census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 1,045.
Demographics
2020 census
''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''
History
On December 3, 1839, Fort Braden was established as a
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
fort
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
during the
Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between the United States and groups of people collectively known as Seminoles, consisting of Muscogee, Creek and Black Seminoles as well as oth ...
, 1st Lieutenant Seth B. Thornton of Company G, 2nd U.S. Dragoons built the fort and was its first Commanding Officer. The list of Commanding Officers were as follows:
January 1840 – February 1840 – Lt. Seth Barton Thornton Company G, Second (Howes) Dragoons
February 1840 – March 1840 – Capt. S Eastman First Infantry (Temporary Assignment until C.A. May arrived)
March 4, 1840 – July 1840 – Lt. C.A. May Company G, Second Dragoons
August 1840 – November 1840 – Capt. Arthur Burney Mounted Militia, General Leigh Reed Territorial Militia (Unit was Mustered Out)
December 1840 – March 1841 Capt. Mew Mounted Militia, General Reed, Territorial Militia (Mustered at Fort Braden and Mustered Out)
July 31, 1842—June 7, 1842, Deserted/Occupied as necessary by Federals/Militia
April 7, 1842—June 7, 1842, Capt. S.B. Thornton Company F, Second Dragoons
It was near the
Ochlockonee River
The Ochlockonee River ( ) is a fast running river, except where it has been dammed to form Lake Talquin in Florida, originating in Georgia and flowing for before terminating in Florida.
Background
The name is from the Hitchiti language wor ...
on the 126 feet contour just south of the then "Pork Creek" (now known as Polk Creek) eighteen miles southwest of
Tallahassee
Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2024, the est ...
. Fort Braden was named for Virginia Braden, formerly Virginia Ward. She married Dr. Joseph Braden, a prominent citizen of Tallahassee. Joseph Braden's brother, Hector, was director of Tallahassee's Union Bank.
Virginia was the daughter of Leon County
plantation
Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...
Southwood Plantation
Southwood Plantation was a large cotton plantation growing cotton on located in southern Leon County, Florida, United States and owned by George Taliafero Ward.
Location
Southwood Plantation bordered the Francis Eppes Plantation on the north an ...
and
Waverly Plantation Waverly Plantation may refer to:
* Waverly Plantation (Leon County, Florida)
* Waverly Plantation (Cunningham, North Carolina), on the National Register of Historic Places
See also
* Waverly (house) (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
.
On July 12, 1840, a fight with Indians by two soldiers of Company B of the 2nd Infantry stationed at Fort Braden resulted in their deaths, The two soldiers were traveling from Fort White, Florida back to Fort Braden (mistakenly reported in some newspaper accounts of the incident as “Fort Brady”) and were attacked in Cow Creek Hammock about 4 miles from Fort White. Cow Creek is a creek that runs into the Santa Fe River close by Fort White.
The incident was reported in the Daily Chronicle & Sentinel (Augusta, Ga.) on July 31, 1840:
''“A daring murder was committed on the 12th ins. ulyat the hammock of Cow Creek, near Fort White. Sgt. Ziegler and Cpl Sweatman of Company B, 2nd Inf. were returning from Fort White to Fort Brady
Red Hills Region
The Red Hills or Tallahassee Hills is a region of gently rolling hills in the southeastern United States. It is a geomorphic region and an ecoregion.
Location
The Red Hills physiographic region of northern Florida was defined in 1914 as most o ...
, it had successful planters Hugh Black, H.H. Black, P.B. Chanlers, John Gray, Joseph Haines, C. Gray, John Grissette, R.L. Harvey, and J. E. Williams.
Early churches
It is reported that in Florida State Gazetteer of 1886-1887 that Fort Braden had one
Methodist church
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
and one
Baptist church
Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...
.
Other buildings
Fort Braden is reported to have had a school house, a
blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
shop, a
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
, and a
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...