A READING: The Rutland Mule Matter

Rick’s Blog: Special Edition

THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER

Author's reading at the

Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts…

Stardust Video & Coffee, Orlando, Florida

MARCH 9, 2016

A very special thanks to the Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts, as well as the kind folks at Stardust Video & Coffee, for providing authors an opportunity to take to the stage and promote their work, as in my case, a reading from my Central Florida mystery-history Novel, The Rutland Mule Matter.

First, setting the stage:

In 1927, then retired Rollins College President & historian, William F. Blackman, published, ‘History of Orange County’, long considered a bible with regard to the story of 19^th Century Central Florida. Blackman however stated that very little was known of the region prior to 1870. Blackman did record that a William W. Woodruff had been the Orange County representative at Florida’s Secession Convention of January, 1861.

Blackman also mentioned Woodruff was one of seven delegates to vote against the State’s Secession. Blackman did not, however, mention the name Rutland.

A dozen years earlier, Clarence E. Howard published Early Settlers of Orange County, and included a biography of William W. Woodruff. Howard described Woodruff’s long mule-ride from Mellonville to Gainesville, and of then boarding a train for his final leg to Tallahassee.

Howard too reported of Woodruff voting against Florida’s Secession, and mentioned the name Rutland – but only once! Woodruff’s wife, said Howard, lived at Rutland’s Ferry prior to their marriage.

William W. Woodruff did in fact oppose Florida’s Secession, but there were two Orange County residents who served as delegates. Both men voted NO! The second opposing vote had been cast by Isaac N. Rutland. Five years later, at War’s end, Rutland, the father of four young children, was dead!

A year after Rutland’s death, Isaac’s Widow, with help from a Massachusetts Navy Officer by the name of Lincoln, was able to get her Mule returned. The Mule, stored at the Quartermaster’s stable, in Jacksonville, Florida, was shipped, by the Navy, down the St. Johns River to Mellonville.

By 1870, four orphan Rutland children had been sent to live with their grandmother in Georgia, but by 1880, two of the four siblings, a son Othman, and a daughter Sarah, had returned to Orange County, Florida.

Now, everything stated thus far is historically accurate, with some information coming from a government file, created in 1865, labeled, ‘The Rutland Mule Matter.’

Isaac N. Rutland has been mentioned, from time to time, since Blackman’s history, but until now, next to nothing was ever known of the man, or his family!

An Orange County politician vanished. I feel certain the man’s son, Othman Rutland, would have wanted to find out what happened to his father. And that brings us to my Novel, The Rutland Mule Matter, named for that 150 year old Provost Marshals file folder.

A Central Florida mystery! Central Florida history! This Novel focuses not only on the father, but on Isaac’s family as well. A brother and sister, then 19^th Century American Paradise pioneers themselves, begin a search for answers during the 1880s. During this search, a nervous Othman Rutland travels to the North, twice.

This reading is of Othman Rutland’s first journey, north to Columbus, Ohio, where he hopes to confront, face-to-face, a retired Civil War Union Colonel.

And one final note, every individual mentioned in this reading was a true-life individual!

The Reading, Page 83:

Chapter Seven

Representative Harris

Thursday, July 12, 1888

Excuse my sloppy handwriting, as this is a first attempt at writing onboard a moving train. I want to update my diary before memory of events fade, but each time I go to write, the train jerks, and my pen slides across the paper. I found a seat in the lounge car though, beside a small table, and I intend to sit here until all my thoughts have been penned.

Sitting on the floor, between my feet, is a box of fresh oranges, Ezekiel’s ‘ingenious’ plan, concocted last fall while convincing me I needed to make this trip.

Already this train has taken me further north than I’ve ever been in my life. Before now, five or six miles north of the Florida line was the farthest, but a few moments ago, a conductor came through the car announcing we were arriving at Brunswick.

The further north I travel, the more apprehensive I’m becoming about traveling to the land of Yankees. For now though, I need to get back to writing.

