Florida’s Unionists
The Floridians Who Remained Loyal to the Union
Unionism was a minority view in Florida, but it existed in several parts of the state.
When Florida’s convention voted to leave the Union on January 10, 1861, Richard Keith Call, the elderly former territorial governor, reportedly answered with a furious warning to the secessionists, according to Florida Memory. Accounts differ on the setting and the exact words. Call had served two terms as territorial governor and was a large slaveholder, yet he opposed secession and said so. His Unionism was a political position on secession, not opposition to slavery. He was not alone. Throughout the war, a persistent minority of Floridians stayed loyal to the United States.
A Vote That Did Not Speak for Everyone
The convention voted 62 to 7 for secession. Florida voters had chosen its delegates in a statewide election on December 22, 1860, but the vote on the ordinance itself was taken by the 69 delegates, not the electorate. Florida Memory notes that 51 of the 69 delegates owned slaves and only seven were born in Florida.
Opinion was more divided than the tally suggests. Some residents opposed secession outright, and others, sometimes called cooperationists, wanted to wait. The Museum of Florida History notes that merchants who relied on northern trade feared disruption, that Confederate drafts and the seizure of herds and crops turned some rural Floridians against the cause, and that war weariness often became anti-Confederate feeling. According to a summary of historian John Reiger’s work, opponents of secession were mocked as “Union Shriekers” and “submissionists,” and some faced violence.
Jacksonville: A Unionist’s Account
Calvin L. Robinson, a Vermont-born Jacksonville businessman, kept a journal published in 2002 as Yankee in a Confederate Town. According to the publisher’s description, he lost his sawmills, warehouse, cash and home because of his loyalties, and he described a “reign of terror” against Union sympathizers in Jacksonville and Fernandina.
Jacksonville burned in 1863 as Union forces withdrew, and accounts conflict about who set the fires. A University of South Florida summary says some departing Federal troops burned wooden buildings without official sanction. Robinson’s journal, as described by its publisher, says fellow Southerners burned the city to drive out Unionists. Both versions are reported here without choosing between them.
Key West: An Island Held by the Union
Key West stayed under Union control for the entire war, but its loyalties were divided. Monroe County’s three convention delegates signed the secession ordinance, and the American Battlefield Trust reports that a correspondent described about half the island’s residents as “bitter Secessionists.” Fort Taylor, with Fort Jefferson and Fort Pickens, remained in Federal hands, and the island drew enslaved people escaping bondage and Unionist refugees. Judge William Marvin of Key West opposed secession and served as Florida’s provisional governor from July to December 1865.
Resistance in the Backcountry
Parts of the interior sheltered deserters and disaffected Floridians. Secondary accounts describe a Taylor County band led by William Strickland, called the Royal Rangers, and say a Confederate officer found a list of 35 men pledged to the United States and burned their homes. At Fort Myers, a Union garrison that included the 2nd Florida Cavalry, largely refugees, raided Confederate cattle depots, and on February 20, 1865, Confederate troops attacked the fort and withdrew with light casualties.
Floridians Who Wore Union Blue
Many enlisted. The American Battlefield Trust gives about 1,000 freedmen and 1,200 white men joining the Union Army from Florida, against roughly 15,000 who served the Confederacy. Pro-Union Floridians were organized into the 1st and 2nd Florida Cavalry (U.S.) and an artillery unit, and Black Floridians enlisted after the Emancipation Proclamation opened Union service to them, many of them formerly enslaved.
What Their Story Corrects
Popular memory often shows a South united behind the Confederacy. Florida’s record does not support that picture. Unionism was a minority view, yet it appeared in several regions, and it coexisted with slavery: Call was a major slaveholder, while enslaved and formerly enslaved people made their own choices, including enlisting. Florida sent thousands of men to the Confederacy and also held resistance, desertion and loyalty to the Union within its borders.
Quick Facts
Secession vote
62 to 7 among 69 delegates, January 10, 1861
Delegates elected
Statewide election, December 22, 1860
Slaveholders among delegates
51 of 69 (Florida Memory)
Union soldiers from Florida
About 2,200 per the American Battlefield Trust, often rounded to 2,000
Confederate soldiers
About 15,000 (ABT)
Notable Unionist
Richard Keith Call, former territorial governor
Unionist account
Calvin L. Robinson’s Jacksonville journal, published 2002
Key West
Union-held throughout; sentiment divided
Union regiments
1st and 2nd Florida Cavalry (U.S.)
Did You Know?
- Only seven of the 69 secession delegates were born in Florida.
- Florida voters elected the delegates, but the ordinance itself was never put to a popular vote, as far as the sources reviewed show.
- Calvin Robinson’s Jacksonville journal was not published until 2002, more than a century after the war.
Vocabulary
Unionist: a Southerner who stayed loyal to the United States.
Cooperationist: someone who wanted to delay secession and wait for other states.
Deserter: a soldier who leaves the army without permission.
Discussion Questions
1. Why might a Floridian have opposed secession without opposing slavery?
2. Why do historians weigh a published journal differently from a government record?
Related Articles
- FLH-0097 — Florida During the Civil War
- FLH-0099 — The Battle of Olustee
- FLH-0100 — Florida’s Cow Cavalry
- FLH-0104 — Key West: Florida’s Union Island
- FLH-0235 — The Battle of Natural Bridge
Sources
Florida Memory. State Library and Archives of Florida. “Distant Storm” exhibit and secession documents. floridamemory.com
Museum of Florida History. “Unionism in Florida.” museumoffloridahistory.com
Federal Judicial Center. “Marvin, William.” fjc.gov
Florida Center for Instructional Technology, University of South Florida. “The Civil War at Jacksonville.” fcit.usf.edu
Reiger, John F. “Deprivation, Disaffection, and Desertion in Confederate Florida.” Florida Historical Quarterly 48, no. 3 (cited via secondary description; abstract only)
Robinson, Calvin L. Yankee in a Confederate Town (Pineapple Press, 2002) (publisher’s description only; not examined)
American Battlefield Trust. “The Role of Florida in the Civil War.” battlefields.org (supplementary)
Copyright © 2026 Wm. E. McMullen II. All rights reserved. Published by Florida Learning Hub.