Hello! I hope y'all are having a great Friday! This week for my internship I finished polishing the Francis Eppes essay and began research on William Reynolds.
For Eppes, I have been utilizing sources such as letters from Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, newspaper markings, slave records, www.monticello.org, and journal articles from JSTOR on Eppes' life. I included most of my research on Eppes in my previous blog post, but since then I have found more information about the modern-day controversy surrounding FSU and Francis Eppes.
While he helped improve Florida’s higher education and served the community of Tallahassee for decades, Francis’ legacy is plagued by his slave-owning actions and support for the Confederacy. After some research on Eppes' slave records, he appeared to own seventy-five slaves in 1860, before he sold his plantation to fund the Confederacy towards the end of the American Civil War In 2020, the statue of Francis Eppes was removed from the FSU campus for the second, and what appears to be the last time in an attempt to foster respect and good faith in the community and calm the student outrage surrounding Eppes' actions.While his actions cannot be excused, Eppes also left behind some positive effects on Florida. The Cathedral of St. Luke, formerly the St. Luke’s Parish Church was formed by early Episcopals, including Francis Eppes, and stands to this day as a hallmark of historic Orlando. Francis Eppes left behind a troubled legacy and is currently buried in the Eppes-Shine plot of Greenwood cemetery.
The next essay I started working on covers William Reynolds and the escape from Libby Prison. William Hayden Reynolds was an officer for the Grand Army of the Republic for during the American Civil war who was subsequently captured and imprisoned at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia with other Union Officers. Libby was infamous for its harsh conditions including rampant disease and malnutrition. In December of 1863, Colonel Rose and Captain Johnson, other imprisoned Union officers, developed a plan to escape through the construction of a tunnel. The tunnel was dug by two to three men at a time, with a hatchet, a two inch chisel and a pie pan. It took fifty-one nights to dig out of the compound and on February 9 at nine pm, 109 men began their escape, including William Reynolds. Forty-eight of these men, including Colonel Rose, were recaptured, two drowned, and the remaining fifty-nine reached the union lines safely. Those who were unfortunately recaptured were denied adequate rations and forced to live in rat-infested buildings as punishment for their defiance.
William Reynolds later moved to Orlando, Florida and became a pillar of the community in a multitude of professions such as lumber, telegraphs, organizing the Merchants Bank, and serving for two years on the City Council and two terms as Mayor. While I have not had time to complete more research on Reynolds' fascinating story, I will have more information ready for next week's blog.
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