Stewart’s Homestead last October:

Following dinner at the Stewarts, we all decided to take a breather. Obviously not wanting to discuss my father, Uncle Matt escaped to his rocker on his front porch. The ladies moved to the living room, while Ezekiel and I, we exited out the back door, searching for fresh air in the woods out behind Stewart’s home.

A part of me was still looking for where our cabin once stood. I followed a dirt trail leading down into a shallow hollow, and as I searched, Ezekiel shared his opinion of Uncle Matt’s reluctance to discuss my father.

“Folks around here have a difficult time discussing the war.” My brother-in-law reminded me of things I already knew, like the huge price Central Florida had paid in lives lost during the war. “We are stirring up memories others would prefer not revisit.”

He was right. Talk of father probably did touch raw nerves.

We hadn’t gone far on the path when our conversation was cut short. We had arrived at a small cemetery.

Thirty feet square or so and surrounded by a waist-high iron fence, the tiny cemetery looked to contain about a dozen or so graves. It was clearly an old burial ground, yet regularly maintained. Each grave was marked by a small white cross. The crosses were engraved with only initials, and nearly all ended with the letter ‘S’.

In this largely unkempt wilderness, within a stone’s throw of the Stewart family home, hiding in the midst of wild palmetto bushes and prickly scrub oaks, was this tiny oasis, set out in honor of family members.

Ezekiel and I impulsively stopped to pay our respects, standing with hands folded in prayer while not saying a word for the longest time. As I viewed each marker, I couldn’t help but wonder if one had been placed here for my mother.

We stood there in total silence until suddenly a piercing screech caused us to leap out of our skin. But then I immediately realized the source of that scream had been me, reacting to someone unexpectedly touching my left shoulder. Neither Ezekiel nor I had heard my Aunt Ella approach from behind.

My aunt waited while we each planted our feet back on the ground, and she then pointed me in the direction of that cross I had been searching.

“Your mother’s marker is that one, on the far right!”

I didn’t say a word, I couldn’t. I stared down at the worn cross, a stick in the ground, a weathered marker having three barely noticeable initials – M. M. R.

Aunt Ella then pointed to a small cluster of crosses atop a mound. “That group,” Aunt Ella paused while Ezekiel and I inspected the crosses, each engraved as well with only initials. “They are in memory of your Uncle’s two brothers, and others killed during that awful war. We don’t even know where they are buried.”

Aunt Ella continued, although doing so was obviously a struggle. “J C S is Jonathan Clay Stewart, two years younger than your Uncle. Jonathan was the Orange County Sheriff before going off to war. He died a few months after arriving in Virginia. P B S is Philemon Bryan Stewart. Bryan was an even younger brother of your Uncle Matt. K H is for Kedar Hawthorne, your Uncle Matt’s brother-in-law, husband of his youngest sister. They were all casualties of that war.”

Aunt Ella was tearing up, yet insisted on continuing. “A P M, Angus P. Malloy, my sister Sarah’s husband. So many of our loved ones lost during such a horrible war.” My aunt needn’t say anything more, although I did have a question for her.

“Angus, he was Duncan’s father?” My aunt nodded her head, confirming my suspicion that Duncan was the son of Angus & Sarah Mallory.

I clarified for Ezekiel. “Grandma took Duncan in after the war, and Duncan, Sarah and I lived together up in Georgia. Duncan returned to Orange County with us.”

I hugged my Aunt Ella while she cried, Ezekiel stood by silently, keeping his head bowed.

Then, wiping away her own tears, Aunt Ella looked at me, and confessed. “I should have never said anything about your father. Othman, please do not think badly of your Uncle, he has such a difficult time even today dealing with so much tragedy and loss.” I hugged Aunt Ella tighter.

I don’t recall how long we stood there in total silence, all three of us, staring at the Stewart family cemetery. We stood there for a sufficient length of time though for me to realize others were still enduring the pain caused by a terrible war.

I made amends with my Aunt that very afternoon, and later, I made amends with my Uncle Matthew Stewart.

We bid farewell to Aunt Ella and Uncle Matthew soon after, and I again hugged my aunt, thanked her not only for a delightful afternoon, but for sharing their painful losses as well.

