spanish Florida “merely awaiting an inevitable takeover by the United States and its institutions” (Parker 163). The English sources on the matter hammered in that ideal and that is why the idea persists among Anglo writers and readers during the time-period. David J. Weber remarked that English and American writers “uniformly condemned Spanish rule,” leading to the broadly negative perspective of the period (Parker

  Camp Milton: Site Visit Entrance to the preserve Me in front of the Entrance      Today I went to the Camp Milton Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, FL. The address is 1225 Halsema Rd N Jacksonville, FL 32220 United States. I visited on today's date October 8th, 2022 from 2:30-4:00 and I went with my mother where we were two of around 6 people I had seen in the preserve.  Me standing on timber fortifications    Being the largest confederate fortification in Florida, Camp Milton stood as "the first line of defense against the Union forces in Jacksonville" (City of Jacksonville, 1). Named after the governor of Florida John Milton, this fort was erected to defend against the Union's attempts to invade Jacksonville to stop the movement of goods and troops out of Florida and into the battleground states to its North. "After a portion of the remaining earthworks was discovered in 1973, efforts began to acquire the property," until 2006 with help from the Preser

  The Most Argued Fact in Florida History: The Story: After a successful conquest of "Incan Peru in 1532-35" Hernando de Soto returned to his homeland of Spain seeking to become a ruler of his own territory (Gannon 26). In response to de Soto's request, Carlos V granted him the governorship of La Florida which was "previously awarded to Narvaez and Ayllon" and granted him sizable land to rule over (Gannon 26). Later, de Soto arrived in Florida with "600 soldiers, twelve priests, two women, servants and slaves, 223 horses, numerous mules and war dogs, and a herd of swine" (Gannon 28). From there he began his expedition into the interior of Florida to assess his newfound lands. Hernando De Soto The Debate: Now, the great debate which Gannon describes as the question where nothing has "been argued for the past half century (sic)" than where de Soto had landed with his expeditionary forces (Gannon 28). The options were: Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbo