Pioneer Family is based on the recollections of Hugie and Oleta Oesterreicher, who lived in rural northeast Florida in the early decades of the twentieth century. Northeast Florida was frontier country then, and Hugie and Oleta were pioneers. Although the time and setting of their story are particular, the theme of survival during hard times is universal. Born in a cypress cabin on the edge of the great Durbin Swamp located midway between St. Augustine and Jacksonville, Hugie knew every alligator hole, every bog, every creek; he could dry venison so it lasted without refrigeration for...

A captivating history of the Civil War in northeast Florida

"Captures in rich detail the competition between the Confederates and Unionists, blacks and whites, and civilians and soldiers in the region. A fascinating and illuminating story told through compelling and persuasive prose."--Aaron Sheehan-Dean, author of Why Confederates Fought

"A fast-paced social history of the Civil War in northeastern Florida."--John David Smith, editor of Black Soldiers in Blue

When the Civil War finally came to North Florida, it did so with an intermittent fury that destroyed much...

William Bartram denied their existence; history buried their stories
In his famous and influential bookTravels, the naturalist William Bartram described the St. Johns riverfront in east Florida as an idyllic, untouched paradise. Bartram s account was based on a journey he took down the river in 1774. Or was it?
Historians have relied upon the integrity of the information in William Bartram'sTravelsfor centuries, often concluding from it that the British (the colonial power from 1763 to 1783) had not engaged in large-scale land development in Florida. However, the...

A captivating history of the Civil War in northeast Florida
"Captures in rich detail the competition between the Confederates and Unionists, blacks and whites, and civilians and soldiers in the region. A fascinating and illuminating story told through compelling and persuasive prose."--Aaron Sheehan-Dean, author ofWhy Confederates Fought
"A fast-paced social history of the Civil War in northeastern Florida."--John David Smith, editor ofBlack Soldiers in Blue
When the Civil War finally came to North Florida, it did so with an intermittent fury that destroyed much...

In this revised and expanded edition of Anna Kingsley's remarkable life story, Daniel Schafer draws on new discoveries to prove true the longstanding rumors that Anna Madgigine Jai was originally a princess from the royal family of Jolof in Senegal. Captured from her homeland in 1806, she became first an American slave, later a slaveowner, and eventually a central figure in a free black community.