Fort Braden, Florida

Fort Braden is a historic location and census-designated place (CDP) in western Leon County, Florida, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census.

Fort Braden, Florida
Census-designated place
Fort Braden store, date unknown
Fort Braden
Fort Braden
Coordinates: 30°25′39″N 84°31′59″W
Country United States
StateFlorida
CountyLeon
Area
[1]
 • Total5.17 sq mi (13.39 km2)
 • Land4.35 sq mi (11.26 km2)
 • Water0.82 sq mi (2.14 km2)
Elevation
[2]
127 ft (39 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total1,045
 • Density240.45/sq mi (92.84/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
32310 (Tallahassee)
Area code(s)850/448
FIPS code12-23680
GNIS feature ID2805176[2]

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.%±
20201,045—
U.S. Decennial Census[3]

History

On December 3, 1839, Fort Braden was established as a military fort during the Second Seminole War, 1st Lieutenant Seth B. Thornton of Company G, 2nd U.S. Dragoons built the fort and was its first Commanding Officer. It was near the Ochlockonee River eighteen miles southwest of Tallahassee. 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 owner George T. Ward, of Southwood Plantation and Waverly Plantation.

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. [July] at 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 [Braden], the Sgt mounted and the Corp’l on foot.  At the place before mentioned, they were fired upon by a party of 21 Indians.  The Corporal was undoubtedly immediately killed, but the sergeant, it would appear, tho’ badly wounded, fought until knocked down by superior numbers.  The bodies of both soldiers were horribly mutilated in a manner too revolting for publication.  After the murder, the Indians blazed a tree where they painted a figure of an Indian under which they made 21 marks indicative of their number.  Against the tree they placed an iron pointed arrow dipped in the blood of their victims.  The next day they were pursued by a party of 23 men under Captain J.R, Smith, but to no purpose.”

The soldiers, Sergeant William Ziegler and Corporal Daniel Sweatman were initially interred in Cow Creek hammock community near Fort White.  Their military records indicate they were reinterred in the Saint Augustine National Cemetery in 1907 under the pyramids there that identify soldiers killed during this period.

Fort Braden was abandoned on June 7, 1842, at the conclusion of the Seminole War.

Like other forts around the nation, a small community had grown near this fort. In 1843 an E.M. Garnett attending the Leon County Convention in Tallahassee came from the area. In 1847 collection of taxes took place at the Fort Braden School House. In 1856 and 1872 Fort Braden was one of the voting precincts in Leon County.

Cotton planters

Though Fort Braden was south of the cotton rich Red Hills Region, 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 and one Baptist church.

Other buildings

Fort Braden is reported to have had a school house, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, and a cotton gin.

See also

Old Fort Braden School

References
  1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  2. "Fort Braden Census Designated Place". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  3. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  • Fort Braden School
  • Florida State Library Collection in Tallahassee, Call No. 71, M. No. 617, Roll No. 1497, "Post Returns from Ft. Braden, Fl. Jan. 1840-May 1842;" see also Julia Floyd Smith, Slavery and Plantation Growth in Antebellum Florida (Gainesville: 1973), 131.
  • David A. Eldredge, Finding Florida Forts (Fort Lauderdale, 1990), 39.
  • Tallahassee Floridian, August 7, 1847.
  • Tallahassee Floridian & Journal, October 11, 1856; and Tallahassee Weekly
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