Ezekiel and I slowly packed babies and ladies onboard, pausing again and again as Aunt Ella insisted on more baby hugs and kisses. Ready to mount up myself, it was Uncle Matt who then stopped me.

After first shaking my hand, he hugged me, something my uncle never did before, and he then slipped me an envelope, while whispering, “Wait until you are back at Vick’s before opening this. Understand, your aunt and me, we made a promise to your mother. And one more thing Othman, tell Miles I’m proud of him. I’m proud of you both!”

He wiped his eyes, I wiped mine, and then the Vick and Rutland families departed Stewart’s homestead.

In conclusion,

The Rutland Mule Matter is available at Bookmark it Orlando, 3201 Corrine Drive, Orlando, FL; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, in historic Winter Garden, FL; and Amazon.com. To order online through Amazon click on my Author page:

https://www.amazon.com/author/richardcronin

The Rutland Mule Matter

Ten DAYS of RIDING RUTLAND’S MULE

Compliments of THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER

Day 10: 1865 Lincoln and Rutland’s Mule

Following the Civil War, Naval Officer Charles D. Lincoln, while assigned to Central Florida during the Reconstruction Period, assisted Margaret (Staten) Rutland, a Widow then living at APOPKA, in getting a Mule returned. This 10 Day countdown summarizes a tantalizing true-life story that took place in Post Civil War Florida, and is courtesy of CroninBooks, and a Novel based on a true-life story: The Rutland Mule Mattter.

Day 9: 1867 Cinderella and Rutland’s Mule

CINDERELLA & Matthew Stewart lived in APOPKA. In 1880, their son Miles lived with them, but he would soon be moving across Lake APOPKA, where with his cousin OTHMAN RUTLAND, the two would become key players in establishing the town of WEST Apopka, or as that town is known today, FERNDALE. Cinderella was a sister of Margaret (Stanton) Rutland, the same Widow Rutland who had managed to convince the Navy’s C. D. Lincoln to assist her in getting that Mule shipped down river, from Jacksonville to Mellonville.

Day 8: 1858 Lake Mizell or Lake Rutland?

LAKE MIZELL, on WINTER PARK’S famed chain of lakes, might have been named LAKE RUTLAND! On the 2^nd day of April, 1858, according to an 1881 deed, a lakefront Homestead was bought by David W. MIZELL, and that deed stated: “And whereas the said Isaac N. RUTLAND has died before the execution of said Conveyance.” the administrator of Rutland’s estate, Matthew A. Stewart, husband of Apopka’s Cinderella Stewart, signed the 1881 deed conveyance. Isaac didn’t die until 1864, a year before his Widow, Margaret (Stanton) Rutland, requested her Mule be returned.

Day 7: The PENSION’S Building of DC, and Rutland’s Mule

1888 ORLANDO: At the Real Estate Office of John G. Sinclair, on Orange Avenue in 1880s downtown Orlando, Florida, a wall map of the county, paying particular interest to the area around Lake Hancock in west Orange County, provides the best clue yet in a family’s search for the truth. Othman Rutland heads north again, only this time with assistance from his brother-in-law, Ezekiel C. Vick. The two intend to meet, face to face, with a curious group of Federal pension clerks. They travel to DC, visiting the fabulous new Pensions Building, with hopes of getting answers about his father, knowing they share one thing in common with the clerks they are about to meet: they are all Central Florida landholdings!

Day 6: Florida’s Constitution and Isaac N. Rutland

WHEN is a Lawmaker NOT a Lawmaker? Several months ago, CitrusLAND asked that very question of Tallahassee. Why? Well, in April 22, 1861, Florida ratified a NEW State Constitution. 54 Floridians wrote and ratified that Constitution, but only 23 can be found in Florida’s roster of Lawmakers. CitrusLAND asked why 31 are not mentioned, because Isaac N. RUTLAND is among those 31 NOT listed.

“They were NOT”, replied Tallahassee, actual Lawmakers. But by definition, a State’s Constitution is its “basic, fundamental LAW”. If an individual assists in writing a Constitution, and then ratifies the end product, how is that person NOT a Lawmaker? Florida’s House of Representatives itself, for example, exists solely because the House and its duties was created by the State’s Constitution!

