Gamble Plantation
How a Confederate Cabinet Officer Vanished Through the Florida Wilderness and Surfaced in England
A fugitive cabinet officer moved through Manatee and Sarasota with the help of local residents.
By the spring of 1865 the Confederacy that Judah P. Benjamin had served as Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State was finished. Benjamin had been one of its most visible cabinet officials and feared arrest and trial for treason. After traveling south with Jefferson Davis’s party, he separated from it in early May and turned toward Florida. What followed was a weeks-long disappearing act through the Florida wilderness that ended with Benjamin rebuilding a legal career in London.
A Fugitive Heading South
Benjamin traveled under assumed identities, at one stage as a Frenchman and, after crossing into Florida, as a farmer scouting land to buy, according to Michael Schene’s 1982 article in Tampa Bay History. Accounts place him in Brooksville, probably in late May or early June, before he was taken south toward the Manatee River. Who guided him is disputed: one family tradition credits Major John T. Lesley and another credits James McKay.
Refuge at the Gamble Mansion
The mansion was built in the late 1840s, with sources giving dates from about 1844 to 1850, by Major Robert Gamble, who established a sugar plantation of roughly 3,400 to 3,500 acres on the Manatee River. It was built largely by enslaved laborers and artisans, and parts of it, including the colonnade, are tabby, a mix of burned oyster-shell lime, sand and water. Florida State Parks calls it the only surviving plantation house in South Florida. Gamble fell into debt and sold the property, with sources giving 1856, 1857 or 1859. By the war the occupant was Captain Archibald McNeill, described in a 2011 National Register nomination as a blockade-runner and later a Confederate commissary agent.
Benjamin reportedly passed as a Mr. Howard, though another account gives the alias Boyd. Florida State Parks words the claim cautiously, saying he is thought to have sheltered there. Schene writes that Federal forces searched the mansion repeatedly and nearly captured him during one surprise visit, though versions differ on the details.
Hidden Among the Beef Wagons
When the danger grew, Benjamin was moved across the river to the home of Captain Frederick Tresca, described as experienced in evading the blockade. Sources differ on how long he stayed, from about two weeks to a month. Hiram McLeod joined Tresca in the plan to get him out. According to the Sarasota County Historical Commission’s marker, Benjamin was concealed under a load of beef in a wagon and carried to the Sarasota home of William Whitaker, a settler on Sarasota Bay since the early 1840s.
A Small Boat and the Open Gulf
From Whitaker Bayou, Tresca and McLeod sailed Benjamin into Sarasota Bay, bound for the Bahamas. The marker gives the date as June 23, 1865, though Schene gives May 23, and this discrepancy is unresolved. The boat is described as an open sloop in the marker and as a yawl in Schene. By one historian’s account a Union search party boarded the boat, and in several accounts Benjamin posed as the cook. The party reached Bimini on or around July 10, 1865. From there the route is harder to follow: one account says a boat carrying Benjamin toward Nassau broke apart and sank and that he was rescued, and he probably reached Nassau around July 21. He went on to Havana and reached Southampton, England, on August 30, 1865.
A Story Historians Still Untangle
Historians do not agree on every detail. Some popular accounts have Benjamin sailing from the Manatee River near the mansion, while the marker and Schene place the departure at Whitaker Bayou. Family traditions of the Tresca, McLeod, Whitaker, Lesley and McKay families preserve different versions. The sources agree on the outline: a fugitive Confederate cabinet officer moved through the region with local help, left Florida by small boat for the Bahamas and eventually reached England.
What Benjamin Found in England
In England, Benjamin studied English law and rose through the British bar. He died in Paris on May 6, 1884. The mansion he sheltered in was also the center of a slave-labor sugar economy, and visitors to Gamble Plantation Historic State Park today encounter both histories.
Quick Facts
Fugitive
Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State
Refuge
Gamble Mansion, Ellenton, Manatee County; occupied by Captain Archibald McNeill
Mansion
Built in the late 1840s by Major Robert Gamble; tabby colonnade
Final Florida helpers
Captain Frederick Tresca and Hiram McLeod
Last Florida stop
William Whitaker’s home on Sarasota Bay
Departure
Whitaker Bayou; June 23, 1865 per the marker (Schene says May 23)
First landfall
Bimini, on or about July 10, 1865
Arrived in England
Southampton, August 30, 1865
Death
Paris, May 6, 1884
Today
Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park
Did You Know?
- The Gamble Mansion is described as the only surviving plantation house in South Florida.
- The mansion’s tabby is made from burned oyster shells, sand and water.
- One account has Benjamin hiding under a wagonload of beef.
Vocabulary
Tabby: a coastal building material made of burned oyster-shell lime, sand and water.
Alias: a false name used to hide one’s identity.
Sloop: a small single-masted sailing boat.
Discussion Questions
1. Why did local knowledge of coastal waters matter to Benjamin’s escape?
2. Why do family traditions and official sources sometimes tell different versions of the same event?
Related Articles
- FLH-0102 — Florida’s Blockade Runners
- FLH-0097 — Florida During the Civil War
- FLH-0101 — Salt Makers of the Gulf Coast
- FLH-0045 — Captain James McKay and the Cuba Cattle Trade
- FLH-0235 — The Battle of Natural Bridge
Sources
Schene, Michael G. “The Daring Escape of Judah P. Benjamin.” Tampa Bay History 4, no. 1 (1982)
Kite-Powell, Rodney H., II. “The Escape of Judah P. Benjamin.” Sunland Tribune 22 (1996)
National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places nominations for the Gamble Plantation, 1970 and 2011. npgallery.nps.gov
Florida State Parks. “Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial at Gamble Plantation Historic State Park.” floridastateparks.org
Sarasota County Historical Commission. Judah Philip Benjamin marker (1999; since removed), as transcribed at hmdb.org
Manatee Village Historical Park. “Escape of Judah P. Benjamin.” manateevillage.org
Copyright © 2026 Wm. E. McMullen II. All rights reserved. Published by Florida Learning Hub.