Florida Cracker Cowboys.

     Yeehaw! This weeks podcast was about the Florida Cracker Cowboys.

       Who are the cracker cowboys, you may ask? Well they originated in South West Florida right around the end of the Civil War. Most of these cowboys were Civil War veterans who were looking for something to do. It started off with them rounding up stray cattle, and they went to a place called Punta Rosa to sell these cattle to Cuba. What's ironic is that these cattle were descendants from the cattle that were brought over by early Spanish colonists (Killmer, n.d., 11:30) 

These cowboys were named "crackers" for two reasons: They'd eat cracked cornmeal often and because of the whips they'd use.(Killmer, n.d., 11:30). As seen in the photo above, they used whips to round up their cattle. These whips were their trademark, along with their dogs. They relied on dogs so much that they created their own breed, called Cracker Cur (pictured below).

       A man named Jake Summerlin was named "King of the Cracker Cowboys". He was one of the first cowboys to get in on the cattle trade to Cuba. He was so successful that at one point in time on average, he'd own 20,000 cattle. (Killmer, n.d., 11:30). He was quite the business man according to this podcast. He ran the Union blockade, owned facilities in Punta Rosa so he'd make money off of other cowboys. Summerlin was a swindler business man, but also humble. According to the podcast, Jake wore regular clothes and lived in a simple house. (Killmer, n.d., 11:30). 

     Overall, learning about the Florida Cracker Cowboys was very cool. They were definitely a colorful part of our history!

Killmer, C.(Host). (n.d.) Title of Specific Podcast [Audio podcast episode]. SJRState, Florida Heritage