Now, CitrusLAND wants to thank Florida’s lawmakers for its recent change of mind, a decision that will add all 31 missing contributors to the State’s Official Lawmakers, a roster that dates to 1822.

Day 5: 1888 Ohio Representative Harris and the Rutland Mule

“That out of obedience to instructions from headquarters, District of FLORIDA, I caused said Mule to be branded with the letters U. S. The Mule did not belong to the U. S.” Signed 22 Jun 1864; A. L. HARRIS, Colonel, 75^th Ohio Mounted Infantry.

By 1888, Col. Harris was Ohio Representative, Andrew Lintner HARRIS, serving at Columbus, Ohio, leading Othman Rutland to believe Ohio to be a good place to find answers, not only about that mule, but about what happened to his long-missing father, Isaac N. Rutland.

Day 4: Starke Lake and #RutlandMule

1860: Dr. James D. STARKE, of present day OCOEE, Florida, was the selected as Senator of Florida’s 19^th Senatorial District. His district included his home County of Orange.

There were 20 districts in all, and that November of 1860, Dr. Starke had been one of the 16 District Senators who traveled to Tallahassee only weeks after Abraham Lincoln had been elected President.

On 30 November, 1860, 12 of 16 Senators, including Starke, had voted in favor of the following resolution: “this General Assembly having implicit confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of the people and the delegates whom they will select to the Convention, commit to them the interest of the State WITHOUT a suggestion as to the course proper to be pursued.”

Florida State Senators, in essence, abdicated their lawmaking authority, placing their State’s future in the ‘wise’ hands of 69 ‘patriotic’ Floridians. Isaac N. RUTLAND, of “Florida’s 19^th Senatorial District,” was one of 69 patriotic Convention delegates. Rutland opposed Secession, but during early 1861, he fulfilled his duty as a delegate, taking part in, and ratifying, Florida's new Constitution.

Day 3: Cassius M is missing!

15 years after the mysterious 1864 death of “Hon. Isaac N. Rutland,” his estate remained unsettled. The administrator, Matthew A. Stewart, Isaac’s brother-in-law, requested, on June 9, 1879, that a judge appoint Othman’s sister, Sarah K. VICK, wife of Ezekiel C. VICK, as estate administrator, stating: “We have no idea if the other heir is living. He left seven years ago, and we have not seen or heard from him since.”

Isaac’s ‘other heir?’ That would be Cassius M. Rutland, the older brother of Othman and Sarah, last seen, according to the estate administrator, in 1872!

Day 2: The Isaac N. Rutland family:

History failed to record much about Isaac N. Rutland, or of the man’s role in Orange County’s past. But Rutland also had a family, and history reported even less of roles they played in what was then an emerging Central Florida ‘Paradise’. Othman & Sarah Rutland, two of Isaac’s children, were indeed true-life Central Floridians.

As children, all four Rutland orphans had been sent north to Georgia by 1870, but then two returned to a Post-Civil War CitrusLAND. Othman and Sarah then played a part in developing this 19^th Century American Paradise.

The Rutland Mule Matter is far more than a story of one man who became lost in the turmoil of America’s Civil War. It is in fact a historical presentation of one family’s tragic plight in a land seemingly cursed with family plight. “Just finished the Rutland Mule. OMG! Your research is so meticulous and your storytelling so captivating. I felt that I’d gone back to another time.” 

For the reader, separating fact from fiction will be the biggest challenge, but to ease the struggle, here’s a helpful hint: There are only two fictional characters. One is the hotel clerk in Columbus, Ohio. The other it the carriage driver in Washington, DC.

Day 1: Isaac N. Rutland and the Rutland Mule:

Captain Isaac N. Rutland replaced Captain Aaron Jernigan as leader of Orange County’s 1856 Militia, a volunteer militia based out of Fort Gatlin. By 1860, Isaac had been selected to represent a Senatorial district that included Orange County, and was one of two ‘wise’ Central Floridians assigned the task of deciding Florida’s future.

