The Civil War

The Civil War 1 8 6 1 - 1 8 6 5

  • Three companies from this area served in the army of the Confederate States of America. One was Captain William Powell, whose photograph shows him in the uniform of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina of which he was a 1859 graduate. Shown in this display is a 1970 uniform of The Citadel, with sword and scabbard and feathered shako, which is much the same as 110 years before.
  • Cattle were kept on Payne's Prairie to fatten prior to shipment by rail to the troops by the "Cow Cavalry."
  • Pension papers and records of local veterans, as well as a photograph of a veterans gathering in the 1890's, document that period of local history.
  • Also, a lady's black lace shawl and long white lace mitts, which date from 1850, are shown, as well as the small leather boots of a little girl who lived in Micanopy during the war.
  • Atop the exhibit case area are copies of letters written during the war by Dr. Augustus Mathers to his wife, who kept the home fires burning in Micanopy during his absence. A Civil War diary by Mary Chesnut describes the women's side of the war.
  • Captain Powell is buried in the Micanapy cemetery along with many other Confederate veterans as well as Union veterans.

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