Florida cracker

Florida crackers were colonial-era British and American pioneer settlers and their descendants in what is now the U.S. state of Florida. The first of these arrived in 1763 after Spain traded Florida to Great Britain following the latter's victory over France in the Seven Years' War.[1]

A Bit of Cow Country, by Frederic Remington, published in Harper's Weekly magazine

Historical usage

The term "cracker" was in use during the Elizabethan era to describe braggarts. The original root of this is the Middle English word crack, meaning "entertaining conversation" (as one may be said to "crack" a joke); this term and the Gaelicized spelling "craic" are still in use in Northern England. It is documented in William Shakespeare's King John Act II. Scene I. (1595): "What cracker is this same that deafs our ears/ With this abundance of superfluous breath?"

By the 1760s, the ruling classes, both in Britain and in the American colonies, applied the term "cracker" to Scots-Irish and English American settlers of the remote southern back country, as noted in a letter to the Earl of Dartmouth: "I should explain to your Lordship what is meant by Crackers; a name they have got from being great boasters; they are a lawless set of rascalls on the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, who often change their places of abode."[2] The word was later associated with the cowboys of Georgia and Florida, many of them descendants of those early frontier people who had migrated South. Also used by Florida cowboys, as with picture of Florida cracker Bone Mizell.

Many of these original Florida ranchers preferred to be known as Cowmen, as their terrain and climate was significantly different from the well-known cowboys of the American West.[3]

Cracker cowmen
A Cracker cowboy
artist: Frederick Remington

In Florida, those who own or work cattle traditionally have been called cowmen. In the late 1800s, they were often called cow hunters, a reference to hunting for cattle scattered over the wooded rangelands during roundups. At times the terms cowman and Cracker have been used interchangeably because of similarities in their folk culture. Today the western term "cowboy" is often used for those who work cattle.[4]

The Florida "cowhunter" or "cracker cowboy" of the 19th and early 20th centuries was distinct from the Spanish vaquero and the Western cowboy. Florida cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were cow whips and dogs. The Florida Cracker horses (cracker ponies) was smaller than western breeds as was the Florida Cracker cattle, also known as the "native" or "scrub" cows, who averaged about 600 pounds (270 kg) and had large horns and large feet.[5]

Another version of the origin for the term "cracker" was that while rounding up cattle the cowmen used long, braided leather bullwhips to get the cattle out from the brush or while on drives. They would flail the whips creating a cracking sound and they became known as “crackers”. The cowmen annually drove cattle over the Florida Cracker Trail from Fort Pierce (Florida's east coast) to Bradenton (Florida's west coast) so they could be shipped to Cuba. During the American Civil War Florida’s cattle were a chief source of meat, leather and hides for the Confederate States Army. Florida crackers were recruited into the “Cow Cavalry” to make cattle drives to Georgia and to protect them from Union attacks.[6] The Florida crackers were made more famous by Frederic Remington's artwork and his 1895 Harper's New Monthly Magazine article about the cowmen.[7]

Modern usage

Among some Floridians, the term is used as a proud or jocular self-description. Since the huge influx of new residents into Florida in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, from the northern parts of the United States and from Mexico and Latin America, the term "Florida Cracker" is used informally by some Floridians to indicate that their families have lived in the state for many generations. It is considered a source of pride to be descended from "frontier people who did not just live but flourished in a time before air conditioning, mosquito repellent, and screens."[8][9] The portion of the Gulf of Mexico that touches the western Florida coast is referred to as Cracker Bay [10].

Florida's west coast, Cracker Bay aka Bay of Cracker

Cracker Storytelling Festival

Since the late 20th century, the Cracker Storytelling Festival has been held annually in the fall at Homeland Heritage Park in Homeland, Florida. The year 2013 marked the 25th anniversary of the festival. The Cracker Storytelling Festival includes many storytellers from around Florida who come to share their stories with visitors. The majority of visitors who attend this event are students, because storytelling is part of the Florida curriculum. The festival also incorporates local crafts and artwork, food vendors and a cracker whip-cracking contest. During the cracker whip-cracking contest, participants compete to see who can crack the most buttery flaky crackers. The winner receives the title of "Head Cracker"[11]

Notable Florida crackers
  • Morgan Bonaparte Mizell (1863 - July 14, 1921) – “Bone” was from Horse Creek (DeSoto County, Florida). He was one of the top cowmen in Florida and the subject of Fredrick Remington’s 1895 drawing A Cracker Cowboy.[12]
  • Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) - "Walking Lawton" was a politician from Lakeland, Florida. He served as a United States Senator for Florida from 1971 to 1989 and as the 41st Governor of Florida from 1991 to 1998.
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See also

References
  1. "The Present State of the West-Indies: Containing an Accurate Description of What Parts Are Possessed by the Several Powers in Europe". World Digital Library. 1778. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  2. 200 Quick Looks at Florida History By James C. Clark pg. 189
  3. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2007-03-05-0703020312-story.html
  4. "Florida Memory". Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  5. Tasker, Georgia (February 6, 2007). "Rancher preserves Florida's Cracker history". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved February 21, 2007.
  6. "A History of the Florida Cracker Cowboys". Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  7. "Florida Cracker: Definition & History". Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  8. Ste Claire, Dana (2006). Cracker: Cracker Culture in Florida History. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3028-9.
  9. "Take a Trip Back in Time at Homeland Cracker Storytelling Festival". TheLedger.com.
  10. "About". Cracker Bay Thundercats. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  11. "Cracker Storytelling Festival". 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  12. "Bone Mizell: Cracker Cowboy of the Palmetto Prairies". Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  13. Bennett, Jim (October 1999). "Bone Mizell: Cracker Cowboy of the Palmetto Prairies". Wild West. Weider History Group.

Further reading
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