Isaac became one of many War casualties of 1864, and later, he was then denied his rightful place in Central Florida history. Denied, that is, until a 150 year old scribbled file folder suddenly surfaced. Inside that 1865 folder, a Provost Marshal’s file, a folder labeled 

‘The RUTLAND MULE MATTER’, was found the secret Isaac’s children had been searching for. Othman and Sarah finally learned of what really happened to their father. But could they handle the truth? Merely make believe? You can decide for yourself with the assistance of a nine page Bibliography!

THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER, one of five books by Richard Lee Cronin, each digging deep into Central Florida’s long forgotten history. 

Available at Bookmark it Orlando; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation in Winter Garden, Florida and Amazon.com

Please visit my Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/richardcronin

WHO TO BELIEVE?

On Wednesday evening, February 17, 2016, ‘Writers of Central Florida or Thereabouts’, allowed me the opportunity to read a passage from my book, ‘First Road to Orlando.’ If I can help it, I never pass up an opportunity to discuss the fascinating story of 19^th Century Central Florida, especially of how an old forts trail, twinning its way south from Lake Monroe in 1836, from Fort Mellon in the north to Fort Gatlin in the south, evolved into the Mellonville Road, a/k/a, First Road to Orlando

Along a 28 mile old forts trail, settlers in 1842 began building towns of Mellonville, Fort Reid, and Fort Gatlin. Towns of Rutledge, Maitland and Orlando came on the scene thereafter, with all but Rutledge pre-dating the first train to run south from Lake Monroe, which departed Sanford, November 11, 1880.

I selected for my reading Chapter 11, Who to Believe? I chose this chapter because to me, it provides as well a window into the intriguing mystery that surrounds nearly all of Central Florida early history. How Orlando got its name, for example, has long been a topic of debate.

FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO:

CHAPTER 11: WHO TO BELIEVE?

Samuel S. Griffin, in 1923 a resident of Orlando for more than 40 years, spoke to the Orlando’s Sorosis Club on the subject of their town’s history, and of how Orlando had been named. Griffin used 14 pages of typed notes for his speech, a document now safely stored in Central Florida archives.

He told the members that Mr. Fries had told him, “the story of the Indian killing on the banks of one of their beautiful lakes.” A soldier standing guard while others slept, Sam had said, was attacked and killed by Indians.

John O. Fries, a Swedish immigrant who became County Surveyor, arrived in Orlando on Christmas Day, 1871. The City of Orlando was at that time 14 years old.

Orange County Surveyor, John Otto Fries

Griffin then told the membership that S. A. Robinson had given him a different version, stating Robinson claimed his version came from Arthur Speer, the son of Judge James G. Speer. “A man named Orlando became very ill here and was taken into Judge Speer’s home, and cared for.” Having become friends, as this particular naming of Orlando goes, Judge James Speer named the town for that fellow.

Samuel A. Robinson was also a County Surveyor, and drew the first sketch of what 1857 Village of Orlando looked like. He drew that town plat in 1880.

Orange County Surveyor, Samuel A. Robinson

Samuel S. Griffin then said he was told a third version by B. M. Robinson, stating that Robinson, “Most emphatically declared Judge Speer was a great lover of Shakespeare”, so Speer named the town for a character in the play, “AS YOU LIKE IT.” Benjamin M. Robinson had been a three-term Orlando Mayor. He arrived in Central Florida around 1872.

Three Term Orlando Mayor, Benjamin M. Robinson

Concluding his story of the three versions as to how the town of Orlando got its name, Samuel S. Griffin declared, “I dared not ask another how Orlando got its name!”  

The many versions as to how Orlando had been named have progressed over the years:

1915: Clarence E. Howard published his book, ‘Early Settlers of Orange County Florida,” in which was included a biography on Judge J. G. Speer, stating: “At once the question of a name came up and was named ‘Orlando’ by Judge Speer for one of Shakespeare’s characters.”

Orlando Photographer, Clarence E. Howard

1923: Samuel S. Griffin addressed the Orlando Sorosis Club and reported on three versions told to him.

