Lake Butler Florida
 The County seat of Union County.

Lake Butler Florida
(History was provided by Mrs. Marjorie McGill Driggers.)
 
Note:  Lake Butler is unique in itself because it has been the county seat of three different counties:   New River, Bradford, and Union.

FLORIDA THE 27TH STATE

   During this time in the history of our state,  there were many differences between east and west Florida.  Many wanted to make two states of the territory,  but after much discussion, and "give and take,"  Florida became the 27th state to be added to the Union by an act of Congress on March 3, 1845.  William D. Moseley was the first elected Governor of  Florida and was inaugurated June 25, 1845,   with a state population of 57,951.

  Few persons settled on the Florida peninsular during the following years,  mostly being slave owning planters with cotton plantations in the northern section.  Most were not very large, and many of the farmers owned slaves.

  There was much unrest in the country at this time and the Florida State Convention met in Tallahassee on January 3, 1861 to consider secession from the Union.  There was no question about the necessity of it in the minds of the representative, though some wished to delay until other southern states acted.  Others felt an ordinance of secession should be submitted to the voters for popular approval.  But on January 10th, the convention adopted the ordinances of secession by a vote of 62 to 7.

  This of course brought many changes to the people of this area as well as the rest of Florida.  As the Civil War got under way,  Florida was something of a question mark.  It was never a soldier unit of the Confederacy,  but it was a thorn in the side of the Federal Forces as Florida produced supplies for the southern armies and provided dozens of ports for blockage runners.  A steady stream of fathers,  husbands, and sons left the small farms and towns to join with those sister states in the cause for states rights.  As far as we know, there were no statistics of the total number of men who left from this county,  but we know that most families were affected in one way or another as the men left for the camps.

  Union forces seized most of the coastal towns during the first two years of the Civil War.  The confederates won the Battle of Olustee, the one important land battle fought in the state. Many settlers of this area were in that battle.  Following the war, there was much violence.  The state was not readmitted to the union until June 25, 1868.

  Many events of the 1880's helped in the rapid development of  Florida and our Union County became an active area. Railroads of the Atlantic Coast Line and Georgia-Southern and Florida crossed in Lake Butler making the town an attractive place to establish a business.

  Lake Butler was surveyed and established as a town in 1859 and was the County Seat of New River County at that time.  It now has a population of 1,743 and is situated on a beautiful lake of the same name.  When the United States purchased Florida in 1819, wandering tribes of Indians lived and roamed here, following trails which in some instances are the general routes of today's highways.   The main trail apparently led to Georgia and the west coast.  The Indians raided into Georgia, then returned by these trails to loose themselves in the Florida swamps. One such party, led by a chief named Bendoris, paused on its return from a looting expedition on the banks of Silver Run in, near a place recently known as Odom's Springs, east of Lake Butler.

  Andrew Jackson was concerned about these raids and sent Captain Robert Butler with a detachment of men to punish the Seminole marauders.  The two parties fought a battle on the north side of the lake butler lake. Captain Robert Butler had come with his men from Lake City, apparently surprising the Indians at their camp.  During the battle,  both Bendoris and Captain Robert Butler were killed along with a considerable number of others from each side.  The surviving soldiers buried their comrades on the shores of the lake which they named Lake Butler. Also see Union County

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