May, 1862 to 1862

DUVAL, Florida

Civil War, Wounded Soldiers, Emancipation

“Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny he has earned the right to citizenship.” --Frederick Douglass   In books around the world, conventional history teaches that the American Civil War and black slavery are inextricably intertwined....

1864

DUVAL, Florida

Agriculture, Economy, Politics, War

On his seventeenth birthday, Joshua Frier enrolled in a branch of the Florida Confederate militia which was eventually called the First Florida Reserves, Company B. The unit remained in northern Florida throughout its service, where the Union naval blockade intentionally caused serious import shortages on goods like coffee, tea, and salt. Salt was a commodity that was vitally necessary to preserve...