1927: William Fremont Blackman, Rollins College President, wrote his, ‘History of Orange County, Florida,’ in which he also tells of three versions, similar to Griffin’s, although adding a few details. Blackman said: (1) Orlando Reeves was the soldier’s name, and the ambush took place at ‘Hughey Bay’; (2) The ‘sick’ fellow taken in by Judge Speer was actually an employee of Speer’s who, after his death, the village was named for; and (3) Speer was said to be a lover of, and student of, William Shakespeare.

Rollins College President, William Fremont Blackman

1938: Kena Fries published her book, ‘Orlando in the Long, Long Ago’, in which she stated, “Many versions have been given and many tales told.” Kena, daughter of John O. Fries, was convinced the legend of Orlando Reeves was the legitimate version. She said her father had been told this story by ‘gray haired, widely scattered pioneers.” Kena’s version included details of the incident never before told.

Kena Fries reported that the incident occurred on a full moon night in September, 1835. Fellow soldiers had fallen off asleep while Orlando Reeves kept a ‘vigilant watch’. After several hours, himself fighting off sleep, Orlando Reeves noticed what he thought at first to be a log, floating in Lake Eola. “Realizing they were Indians stealthily creeping on the camp, he gave the alarm, knowing full well it meant death to him and he fell, pierced by more than a dozen poisoned arrows.”

The body of Orlando Reeves, Kena said, was buried in a grave beside Lake Lawson, “beneath a tall pine tree, a landmark on the trail.”

1951: E. H. Gore wrote his, ‘From Florida Sand to the City Beautiful, A Historical Record of Orlando, Florida’, in which he too offers various versions of how the town was named.

Gore said some early settlers believed John R. Worthington, the city’s first Postmaster, named their town, while others believed Judge James G. Speer, “a student of Shakespeare,” named the city “for one of the characters in Shakespeare’s, AS YOU LIKE IT.”

Gore then wrote: “the story that finally won out and was adopted as authentic in regard to the name was told by early settlers about Orlando Reeves.” Gore’s reference in saying won out suggests this version was selected through a popularity contest.

Gore’s version also changes the location, stating the Indian attack occurred “on the east side of Lake Minnie (Now Cherokee).” The body of Orlando in Gore’s version was said to be buried under an oak tree at Lake Eola, but he also stated that another version says Orlando Reeves was buried under a pine tree at Lake Lawson, and that that tree has since been cut down.

Gore stated a pioneer who had lived in Orlando since 1883 told him the Orlando Reeves’ grave was under the oak tree at Lake Eola when that pioneer first arrived. Settlers and soldiers, Gore was told, visited this grave and had handed down the story.

There is another version never told by local historians, but most certainly worthy of inclusion here. Volusia County has long suggested Orlando was named for a plantation owner, ORLANDO SAVAGE REES.

Similarities in the names REES and REEVES, and the two stories, is interesting.

Richard Cronin at South Carolina grave site of Orlando Savage Rees 

Kena Fries began her Chapter 2, ORLANDO - THE NAME, by stating “many versions have been given and many tales told. All are true, more or less, yet no two agree.” If no two agree, as they do not, then in my mind, it is not reasonable to suggest all are true.

What is the truth? Who should we believe? We will examine each and every known version as to how Orlando got its name, and do so having an advantage over earlier historical attempts. We now have access to the vast World Wide Web, data earlier historians did not have at their fingertips. Our goal is to solve a timeless mystery, who named Orlando?

First road to Orlando includes a 21 page Bibliography

For more on the FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO visit

http://www.croninbooks.com/FIRST-ROAD.html

THE MYSTERIOUS ISAAC N. RUTLAND

The Mysterious Isaac N. Rutland

By Richard Lee Cronin

I enjoy researching and writing about Central Florida of the second half of the 19th Century. A remote wilderness evolved into hundreds of tiny settlements between the years 1850 and 1895. The Census of 1850 found fewer than 500 individuals living in counties known today as Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia. But the area’s population remained extremely low until after the Civil War, when in the 1880s, this scarcely populated region quite suddenly became known as America’s Paradise – “the land of health and wealth.”

 

Today, Central Florida of that era continues to be a land of mystery and intrigue. Most of the people and events contributing to the building of America’s Paradise have, for the most part, remained vague and uncertain.

 

An excellent example is a fellow born 1825 in Wilson County, Tennessee. By 1850, Isaac Newton RUTLAND had found his way to Florida, and opened a mercantile business in OCALA, where he then met, and soon after married, Margaret STANTON.

 

Margaret’s sister, CINDERELLA (I do not fib), married into a long established Florida family named STEWART. Matthew & Cinderella STEWART then relocated to APOPKA, arriving around 1853, migrating there with his parents, as well as Isaac & Margaret (Stanton) RUTLAND.

 

The Rutland family did not stay at Apopka, but rather settled instead closer to present day SANFORD, near where State Road 46 currently crosses the Wekiva River. Merchant Isaac N. Rutland established a store at that location, and named the place RUTLAND’S LANDING.

 

In 1856, Isaac N. Rutland joined Aaron JERNIGAN’S Volunteer Militia, organized so as to protect settlers of Orange County. A few months later, in September, 1856, Aaron Jernigan was relieved of command, and Isaac N. Rutland took charge of the regiment.

 

Despite the town of ORLANDO being crowned as County Seat in 1857, political power in this region remained mostly in the FORT REID area, an early settlement along the old forts train, a community that predated present day Sanford. Fort Reid’s political clout became apparent in late 1860, when the State of Florida called together delegates for a Secession Convention to be held at Tallahassee.

 

69 delegates would determine the State’s fate, representatives selected as follows: Each State District Senator would be a delegate, and have one vote. In addition, each Florida County was also to select one delegate, so that in all, there would be 69 votes.

 

Orange County selected William W. Woodruff of Fort Reid to be its delegate. Orange County was then part of the 19th Senatorial District at that time, and in 1860, the State Senator representing the 19th district was Isaac N. Rutland, a resident of nearby Fort Reid.

 

A final vote on whether or not to secede was taken on January 10, 1861. Of the 69 delegates, 62 voted in favor. 7 voted NO.

Attorney Joseph J. Finegan, later to become Florida’s General Finegan during the War, voted in favor of secession. Finegan at that time owned 20,000 acres in Orange County, including 12,000 acres that separated Fort Reid from Isaac N. Rutland’s ferry crossing. One actually had to cross Finegan's land to get to and from Fort Reid and Rutland's Ferry.

 

William W. Woodruff, of Fort Reid, on the east side of Finegan’s property, and Isaac N. Rutland, bordering Finegan’s west property line, both voted NO, opposing Secession.

   

After the Civil War, Orange County history remembered William W. Woodruff. Isaac N. Rutland on the other hand was removed from most all of the post-war archives. A roster of Florida Lawmakers dating to 1822 is revised routinely, the most recent being in 2015. Woodruff is included in each roster, Rutland is never included.

 

At the University of Gainesville, the George Smathers Library maintains an online list of all State District Senators, and for the year 1861, the name James D. Starke, a resident of the OCOEE area, appears rather than Isaac N. Rutland.

 

All of the information mentioned thus far was gathered from an exhaustive search of the Rutland family in Florida. I began the research for a historic Novel, and in the process, uncovered a long buried file folder telling of Rutland’s demise, and explains much, much more. That file folder, created by the military in 1865, was titled, ‘The Rutland Mule Matter’.

The facts found in that file, along with other resources, are all historic in nature, and prove existing historic records to be wrong. For that reason, I have gathered together these historic documents, and dispatched a letter to the guardians of Florida’s history along with a request they amend their records for the sake of Florida history.

 

The following is the letter I sent off to Tallahassee earlier this week:

 

TO:

Bob Ward, Clerk

Florida House of Representatives

513 The Capitol

402 South Monroe Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

 

RE:      The People of Lawmaking in Florida (1822 – 2015)

Isaac N. Rutland, 19 Senatorial District (1861)

 

Dear Mr. Ward,

 

The name Isaac N. Rutland has long been missing from a comprehensive list of all Florida State Lawmakers. I believe this man’s name had been removed from the State roster nearly 150 years ago. I believe too that State archives should now be corrected, and the name Rutland should be included to properly reflect the history of Florida.

The Rutland name has been absent as well from a list of Florida’s 19 District Senators maintained at the George Smathers Library at the University of Florida. I am contacting the university as well under separate cover letter, but including with that letter the same documents I am submitting here, information substantiating the mysterious Senator from Orange County, Isaac N. Rutland.

People of Lawmaking, page 167, lists James D. Starke as the 19 District Senator for the years 1860 and 1861. Then, on page 151, W. C. Roper is listed as the 19 District Senator for the years 1862 – 1863;

§  Isaac N. Rutland attended Florida’s Secession Convention as a delegate. In fact, Rutland was present January 3, 1861, the first day of the convention. The gathering adjourned that same day because not all delegates had arrived, but hand-written minutes of that first day (Exhibit A and B), a document on file in Florida’s archives, list all of the delegates present on the 3, including: “19 Senatorial District, Isaac N. Rutland.”

§  The minutes of January 3, 1861 contradicts that of the roster given in ‘The People of Lawmaking.’ James D. Starke could not have been the 19 District Senator for the year 1861, as Isaac N. Rutland held that position on January 3.

§  Isaac N. Rutland was one of the signers of Florida’s Secession Ordinance, and his signature appears on the Ordinance itself. For your convenience, I’ve included a copy of Rutland’s signature as it appears in our State’s Archives and online at the Florida Memory Project. I labeled this item Exhibit C;

§  A photo of Isaac N. Rutland is included in a collage of delegates who attended the Secession Convention. This photo, dated January, 1861, is also from Florida’s State Archives. Exhibits D (Photo) and E (Names) are both part of State archives. In the Exhibit D photo, Isaac N. Rutland is number 14, second row down from the top. His identity is known from Exhibit E, listing number 14, in the second row, as “Isaac N. Rutland, Orange County”;

§  ‘Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida,’ (1913) by William Watson Davis, PhD, included the complete Minutes of Florida’s Secession Convention. On page 64, (Exhibit F), the names of all seven delegates who voted against Secession were included, one being that of, “Rutland of the 19 Senatorial District.” The minutes also state: “Woodruff of Orange Co.”

§  William W. Woodruff is properly identified in The People of Lawmaking as serving in the ‘Secession Convention, Orange, 1861’ (Exhibit G). Isaac N. Rutland and William W. Woodruff both voted against Secession. Woodruff made into the list of lawmakers, Rutland did not. The reason for Rutland’s removal from the list long ago had to do, I believe, with the man’s unpopular actions after the 1861 Convention. Still, Rutland is deserving of his proper role today.

§  George Smathers Library maintains a list of District Senators online, and one portion of that list stating District 19 Senators is attached as (Exhibit H). Isaac N. Rutland, as you will see, is not included on that list.

 

To correctly reflect Florida history, ‘The People of Lawmaking in Florida’ should add the name “Isaac N. Rutland, Secession Convention, 19 Senatorial District”, and also, adding, “Senate, 19 District, 1861.” James D. Starke should be amended to reflect that he was the 19 District Senator for only the year 1860.

In addition, I am requesting that the George A. Smathers Library, at the University of Florida, also amend their list of 19 District Senators in the same manner.

 

I came across this information while researching a Novel based upon true events, a book entitled, The Rutland Mule Matter. Additional information regarding Isaac N. Rutland can be viewed at my website, or should you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to contact me either by mail or email ME.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Richard Lee Cronin

Central Florida Author, Historian

Attachments: Exhibits A thru H

 

I’ll post whatever response I receive to keep you informed.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE COMPLETE LETTER, INCLUDING EXHIBITS, EMAIL ME AT CITRUSLANDFL@GMAIL.COM AND I WILL SEND YOU A PDF COPY.

FOR MORE ON THE RUTLAND MULE MATTER, VISIT WWW.CRONINBOOKS.COM